Presenters
Muhammad Noor E. Alam, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Director, Decision Analysis Lab, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Muhammad Noor E. Alam, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Director, Decision Analysis Lab, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Muhammad Noor E. Alam is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and director of the Decision Analytics Lab at Northeastern University. He also holds a faculty associate position at the Centre for Health Policy and Healthcare Research and an affiliated faculty position at both the Global Resilience Institute and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Prior to joining Northeastern University, Dr. Alam was a postdoctoral research fellow in Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award in 2021. The key focus of Dr. Alam’s research is to develop strategies for addressing the opioid epidemic crisis. He has been serving as principal investigator and co-principal investigator in several federally funded projects, most of which are related to artificial intelligence/analytics, health care, and addressing the opioid epidemic.
Sarah Ali, MPH
Senior Program Coordinator, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Annapolis, Maryland
Sarah Ali, MPH
Senior Program Coordinator, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Annapolis, Maryland
Sarah Ali is the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) senior program coordinator with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation. She joined the ORS in 2018 as the public health analyst for Connecticut with the New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. After serving in that role for 2 years, she joined the ORS coordination team through the CDC Foundation in October 2020. Ms. Ali has a master of public health degree in chronic disease epidemiology from Yale University and a bachelor of science degree in public health from the University of South Carolina.
Stephen Amos, MS
Chief, Jails Division, National Institute of Corrections
Stephen Amos, MS
Chief, Jails Division, National Institute of Corrections
Stephen Amos is the chief of the Jails Division at the National Institute of Corrections within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He has directed frontline training, technical assistance, information dissemination, program planning, and policy development in support of the nation’s jails and detention facilities at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In addition to a broad array of agency-specific mission-critical services provided to the field by his team of expert correctional program specialists, some of the select broader impacting initiatives achieved include the DOJ Jails Technical Assistance and Training Working Group; the Jail Collaborative Reform Initiative; Jail-based Medication-assisted Treatment: Promising Practices, Guidelines, and Resources for the Field (publication); the Texas Mental Health Officer Training Initiative; the Justice-involved Veteran’s Initiative; the National Sheriffs’ Institute Expansion Initiative; the National Institute of Corrections and American Jail Association Curriculum Collaboration Initiative; the Strategic Inmate Management Initiative; the Restrictive Housing Initiative; and the Massachusetts Special Commission on Correctional Funding Staffing Analysis Initiative.
Joshua Anderson, CERPA
Recovery Coach, Niagara PATH Program, Niagara Falls, New York
Joshua Anderson, CERPA
Recovery Coach, Niagara PATH Program, Niagara Falls, New York
Joshua Anderson has served as a recovery coach with the Niagara County Presenting Alternatives for Treatment and Healing (PATH) program for almost 3 years. With more than two decades without any mind-altering substances, Mr. Anderson is able to provide his clients a rock in their storm. He serves the community he lives in, and it shows in his passion and day-to-day efforts working with those struggling with substance use disorder. He lives his mission 24/7, providing a health example that there is hope and recovery is possible.
Ellen Augspurger
Cordata Healthcare Innovations, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio
Ellen Augspurger
Cordata Healthcare Innovations, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio
Ellen Augspurger supports the West Virginia Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant in managing data collection, reporting, and technical assistance through the Cordata platform.
Robert Baillieu, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Physician and Senior Advisor, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Robert Baillieu, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Physician and Senior Advisor, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Robert Baillieu serves as a physician and senior advisor at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). He is a board-certified family physician, fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and a former Robert L. Phillips, Jr., Health Policy Fellow at the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Robert Graham Center and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Primary Care. He is also a former assistant professor of clinical family medicine at Georgetown University, where he supervised residents and taught classes in policy, advocacy, statistics, and clinical medicine. Dr. Baillieu’s research activities have focused on the primary care workforce, health information technology, and the implementation of best practices at the community level. He has presented at national and international meetings and has published in international, peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Baillieu graduated with honors from the University of Sydney Medical School in Australia and completed residency training in family medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where he was also chief resident. Prior to this, he lived in Australia, where he undertook training in adult internal medicine. Dr. Baillieu holds degrees in medicine, public health, business, and modern languages, and he has experience in health systems research, policy analysis, community organizing, international business, management, public health, education, and medical practice.
