Sheigla B. Murphy, PhDNobel Conference 51

Sheigla B. Murphy, PhD, is the director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies at the Institute for Scientific Analysis in San Francisco, California, and a prominent medical sociologist who has been researching various types and aspects of illicit drug use for more than 30 years. She has been the principal investigator and director of numerous research grants that have concentrated on the qualitative study of social substance abuse. While much of her research has been focused on age-specific substance abuse, Murphy has also dedicated research to understanding substance abuse in women and its effects on pregnancy. Murphy’s work extends into the fields of criminology and medicine, providing valuable data to influence policy, treatment, and rehabilitation practices.

Graduating from San Francisco State University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Dr. Murphy then moved on to become a member of both the Research Task Force and the Council on Pregnancy and Chemical Dependence of the City and County of San Francisco Substance Abuse Services. She received her PhD in medical sociology from the University of California in 1992. From there, she has been in leading positions within numerous committees and organizations, such as the Division of Deviance and Crime of the American Society of Criminology (1999–2000), the Alcohol Drugs and Tobacco Section of the American Sociological Association (2003– 2005, 2011–2012), and the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong (June 2011–May 2014), among others. Currently, she is the director and principal investigator for the Center for Substance Abuse Studies at the Institute for Scientific Analysis.

Dr. Murphy has been awarded grants from the National Institute of Justice and the National Institutes of Health. She was the 2006 recipient of the Senior Scientist Award for her contributions to the field of substance abuse studies from the Drug and Alcohol Section of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Dr. Murphy has published numerous articles in Addiction Research, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Journal of Drug Issues, Contemporary Drug Problems, Qualitative Sociology, Qualitative Health Research, and Social Science and Medicine concerning heroin use, methadone maintenance, needle sharing, needle exchange, cocaine selling, natural recovery from drug use, drug users in health care systems and women’s drug use, pregnancy, and violence and drug sales. She is co-author of the books Cocaine Changes: The Experience of Using and Quitting and Pregnant Women on Drugs: Combating Stereotypes and Stigma.