Assistant Professor
I have a broad and interdisciplinary research focus, including illicit drug markets, policing strategy, gun violence, opioid-related overdose deaths, gangs, organized criminal groups, and atrocities in armed conflict. My current research examines the impact of arresting or killing leaders of organized criminal groups on drug market violence both in Chicago and Latin America. I am also working on a mixed-methods project on opioid-related overdose deaths in open-air drug markets on Chicago's Westside. This includes extensive ethnographic fieldwork and spatial analysis of drug-selling spots I located systematically during fieldwork. A final ongoing project examines criminal governance in Chicago, including a working paper on the use of violence against police to defend drug-selling territory.
I have been published in journals such as: International Journal of Drug Policy; Journal of Criminal Justice; Justice Quarterly; British Journal of Criminology; Crime and Delinquency; Journal of Crime and Justice; Journal of Contemporary Ethnography; Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. I also have extensive practitioner experience with drug markets, violent crime, and criminal organizations from previous roles, including as an investigative journalist, Chicago Police Officer, and Criminal Intelligence Analyst with the Chicago Police Department.
I served in Chicago's 011th, 015th, and 010th Districts as a patrol officer, where I won two lifesaving awards for successfully treating gunshot victims. My street experience deeply informs my research and teaching.