Elika Updhyay

Elika Upadhyay is an Associate on the NASTAD Drug User Health team. In her position, she provides support to the delivery of harm reduction technical assistance and training to health departments and community-based organizations. Her work ensures the effective integration of harm reduction and drug user health approaches across teams and external partners. On the Drug User Health Team, Elika has contributed to national-level projects for health departments and SSPs on topics related to harm reduction, including intersections of sex worker health and reproductive services and workforce development specific to Black Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC) in the drug user health field. More specifically, her work has facilitated the expansion of technical assistance offerings to syringe services and harm reduction programs in both depth and breadth.

NASTAD, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, is a leading non-partisan non-profit association representing public health officials who administer HIV and hepatitis programs in the US. NASTAD's singular mission is to end the intersecting epidemics of HIV, viral hepatitis, and related conditions. NASTAD does this work by strengthening governmental public health through advocacy, capacity building, and social justice.