Assistant Professor
California State University, Bakersfield
Ashleigh Herrera, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., M.S.W., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at California State University, Bakersfield. Dr. Herrera is trained as a licensed clinical social worker and has been conducting addiction research for over 10 years, with research interests focused on addiction treatment and harm reduction approaches for opioid and stimulant use disorders among persons with limited opportunity structures. She has years of experience collaborating closely with community-based, health care, and governmental organizations to design, implement, and evaluate overdose prevention strategies, naloxone distribution efforts, street medicine interventions, and harm reduction vending machines. In 2023, she founded her own non-profit state authorized syringe service program, HOPE in the Valley, to expand access to evidence-based harm reduction strategies in Central Valley California, including low-barrier harm reduction vending machines and naloxone boxes. For the past 2 years, Dr. Herrera also successfully partnered with her local homeless collaborative to implement a novel naloxone distribution effort during the Annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count in Kern County, increasing naloxone engagment and re-engagement amongst persons experiencing homelessness.
