Health
Ernest Drucker, Public-Health Advocate for the Scorned, Dies at 84
Ernest Drucker, a pioneering public-health researcher who approached drug addiction with compassion, invigorated needle-exchange programs to stem the AIDS epidemic and diagnosed the destructive impact of what he called a “plague” of mass incarceration, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Manhattan. He was 84.
The cause was complications of dementia, his son, Jesse Drucker, said.
For more than three decades, Dr. Drucker, primed with epidemiological evidence, waged cutting edge campaigns to improve the lot of prison inmates; the homeless; patients with tuberculosis; workers exposed to asbestos; and HIV-infected drug users and their families, who had been ravaged by the repercussions of AIDS. He was an early and vocal proponent of rethinking the country’s approach to illicit drugs, advocating “harm reduction” — a strategy that prioritizes reducing negative consequences over criminal prosecution.
A clinical psychologist by training, he was professor emeritus of family and social medicine at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and had been a senior research associate and scholar in residence at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York in Manhattan, where he biked to work from the Upper West Side.
Dr. Helene Gayle, an epidemiologist and a former president of Spelman College in Atlanta, described Dr. Drucker this way in an email to his son: “Unapologetic about taking on issues that others wouldn’t touch. Unapologetic about the humanity in all including those who had suffered the most injustice.”
Having run a drug rehabilitation program in the Bronx, Dr. Drucker knew firsthand the destructive capabilities of addictive drugs. But the criminal prosecution of addicts, he argued, only compounded the problem, forcing addicts underground, where dangerous practices like sharing needles resulted in the spread of H.I.V., and saddling them with criminal records that could make them unemployable.
“Our demonization of heroin has transformed otherwise benign and controllable patterns of its use into a lethal gamble and has raised the threshold for seeking help when problems do arise,” he wrote in a letter to The New York Times in 1995. “Other countries are adopting ‘harm reduction’ strategies that (without legalizing drugs) acknowledge their widespread use and employ methods (such as needle exchange) to make even injectable use safer.”
He added that “our stubborn failure to acknowledge the enduring appeal of drugs, and learn how to control (rather than prohibit) their use” had tragic consequences.
Instead, he contended in his book “A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America” (2011), that for the 90 percent of drug crimes that are nonviolent “criminalization can be replaced with a public health and therapeutic model.”
Dr. Drucker established some of the world’s first syringe exchange programs and in 1991, after he testified in favor of them, four members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, known as Act Up, were acquitted in Jersey City, N.J., of charges related to running a needle exchange program to prevent the spread of AIDS.
He warned that the AIDS epidemic was not only afflicting gay men but was also increasingly devastating poor, nonwhite families. He said that heterosexual relations in certain Bronx neighborhoods had become a form of “sexual Russian roulette” that was orphaning children.
“No one, by a long shot, spun out more novel ideas for research, policy and advocacy, many of which resulted in influential publications, new organizations and changes in policy on all aspects of harm reduction as well as drug treatment, public health and criminal justice reform,” Ethan A. Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, which has opposed the war on drugs, said in an email.
Dr. Drucker was a founder and chairman of Doctors of the World/USA from 1993 to 1997, was the founding editor in chief of Harm Reduction Journal, and a founder of the International Harm Reduction Association.
In his eulogy, Professor David Michaels of George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and a former administrator of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Dr. Drucker was “a true public health Renaissance man, driven by a deep commitment to fairness, and justice. He cared deeply about people — you can see it in his work on harm reduction, insisting we should not punish people for who they are and the decisions they make, but instead we should help them become healthier and more fulfilled.”
Ernest Mor Drucker was born on March 29, 1940, in Brooklyn. His father, Joseph, was a machinist for ITT. His wife, Beatrice (Strull) Drucker, managed the household.
Ernest was raised in the borough’s Brighton Beach section, and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School with plans to become an engineer, but he gravitated toward psychology as a major at City College of New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962 followed by a doctorate.
