SCIENCE MATTERS –
Oct. 8, 2025 – Nabarun Dasgupta digs through drug overdose data obsessively, scrutinizing the latest numbers from around the U.S. for clues about America’s deadly overdose crisis. Fatal overdoses were dropping fast, the biggest, most hopeful shift in decades. At a time when many politicians and most experts were talking about what seemed like an unstoppable fentanyl crisis, Dasgupta showed deaths had actually been declining steadily in many states.
Dasgupta’s groundbreaking research has now been recognized by the MacArthur Foundation with one of this year’s coveted “genius” fellowships, which come with a monetary award of $800,000. In a statement, the foundation also pointed to his work outside the lab, helping develop “harm reduction” programs aimed at reducing drug deaths. “He collaborates with people who have experience with drug use or its consequences to design effective, evidence-based interventions that respond to the needs of people who use drugs and community-based organizations that support them,” MacArthur Foundation officials said.
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