Larrecsa Barker, NREMT-P, MPH Candidate
Community Paramedic, Cabell County Emergency Medical Services/Huntington Quick Response Team, Huntington, West Virginia
Larrecsa Barker, NREMT-P, MPH Candidate
Community Paramedic, Cabell County Emergency Medical Services/Huntington Quick Response Team, Huntington, West Virginia
Larrecsa Barker worked as a field paramedic before transitioning to a position on the Huntington, West Virginia, Quick Response Team (QRT). She worked for nearly 4 years as a field medic in a high-volume, 9-1-1 county-based ambulance service. This involved working autonomously with critically ill and injured patients. Over the past year, Ms. Barker has played an important role as the emergency medical services component on the QRT, recently becoming the team leader with multiple responsibilities for the continued success of the unconventional QRT model.
Luiza Barnat, MS, LMFT, MBA
Director of Opioid Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, Connecticut
Luiza Barnat, MS, LMFT, MBA
Director of Opioid Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, Connecticut
Luiza Barnat is currently serving as the director of opioid services at the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Office of the Commissioner. She is a Connecticut Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with 16 years of experience in the field of mental health and addiction, both in public and private nonprofit settings. Ms. Barnat has been managing behavioral health teams since 2010 and, since 2018, has worked on opioid grants and services, including oversight of the state opioid response funding. Ms. Barnat earned a master of science degree in family therapy in 2007 and a master of business administration degree in health care administration in 2016.
Erica L. Barnes
Supervisor/Assistant Administrator, Case Manager, Columbia, Montour, Snyder, and Union Counties Drug and Alcohol Unit, Danville, Pennsylvania
Erica L. Barnes
Supervisor/Assistant Administrator, Case Manager, Columbia, Montour, Snyder, and Union Counties Drug and Alcohol Unit, Danville, Pennsylvania
Erica Barnes currently manages a fully functioning drug and alcohol case management unit for Columbia, Montour, Snyder, and Union Counties. The case manager types include general, Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI), and specialty courts. Ms. Barnes recently held the positions of clinical supervisor at an outpatient facility and juvenile behavioral health supervisor, specifically working with drug and alcohol at-risk youth. She has worked in the drug and alcohol field for 20 years in many different capacities. Ms. Barnes holds a bachelor of science degree from Bloomsburg University.
Joshua Barnett, MA, MHS, PhD
Behavioral Health Data Scientist, Pinellas County Human Services Department, Pinellas County, Florida
Joshua Barnett, MA, MHS, PhD
Behavioral Health Data Scientist, Pinellas County Human Services Department, Pinellas County, Florida
Joshua Barnett is a behavioral health data scientist with the Pinellas County, Florida, Human Services Department and has served as an administrator of public and not-for-profit behavioral health services since 2009. He served as a policy and clinical consultant to the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and a U.S. Department of Justice-appointed court monitor and led multiple initiatives to reduce opioid-related overdoses in both Manatee County, Florida, and Pinellas County. Dr. Barnett is a professor of public health at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and has published in the areas of substance use and harm reduction. He has a doctor of philosophy degree in behavioral and community sciences from the University of South Florida, a master of health science degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a master of arts degree in thanatology from Hood College.
Nava Bastola, MPH
Program Coordinator and Overdose Fatality Review Specialist, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Hillsborough, New Jersey
Nava Bastola, MPH
Program Coordinator and Overdose Fatality Review Specialist, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Hillsborough, New Jersey
Nava Bastola is a public health professional skilled in health education and behavioral health sciences. Ms. Bastola is the program coordinator and overdose fatality review (OFR) specialist for the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS). She supports agencies and organizations in building partnerships and developing overdose data sharing and response efforts. As an OFR specialist, she supports overdose prevention by promoting national standards and supporting training initiatives across sectors. Prior to this role, Ms. Bastola was a program analyst at the Institutional Review Board of Rutgers University. She has worked with maternal and child health agencies, locally and globally, in reducing health disparities.
