From Tragedy to Advocacy: How one YSPH student is battling the opioid crisis

Through innovative research and interventions, the Yale School of Public Health has long been a leader in the national fight to combat substance use and end the U.S. opioid crisis, which claimed more than 81,000 lives in 2023.

But for Dita Bhargava, who started as a student in the Executive MPH Program this July, the battle is a personal one. Her son Alec wrestled for years with an addiction to opioids that helped alleviate his personal struggles with a bipolar condition. Then, on July 13, 2018, while at a sober living home in Connecticut, Alec died of fentanyl poisoning. It was his birthday. He was just 26 years old.

For Bhargava, losing Alec was devastating. But the real tragedy, she said, was that her story is far from uncommon. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 107,000 Americans lost their lives to a drug overdose last year. More than 1,400 of those deaths occurred in Connecticut.

“We have thousands and thousands of families — parents, brothers, sisters, spouses, that grieve for their loved ones every day when they disappear from this earth because of opioid overdoses,” she said.

Since her son’s passing, Bhargava has dedicated much of her time to pushing political leaders in Connecticut and beyond to enact legislation that could help to end the opioid epidemic. She has become an advisory board member at Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization that works to promote fentanyl awareness programs, Narcan education, and mental health resources for people suffering from opioid addiction. She has joined the boards of Liberation Programs and United Way of Connecticut. And last year, she collaborated with Connecticut government and public health leaders to launch the Shatterproof Treatment Atlas, a state-funded, online tool for those in need and their loved ones to find addiction treatment centers.

Now, as a student at the Yale School of Public Health, Bhargava said she’s ready to use what she learns in epidemiology, statistics, and other disciplines, to help end opioid overdoses for good.

“Our son gave me orders to pursue finding solutions for the opioid epidemic, to save precious lives,” she said, “and it dawned on me that I could really maximize my impact in this space if I actually studied public health.”

Bhargava’s fight against opioid addiction also includes fighting against the stigma associated with the disease.

The public and private shame associated with addiction can lead to higher rates of overdoses, she said. And fear of what others think can also keep those suffering from addiction from accessing the resources they need, like testing strips, clean supplies, and mental health resources.

Bhargava’s son showed her how difficult the stigma can be to work through, she explained. Before he passed away, as she was running for State Treasurer of Connecticut, Bhargava asked her son if he would feel comfortable with her discussing his difficulties with addiction on the campaign trail.

“He answered my question with his own question,” she said, “which was, ‘Would you ask me this if I had cancer?’”

“That really struck a chord with me. It's like the veil lifted from my eyes regarding what somebody who suffers from this disease goes through in terms of how they feel about themselves, how they're made to feel about themselves,” she added. “He had left me with this rallying cry and this mission to go out there and save lives by reducing and erasing the stigma around this disease.”

Since then, after meeting with government leaders and learning more about other nations’ efforts to control and eradicate opioid addiction, Bhargava said she has been working toward potentially powerful policy solutions to address stigma and reduce overdose rates.

Recently, Bhargava teamed up with the Biden Administration for the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose, a national call-to-action to promote Narcan awareness in schools and businesses. Narcan, or naloxone, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose through a nasal spray, saving lives. She also attended a meeting in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office with two other parent advocates to talk about the scourge of deadly fentanyl in the U.S. and potential prevention measures that could help end the addiction crisis.

And she has also met with Portuguese health officials to understand how that country nearly completely reversed its overdose rates over the past 20 years, while U.S. deaths have skyrocketed over the same period. One solution, she found, was ubiquitous voluntary treatment centers.

These centers can provide supervised areas to use drugs, free testing and clean needle resources, and a welcoming environment to get help if it is desired. They are a great step toward reducing the stigma associated with addiction, but efforts in Connecticut to match the Portuguese system have not gone far enough, she said, because they do not provide safe injection sites.

“The biggest problem we have right now that is that we can't keep people alive long enough to be able to put them on a permanent path to recovery. With fentanyl, you're racing against time,” Bhargava said. “Harm reduction centers and overdose prevention centers are a place where not only can we help to keep someone alive, but we can also educate them that there are ways to get back on track and to be sober again.”

Bhargava has only just started her two-year Executive MPH experience, but she said that it has already paid dividends for her work spreading opioid overdose awareness. As a working professional, she said the night classes and week-long in-person intensives on the YSPH campus make sense for her schedule and provide excellent networking opportunities.

“A lot of the students bring so much diversity and perspective," she said. “And the professors have been great so far. I'm looking forward to meeting folks in person and being on campus for the intensives.”

Through her work, Bhargava said, her son’s legacy lives on. And as she continues her studies and advocacy, Bhargava said her time at YSPH will make her work even more impactful. “Yale is such a great school with so many resources,” she said. “I look forward to learning a ton from the Yale School of Public Health to help me in this effort.”