Jon E. Zibbell

Dr. Jon E Zibbell, PhD. is a senior scientist in the Center for Behavioral Health & Wellbeing at RTI International. Dr. Zibbell is a medical anthropologist with decades of field experience investigating the adverse consequences associated with injecting drug use. He is PI of various NIDA-funded studies in Appalachia and the South Atlantic, investigating the acute and long-term effects of injection drug use on consumers and communities. 

Before RTI, Dr. Zibbell served as health scientist in the Epidemiology/Surveillance Branch of the Division of Viral Hepatitis and the National Injury Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He received his applied epidemiology training with CDC’s epidemiologic intelligence service (EIS) and served as co-investigator on numerous domestic outbreak investigations (Epi-Aids), including the 2015 Scott County HIV outbreak. Dr. Zibbell was an appointed member of the White House Heroin Task Force and helped the Obama Administration develop its heroin response strategy and HHS guidelines for federal funding of syringe exchange. 

Beyond research, Dr. Zibbell continues to assist states and municipalities in developing localized responses to prevent drug-related harm while volunteering regularly at community-based, syringe exchange programs. He has published extensively on illicit drug use and the public health and is currently investigating the impact of an increasingly-toxic drug supply on overdose and infectious disease risk. Recently, Dr. Zibbell's work was featured in an investigative story published by the Guardian about traumatic brain injuries and other adverse cognitive outcomes caused by fentanyl overdose. Dr. Zibbell holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University and calls Atlanta home.