Nikhil Rao (he/they) is a third-year student in the Harvard University Health Policy PhD program (Methods for Policy Research Concentration) whose research centers the impacts of criminal legal systems and policy on population-level health (care) outcomes, particularly for people who use drugs. Prior to beginning studies at Harvard, Nikhil worked as a research analyst in the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Division. There, he contributed to studies related to quality of care in Medicare and Medicaid, structural racism’s impact on health, and access to pharmaceutical treatment for opioid use disorder. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2021 with a BS in Public Health through the Department of Health Policy and Management and a second major in Psychology.