Dr. Barbara Tempalski

Scientist

Dr. Tempalski's research focuses on the nexus of health, social, and political geographies in measuring the geographic distribution of services, response and prevention of HIV and opioid misuse among key populations. She has been a NIDA-funded Investigator and collaborator for over 20 years on a number of studies.

She broadly identifies as a health and social geographer where her research expertise includes measuring and modeling the geographic distributions of HIV/AIDS epidemics among key populations and identifying the sociopolitical and structural responses to these distributions and measures in US metropolitan areas over time.

Dr. Tempalski’s research on place-based risk environments has contributed to new knowledge in understanding how geographic place shapes HIV-opioid risk environment among vulnerable populations.

Dr. Tempalski served as a consultant for USAID, UNICEF, Spatial Working Group, University of Porto, Portugal, and European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon. She has conducted reproductive health research in Nepal focusing on the use of condoms and HIV knowledge among Nepalese women.

Her research has been published in several top-tier journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, International Journal on Drug Policy, Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, AIDS and Behavior, and Policy and Health & Place.