At Montefiore/Einstein, where he was a disciple of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Victor Sidel, two proponents of health care for the poor, he was the director of Public Health and Policy Research and the founding director of a 1,000-patient drug treatment program, where he served until 1990.
He would periodically reinvent himself professionally, shifting his focus to and from heroin addiction, public health, occupational safety, AIDS and alternatives to prison.
In addition to his son, Jesse, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, he is survived by his wife, Jeri (Rosner) Drucker, an artist; his brother, Alan Drucker; and two grandchildren.
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What if your New Year’s resolution could fit inside a tote bag? Social media users are trying the “analog bag” trend, replacing phones with offline activities.
The trend is widely credited to TikTok creator Sierra Campbell, who posted about her own analog bag — containing a crossword book, portable watercolor set, Polaroid camera, planner and knitting supplies — and encouraged followers to make their own.
Her video prompted many others to share their own versions, with items like magazines, decks of cards, paints, needlepoint and puzzle books.
CREATIVE HOBBIES KEEP THE BRAIN YOUNG, STUDY FINDS — HERE ARE THE BEST ONES TO PURSUE
“I made a bag of non-digital activities to occupy my hands instead of the phone,” said Campbell, adding that the practice has significantly cut her screen time and filled her life with “creative and communal pursuits that don’t include doom-scrolling.”
“I created the analog bag after learning the only way to change a habit is to replace it with another,” she told Fox News Digital.
Social media users are trying the “analog bag” trend, replacing phones with offline activities like cameras, notebooks and magazines. (Fox News Digital)
The science of healthier habits
Research on habit formation supports the idea of the analog bag, according to Dr. Daniel Amen, a California-based psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics.
“Your brain is a creature of habit,” Amen said during an interview with Fox News Digital. “Neurons that fire together wire together, meaning that every time you repeat a behavior, whether it’s good or bad, you strengthen the neural pathways that make it easier to do it again.”
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Studies show that habits are automatic responses to specific cues — such as boredom, stress or idle time — that typically deliver some kind of reward, according to the doctor. When no alternative behavior is available, people tend to fall back on the same routine, often without realizing it.
Research suggests that replacing an old habit with a new one tied to the same cue is more effective than trying to suppress the behavior altogether.
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“[When] cutting out coffee — you need to have another drink to grab for, not just quit cold turkey. It’s how the pathways in our brains work,” Campbell said.
By substituting a different routine that still provides stimulation and engagement, people can gradually weaken the original habit and build a new automatic response.
Substituting another activity instead of scrolling on your phone can help quell the impulse to reach for it. (iStock)
“Simply stopping a behavior is very challenging,” Amen said. “Replacing one habit with something that is better for your brain is much easier. That’s how lasting change happens, one step at a time.”
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If alternatives are within arm’s reach, people will be more likely to use them, the doctor said. “Your brain does much better with small, simple actions than big, vague intentions.”
Instead of saying, “I’ll stop scrolling today,” the doctor recommends choosing a small habit you can do in a few moments in specific situations, like knitting 10 rows of a scarf on your commute or reading a few pages of a book while waiting at the doctor’s office.
“If alternatives are within arm’s reach, you’re more likely to use them,” a brain doctor said. “Your brain does much better with small, simple actions than big, vague intentions.” (iStock)
Campbell shared her own examples of how to use an analog bag. At a coffee shop with friends, she said, she might pull out a crossword puzzle and ask others to help with answers when the conversation lulls.
Instead of taking dozens of photos on her phone, she uses an instant camera, which limits shots and encourages more intentional moments.
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In casual outdoor settings, such as a park or winery, she brings a small watercolor set for a quick creative outlet.
“It’s brought so much joy,” Campbell said of the analog bag trend, “seeing how it resonates with so many.”
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A deadly, drug-resistant fungus already spreading rapidly through U.S. hospitals is becoming even more threatening worldwide, though there may be hope for new treatments, according to a new scientific review.
Candida auris (C. auris), often described as a “superbug fungus,” is spreading globally and increasingly resisting human immune systems, Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) researchers said in a review published in early December.