Judy Bazinet, LICSW
Program Manager, Project NORTH, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Judy Bazinet, LICSW
Program Manager, Project NORTH, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Judy Bazinet is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and the program manager for Project NORTH (Navigation, Outreach, Recovery, Treatment, and Hope). Project NORTH embeds recovery support navigators who work for licensed treatment providers in 13 high-need locations across the state of Massachusetts. Recovery support navigators meet with clients and family members impacted by substance use disorder and facilitate ultra-warm handoffs to treatment, recovery support, and overdose prevention and naloxone distribution resources in the community. Project NORTH also supports clients with access to transportation services as well as short-term financial support for certified sober housing. Ms. Bazinet has significant experience as a drug court clinician and as a clinician in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, House of Corrections. She also serves on multiple trial court committees and working groups.
Sharon Bean, MPA
Jail Population Manager, Camden County Department of Corrections, Camden, New Jersey
Sharon Bean, MPA
Jail Population Manager, Camden County Department of Corrections, Camden, New Jersey
Sharon Bean has been the jail population manager for the Camden County, New Jersey, Department of Corrections since 2015. In this role, she works with local criminal justice system and community-based stakeholders to safely reduce the adult jail population, as well as oversees the development of a continuum of reentry policies, practices, and programs to benefit citizens returning home upon release from incarceration to Camden County. Ms. Bean is the project administrator of the New Jersey Medication Assisted Treatment grant; the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Second Chance and Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Reentry grants; and the COSSUP Building Bridges Planning Initiative to work with individuals returning home with a substance use disorder. Since 2016, she has worked on behalf of the Department of Corrections to receive more than $7 million dollars in reentry grant funding. Ms. Bean has her master’s degree in public administration and her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Rutgers University–Camden.
Shreeti Bickett
Director of Programs, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, Nashville, Tennessee
Shreeti Bickett
Director of Programs, Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, Nashville, Tennessee
Shreeti Bickett is the director of programs at the Davidson County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Office (DCSO), where she has dedicated 28 years of service in various roles, from officer to case manager to her current position (and Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program [COSSUP] project coordinator). Her current responsibilities include overseeing programming across Davidson County jails and building partnerships with community-based organizations. Ms. Bickett is passionate about transforming the culture of corrections and witnessing positive change. In addition to her work with the DCSO, she coordinates school-based programming in Davidson County, focusing on reducing the risk of incarceration and substance use in communities impacted by substance misuse and crime. Ms. Bickett has a strong affinity for children, and her experience with jail visitation led her to realize the importance of creating a family-friendly atmosphere. Thus, the idea of the Father’s Day Out program was born. She worked tirelessly with her team and collaborators to bring her vision to fruition and establish in-community, child-friendly visits.
Natalie Bodine
Health Program Manager, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Boise, Idaho
Natalie Bodine
Health Program Manager, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Boise, Idaho
Natalie Bodine is the health program manager for the Drug Overdose Prevention Program within the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Division of Public Health. She has more than 18 years’ experience with state and local public health working within the Idaho Division of Public Health, Division of Medicaid, and local Public Health District 4. Ms. Bodine has experience in public health program management, public health preparedness, quality improvement, and prevention work that spans across not only public health but the private and nonprofit realms as well. Ms. Bodine obtained a bachelor of science degree in public health from Montana State University.
Ashley Bolton, MPH
Director, Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health
Ashley Bolton, MPH
Director, Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health
Ashley Bolton is the director of the Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention (ODSMP) at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. She leads many successful statewide programs, including the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), overdose surveillance, the First Responder Addiction and Connection to Treatment Program, the Patient Advocacy Program, the Safe and Effective Prescriber Education Program, and overdose prevention and response activities with local health departments. Ms. Bolton holds a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and a bachelor of arts degree in integrated physiology and health sciences from Alma College.
