Get to Know Mariah Smith

At the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH), Bloomberg Fellow Mariah Smith is an outreach coordinator and leads the Overdose Hotspot Initiative, a program working to address racial disparities in overdose across the state. Her work focuses on outreach, education, harm reduction, and peer navigation in communities with the highest rates of overdose deaths.

Through partnerships with nearly 50 statewide organizations, Smith coordinates the distribution of harm reduction supplies including naloxone, fentanyl and xylazine test strips, wound care kits, and hygiene kits, to ensure that those most at risk have access to life-saving tools. She partners daily with community organizations, providing training on overdose response and harm reduction practice. She also offers guidance to strengthen their ability to connect people to care. 

Her passion for this work began long before she joined NJDOH. Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from the Edward J. Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. During school breaks, she worked as a medical assistant for her father, a family physician in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Watching him care for patients of all ages taught her the value of compassionate, community-centered care. “I saw firsthand how simply asking, ‘What do you need?’ can empower individuals to take charge of their health,” she said. 

While at Rutgers, Smith also volunteered with Global Brigades, traveling to Nicaragua and Honduras to support public health initiatives in rural communities. The experience deepened her understanding of how environmental, social, and economic conditions shape health outcomes. After graduating in 2019, she worked as an ophthalmic technician before joining NJDOH.

At the heart of Smith’s work is a belief that harm reduction saves lives and builds trust. Yet she acknowledges that it can be a sensitive topic. “Many people associate harm reduction only with syringe exchange programs,” she explained. “But harm reduction is something we all practice in our daily lives—like wearing a seatbelt, brushing our teeth, or resting after a workout.” She believes reframing harm reduction as a universal approach to minimizing risk helps break down stigma and build greater understanding.

One of the biggest challenges Smith faces is the stigma surrounding substance use, which can influence policy decisions and slow the adoption of community-led strategies. To overcome these barriers, she focuses on education, relationship-building, and sharing real-life stories alongside data. She also works to ensure that people with lived experience have a seat at the table when policy or programmatic decisions are made.

As a Bloomberg Fellow, Smith is building a network that will help her continue to advocate for more equitable access to harm reduction services across New Jersey and beyond.