Chelsea Shover

Chelsea L. Shover-Darling, PhD is an Associate Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she directs the Epidemiology, Policy, and Implementation Lab (EPI Lab). Her work takes a population health approach to understand global illicit drug markets, prevent overdose, and improve addiction treatment. Dr. Shover-Darling completed her PhD in epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol and a Visting Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Shover-Darling has been honored for her approach to community-engaged research with people who use drugs, receiving the National Institute of Health’s Helping End Addiction Long-term Initiative Director’s Trailblazer Award in 2023 and a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Community Partner Values Award in 2025. Alongside her research, Dr. Shover-Darling has worked in public health departments (Los Angeles County, Santa Barbara County), community-based organizations (Los Angeles LGBT Center; Bristol Drugs Project), and policy advising capacities, all of which inform her team's approach to urgent and complex public health problems. Her policy work includes testifying in the California state legislature in support of a bill that created legal protections for drug checking participants, serving as a co-opted member of the United Kingdom’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs working group on xylazine and other novel psychoactive substances, and presenting at the 2025 European Union Drugs Agency's expert meeting on Drug-Related Deaths.