Daliah Heller, Ph.D., is the Vice President, Drug Use Initiatives, at Vital Strategies where she leads a team responding to the overdose crisis in the U.S. by partnering with governments and affected communities to build tailored science-backed solutions to reduce overdose deaths.
Heller has worked for more than two decades in leadership positions to promote, design and implement a public health response to drug and alcohol use in public policy and practice. She has served as an advisor on drug and alcohol policy to state and local governments, community leaders and nonprofit organizations.
While at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Heller established the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment, where she served as an Assistant Commissioner. Earlier, she was the Director of Harm Reduction in the Department’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. Before joining the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, she built and led a nationally recognized organization providing harm reduction services in the Bronx.
Heller holds a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from The Graduate Center, City University of New York; an MPH from Columbia University; and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from McGill University.