Emily McPherson is a mental health fellow at Healthy Minds, where she works with treatment providers and community leaders to implement overdose prevention and harm reduction strategies in Tulsa.
During her two-year fellowship, Emily launched the Zero Overdose learning community in Tulsa, where leaders of organizations and agencies across the city connected to share knowledge that helps them provide better care for people who use drugs. She has successfully advocated for increased access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, both through increased outreach and placement in high-need zip codes across the city. Emily has also played a key role in Healthy Minds’ opioid abatement efforts, including her work guiding cities, counties, and school districts to build strong grant applications for opioid settlement dollars.
Before she joined Healthy Minds as a fellow in 2022, Emily spent more than two years on staff at the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a nonpartisan research analyst, tracking and examining the impacts of proposed legislation and policies and working with lawmakers to answer their constituents’ questions. Her policy research focused mainly on medical marijuana, controlled substances, and revenue and taxation.
Originally from Denton, Texas, Emily received a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. She also holds an associate degree in psychology from Oklahoma City Community College.
