Dr. Timothy Hunt, PhD, MSW, is Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University School of Social Work, Associate Director with the Social Intervention Group, the Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, and Columbia’s Center for Healing of Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders-Enhancing Intervention, Development and Implementation. Dr. Hunt has provided trauma-informed family therapy, substance abuse treatment, and chronic disease prevention and care for over 33 years. His global and domestic research includes designing, testing, and disseminating prevention and health promoting interventions aimed at promoting wellness and reducing harm from addictions, intimate partner violence, mental illness, and HIV domestically and in 14 countries.
He is co-investigator for the HEALing Communities Study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Dr. Hunt is the NYS site Intervention and Community Engagement Investigative Lead, supporting communities as they implement the community engaged intervention, Communities That HEAL, and the engagement of the criminal legal sector. The intervention, launched in 2020, is in collaboration with 67 counties in research sites from Ohio, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. Dr Hunt and the NYS team partnered with 520 coalition members and attended and/or co-facilitated approximately 400 coalition meetings and assisted in the planning and implementation of almost 300 strategies promoting evidence-based practices known to reduce overdose.
He has led the UNICEF funded Building Competencies in Interpersonal Communication and Community Engagement for the Social Service Workforce project with a team at SIG and GHRCCA developing a capacity building model in 8 European and Central Asian countries. He was PI on WORTH Transitions addressing HIV/STI risks for formerly incarcerated women with Yale University and University of Rochester, CDC-funded Connect High Impact Prevention with couples, and led the Uzbekistan and Jordan Social Work for Excellence projects. Dr. Hunt has co-authored over 60 peer reviewed articles and is an international trainer in Motivational Interviewing, and CDC Master Dissemination Trainer, and most recently co-authored with the HCS teams and SAMHSA the Opioid-Overdose Reduction Continuum of Care Approach (ORCCA) Practice Guide and Engaging Community Coalitions to Decrease Opioid Overdose Deaths Practice Guide, 2023. He represents CSSW in The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration and SAMHSA’s Opioid Response Network workforce development group.
