Amanda Cowan

Amanda studied in the United Kingdom, obtaining her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Social Work. While working for the National Health Service on harm reduction pilot programs she went back for her Masters degree in Addiction and Mental Health.

Amanda has worked in a multitude of substance use settings including working within community based mutual aid programs, jails, hospitals, inpatient and outpatient treatment, to capacity building and technical assistance for agencies, working on policy, and conducting ethnography for research projects related to substance use, which has produced over fifteen published papers.

Amanda is Executive Director for Community Health Project LA, formerly Clean Needles Now, Los Angeles' first needle exchange, an organization rooted in social justice and advocacy for people who use drugs.

Amanda currently sits on the Community Advisory Board for both the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the University of Southern California’s Institute for Addiction Science, as well as Commissioner representing Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on Los Angeles County’s Alcohol and Other Drugs Commission.