Megan Brown, MPH
Data Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Megan Brown, MPH
Data Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Megan Brown is the data manager for the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group at the New York City, New York, Office of Chief Medical Examiner. She came to public health after several years of working in fashion development and production in New York City. Ms. Brown graduated with honors from New York University with a master of public health degree in epidemiology and earned her bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Washington.
Deanna Bunce, LCSW, CASAC-T
Program Coordinator, Niagara County Department of Mental Health, Niagara Falls, New York
Deanna Bunce, LCSW, CASAC-T
Program Coordinator, Niagara County Department of Mental Health, Niagara Falls, New York
Deanna Bunce has worked with the Niagara County, New York, Department of Mental Health for more than 6 years, supervising the Bureau of Justice Assistance grant programs for 4 years. She developed the Presenting Alternatives to Treatment and Healing (PATH) program as an innovative intervention of community-based harm reduction strategies. To date, the program assists more than 1,200 individuals and their families with recovery-oriented supports.
Katie Burns, MPH
Manager, Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, Amoskeag Health, Manchester, New Hampshire
Katie Burns, MPH
Manager, Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, Amoskeag Health, Manchester, New Hampshire
Katie Burns works for Amoskeag Health, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Federally Qualified Health Center located in Manchester, New Hampshire, in her role as the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team (ACERT) manager. She oversees the partnerships between the Manchester Police Department, the YWCA of New Hampshire, and various community mental health and family-serving agencies that make up the original ACERT collaboration. In addition, she is leading the development of the ACERT Technical Assistance Center, which has been built to provide coaching, guidance, training, and other resources to communities that are in the process of replicating the model. Ms. Burns has her master’s degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Vicky Butler
Executive Director, Plymouth County Outreach, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Vicky Butler
Executive Director, Plymouth County Outreach, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Vicky Butler is the executive director of Plymouth County Outreach (PCO) in Massachusetts, where she works closely with the PCO Chiefs Advisory Board and medical partners overseeing the program in its entirety as well as implementation of new program components. A person in recovery, Ms. Butler first started working with PCO in 2017 as a volunteer recovery coach. From there, she became the program coordinator through the first cohort of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) AmeriCorps members and was then hired as PCO’s first operations supervisor. Ms. Butler is a Certified Addiction Recovery Coach and recovery coach supervisor through the state of Massachusetts and holds certifications to teach multiple curricula, including the Recovery Coach Academy, the Massachusetts Drug Endangered Children curriculum, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) How Being Trauma Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses training. She has presented at national conferences throughout the country, including the PAARI Summit, the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, and the Stimulant Summit.
Mike Campbell, EMT-P
Deputy Chief, Training Division Chief, Stanly County Emergency Medical Services, Stanly County, North Carolina
Mike Campbell, EMT-P
Deputy Chief, Training Division Chief, Stanly County Emergency Medical Services, Stanly County, North Carolina
Mike Campbell serves Stanly County, North Carolina, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as the training division chief. In 2019, he played a key role in the development and implementation of the Stanly County EMS Community Paramedic Division. During his tenure at Stanly County EMS, he has served in multiple roles, including paramedic, community paramedic, EMS field training officer, and EMS lieutenant. Deputy Chief Campbell began his career in public service in 2003 as an EMS volunteer. Shortly after becoming a paramedic, he developed a passion for education and training and became a paramedic instructor, certified by the North Carolina Office of EMS. He spent many years working for Mecklenburg EMS Agency, the busiest EMS service in North Carolina, before transitioning to Stanly County EMS. Currently, Deputy Chief Campbell also serves as a part-time instructor providing EMS and community paramedic education in North Carolina and is the co-chair of the North Carolina Community Paramedic Coalition.
Jill Campoli, MA, LPCC, CCTP
Clinical Director, Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Jill Campoli, MA, LPCC, CCTP
Clinical Director, Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Jill Campoli is the clinical director for the Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has served the tribes of northern New Mexico through direct clinical services, program development, grant writing, and leadership since 2014. Ms. Campoli is currently pursuing a doctor of philosophy degree in visionary practice and regenerative leadership.
