Ashnee Patel, MPH, is a Research and Policy Initiatives Coordinator at Clear Pathways. Patel is an early-career scientist who is passionate about using community-engaged research methods to study the intersection of behavioral health and the criminal legal system, community safety, and non-police responses such as civilian-based crisis response teams and community violence intervention.

She spent nearly two years working in New York City government at the Department of Youth and Community Development as a Research and Evaluation Specialist, where she collaborated closely with the NYC Office of Neighborhood Safety to evaluate the city’s violence interruption and gun violence prevention initiatives.

Patel holds an MPH at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and some of her past experiences also include research at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry/New York State Psychiatric Institute and the Vera Institute of Justice.