My research focuses on social networks, professional norms, compliance and accountability. I examine how social structures and systems of accountability shape professional practices using large-scale longitudinal data and social network methods.

My dissertation examined the role of physician professional networks in high-risk prescribing during the U.S. prescription drug epidemic and led to publications in Administrative Science Quarterly and Organization Science. Related research documents broader patterns of high-risk prescribing and unmet healthcare needs in the United States, with publications in JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Health Affairs, and Psychiatric Services. My ongoing research examines how professional practices evolve in response to social and institutional forces.

Research Articles

Zhang, V., Mohliver, A., & King, M. (2023). “Where is all the Deviance? Liminal Prescribing and the Social Networks Underlying the Prescription Drug Crisis”, Administrative Science Quarterly

Zhang, V. & King, M. (2021), “Tie Decay and Dissolution: Contentious Prescribing Practices in the Prescription Drug Epidemic”, Organization Science

Olfson, M., Zhang, V., Schoenbaum, M., & King, M. (2020), “Trends in Buprenorphine Treatment in the United States, 2009-2018”, JAMA

Olfson, M., Zhang, V. (2021), King, M., & Mojtabai, R. “Changes in Buprenorphine Prescriptions Following Medicaid Expansion” Psychiatric Services

Olfson, M., Zhang, V., Schoenbaum, M., & King, M. (2020), “Buprenorphine Treatment by Primary Care Providers, Psychiatrists and Addiction Specialists, and Other Prescribers”, Health Affairs

Zhang, V., Olfson, M., & King, M. (2019). “Opioid and Benzodiazepine Coprescribing in the United States Before and After US Food and Drug Administration Boxed Warning”, JAMA Psychiatry

Clustering of high-risk prescribing in physician networks; darker color indicates higher intensity opioid prescribing

Clustering of high-risk prescribing in physician networks; darker color indicates higher intensity opioid prescribing