Tarlise (Tarlie) Townsend
About Tarlise (Tarlie) Townsend
Tarlise (Tarlie) Townsend is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health, focusing on opioid use and health disparities.
Title: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department Of Population Health
Tarlise Townsend is currently serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health. In this role, she engages in research initiatives focused on public health issues, particularly those intersecting with opioid use and cancer-related pain management.
Current Roles at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and NYU Langone Health
Tarlise Townsend is actively involved with the Patient and Family Advisory Council on Quality at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since 2020. Concurrently, she holds a postdoctoral fellowship at NYU Langone Health's Department of Population Health in New York. Her work in these roles spans multiple facets of health policy and patient advocacy.
Previous Experience at Henry Luce Foundation and Max Planck Society
Tarlise Townsend has held prestigious research positions internationally. She was a Henry Luce Scholar and Research Fellow at the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology through the Henry Luce Foundation from 2013 to 2014, based in Hanoi. Prior to that, she worked as a DAAD Scholar at the Max Planck Society's Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition and the Harding Center for Risk Literacy in Berlin, Germany, from 2012 to 2013.
Education: University of Michigan and Indiana University Bloomington
Tarlise Townsend obtained her Joint PhD in Health Services Organization and Policy, and Sociology from the University of Michigan, where she studied from 2016 to 2020. She also earned a B.S. in Neuroscience and a B.A. in Germanic Studies from Indiana University Bloomington, completing her studies there between 2008 and 2012.
Research Focus on Opioid Use, Health Disparities, and Policy Effects
Tarlise Townsend's research intersects at the overdose crisis and opioid use for cancer pain management. She scrutinizes the demographic trends in disability and the educational disparities impacting disability incidence. Her work emphasizes health disparities and equity, especially in policies addressing opioid-related harms, with a focus on the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic implications of these policies.