Kechna Cadet, PhD

Dr. Kechna Cadet is a substance use epidemiologist and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology practicing at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She received her PhD in 2023 from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Her research examines patterns and modifiable social and structural determinants of polysubstance use and related outcomes. Her interdisciplinary research leverages innovative methods of spatial epidemiology, structural equation modeling, Bayesian modeling, and machine learning techniques to assess the impact of structural determinants of health, such as poverty and inequality, on substance use outcomes to reduce substance use-related harms and mortality. Ongoing projects include examining shifting population trends in substance use treatment, identifying structural determinants of opioid and stimulant polysubstance use, assessing the mental health impact of substance use policies, and developing a machine learning algorithm to predict substance use related risk of adverse outcomes.
Dr. Cadet teaches Spatial Epidemiology for master's and doctoral-level students and serves as an affiliate faculty for the Substance Abuse Epidemiology Training Program in the Department of Epidemiology.