Degree & Year in Program
5th year Ph.D
Advisors
Kirk Dombrowski, Bilal Khan, Jeffrey Smith (and Nick Guenzel)
Areas of Specialization
Health, Drugs, Networks, Quantitative Methods, Economic Sociology
Comprehensive Exam Area
Health
About Me
I received both my B.S. and M.A. degrees in sociology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. My research here focused on consumer choice in over-the-counter drugs purchases, as well as which factors influence dietary choices and habits, such as financial cost compared to perceived healthfulness. During this time, I also worked as an office assistant and teaching assistant in the department, assisting in courses on anthropology, Native American studies, sociological theory, and statistics.
Since beginning my PhD program here at UNL, I have primarily served a research assistant for Dr. Kirk Dombrowski in the REACH Lab. The focus of my work here has been people who inject drugs (PWID) in rural Puerto Rico. This research examines how PWID rationalize and make decisions about their acceptable levels of risk, managing their health, and the influence of social networks in these processes. An additional topic has been testing how these decision-making processes play out in rural vs urban environments.
In addition to my research, I have also been a regular instructor for SOCI 252 – Health, Medicine, and Society here are UNL. In addition to teaching this course, I developed the online version of it as well.
Courses Taught
SOCI 252: Sociology of Health, Medicine, & Soceity
Select Publications
Duncan, Ian, Patrick Habecker, Dane Hautala, Bilal Khan, and Kirk Dombrowski. 2018. “Injection-Related Hepatitis C Serosorting Behaviors among People Who Inject Drugs: An Urban/Rural Comparison.” Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse 1–16.
Duncan, Ian, Patrick Habecker, Roberto Abadie, Ric Curtis, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski. 2017. “Needle Acquisition Patterns, Network Risk and Social Capital among Rural PWID in Puerto Rico.” Harm Reduction Journal 14(1):69.
Duncan, Ian, Ric Curtis, Juan Carlos Reyes, Roberto Abadie, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski. 2017. “Hepatitis C Serosorting among People Who Inject Drugs in Rural Puerto Rico.” Preventive Medicine Reports 6:38–43.