The findings reinforce prior CDC warnings that have labeled C. auris an “urgent antimicrobial threat” — the first fungal pathogen to receive that designation — as U.S. cases have surged, particularly in hospitals and long-term care centers.
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Approximately 7,000 cases were identified across dozens of U.S. states in 2025, according to the CDC, and it has reportedly been identified in at least 60 countries.
Candida auris is a drug-resistant fungus spreading in hospitals worldwide. (Nicolas Armer/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
The review, published in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, helps explain why the pathogen is so difficult to contain and warns that outdated diagnostics and limited treatments lag behind. It was conducted by Dr. Neeraj Chauhan of the Hackensack Meridian CDI in New Jersey, Dr. Anuradha Chowdhary of the University of Delhi’s Medical Mycology Unit and Dr. Michail Lionakis, chief of the clinical mycology program at the National Institutes of Health.
Their findings stress the need to develop “novel antifungal agents with broad-spectrum activity against human fungal pathogens, to improve diagnostic tests and to develop immune- and vaccine-based adjunct modalities for the treatment of high-risk patients,” the researchers said in a statement.
GROWING ANTIBIOTIC CRISIS COULD TURN BACTERIAL INFECTIONS DEADLY, EXPERTS WARN
“In addition, future efforts should focus on raising awareness about fungal disease through developing better surveillance mechanisms, especially in resource-poor countries,” they added. “All these developments should help improve the outcomes and prognosis of patients afflicted by opportunistic fungal infections.”
Candida auris can survive on skin and hospital surfaces, allowing it to spread easily. (iStock)
First identified in 2009 from a patient’s ear sample in Japan, C. auris has since spread to dozens of countries, including the U.S., where outbreaks have forced some hospital intensive care units to shut down, according to the researchers.
The fungus poses the greatest risk to people who are already critically ill, particularly those on ventilators or with weakened immune systems. Once infected, about half of patients may die, according to some estimates.
FLU BY STATE: WHERE THIS SEASON’S HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS VARIANT IS SPREADING THE MOST
Unlike many other fungi, C. auris can survive on human skin and cling to hospital surfaces and medical equipment, allowing it to spread easily in healthcare settings.
“It is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and it tends to spread in hospital settings, including on equipment being used on immunocompromised and semi-immunocompromised patients, such as ventilators and catheters,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone, previously told Fox News Digital.
Scientists say the unique cell wall structure of C. auris makes it harder to kill. (iStock)
It is also frequently misdiagnosed, delaying treatment and infection control measures.
“Unfortunately, symptoms such as fever, chills and aches may be ubiquitous, and it can be mistaken for other infections,” Siegel said.
In September, he said intense research was ongoing to develop new treatments.
Only four major classes of antifungal drugs are currently available, and C. auris has already shown resistance to many of them. While three new antifungal drugs have been approved or are in late-stage trials, researchers warn that drug development has struggled to keep pace with the fungus’s evolution.
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Despite the sobering findings, there is still room for cautious optimism.
The fungus can cling to skin and hospital surfaces, aiding its spread. (iStock)
In separate research published in December, scientists at the University of Exeter in England discovered a potential weakness in C. auris while studying the fungus in a living-host model.
The team found that, during infection, the fungus activates specific genes to scavenge iron, a nutrient it needs to survive, according to their paper, published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Biology in December.
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Because iron is essential for the pathogen, researchers believe drugs that block this process could eventually stop infections or even allow existing medications to be repurposed.
“We think our research may have revealed an Achilles’ heel in this lethal pathogen during active infection,” Dr. Hugh Gifford, a clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter and co-author of the study, said in a statement.
New research is underway to develop better treatments and diagnostics for C. auris. (iStock)
As researchers race to better understand the fungus, officials warn that strict infection control, rapid detection and continued investment in new treatments remain critical.
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Health experts emphasize that C. auris is not a threat to healthy people.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the CDI researchers and additional experts for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed reporting.
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