Jennifer Cantwell
Jennifer Cantwell, Community Engagement Coordinator, Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, Brockton, Massachusetts
Jennifer Cantwell
Jennifer Cantwell, Community Engagement Coordinator, Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, Brockton, Massachusetts
Jennifer Cantwell leads the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Initiative for the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office. The DEC Initiative connects families impacted by substance use to resources and support and trains schools and first responders in Plymouth County on trauma informed practices. Mrs. Cantwell also serves as the Chair of the Plymouth County Drug Abuse Task Force subcommittee on community coalitions.
Token Carter, MS, LPC, DEI
Discharge Planner, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Token Carter, MS, LPC, DEI
Discharge Planner, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Token Carter is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and currently serves as a discharge planner for the Franklin County, Ohio, Office of Justice Policy and Programs in the jail-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program, linking clients who received pre-release MAT to community treatment providers post-release. Ms. Carter’s experience as an LPC includes trauma-informed practices, crisis intervention, and foster care placement disruptions. She has worked in mental health, justice, and substance use systems for 5 years, assisting the justice-involved community with navigating probation, workforce development, and collateral sanctions. Ms. Carter holds a master’s degree in counseling.
Margaret Chapman, MA
Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Margaret Chapman, MA
Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Margaret “Meg” Chapman is a policy advisor supporting the Corrections, Reentry, and Justice Reform Policy Office of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). She has spent the past 25 years working in a variety of social science research, policy development and analysis, and program evaluation roles. Her portfolio of work is focused on the intersection of behavioral health and corrections and includes informing policy related to the identification of individuals with behavioral health disorders at the point of detainment, the assessment and provision of evidence-based treatment to individuals while in custody, and continuation of care upon release. Prior to joining BJA, Ms. Chapman spent more than 20 years with Abt Associates, Inc., where she managed and executed numerous research studies for federal and nonfederal clients. She served in leadership roles for projects that included providing analytic and research support for DOJ’s surveys and projects.
Jac Charlier, MPA
Executive Director, Center for Health and Justice, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities
Jac Charlier, MPA
Executive Director, Center for Health and Justice, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities
Jac Charlier is the executive director of both Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities’ (TASC) Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) and the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC). A national expert in crime reduction and deflection/pre-arrest diversion, Mr. Charlier specializes in practical solutions that bring together justice system partners, behavioral health service providers, and community leaders in common aims of creating safer, healthier communities. As part of his work with CHJ, Mr. Charlier leads the National Deflection Technical Assistance Center, including the provision of training and technical assistance to law enforcement and first responder-led deflection initiatives through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP). He is also a recognized civic leader in the Chicagoland area and brings his years of successful grassroots experience to work in developing justice solutions grounded in the context of the community.
Sarah Chivers
Peer Recovery Supervisor, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Anchorage, Alaska
Sarah Chivers
Peer Recovery Supervisor, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Anchorage, Alaska
Sarah Chivers works for the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) in Anchorage, Alaska, as the peer recovery supervisor and is also a person in long-term recovery—not having a desire to use illicit substances since August 2019. When she started her recovery journey, she went to CITC for her assessment. CITC helped her get into a detox facility and find a treatment program. She now works directly with many of the people who helped save her life as well as many of the staff from the residential facility she went to. Ms. Chivers is a certified Peer Support Professional III as well as a Traditional Peer Support Professional III. She is also certified as a Chemical Dependency Counselor I in the state of Alaska and is an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) facilitator. Her heart is in empowering individuals new to recovery to build the tools to navigate a healthy recovery. Ms. Chivers facilitates a group in a detox facility, as well as several other peer support groups in the community. With fentanyl sweeping through this country, she also helps to facilitate community Narcan trainings and supports Project Hope in getting Narcan kits to rural Alaska. Ms. Chivers is a lifelong Alaskan and grew up in Barrow, Alaska, an Inupiat village, which is the farthest northern point in Alaska one can go. In 1991, her family moved down to Anchorage, where she continues to live.
Roberta C. Churchill, MA, LMHC
Senior Justice Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Roberta C. Churchill, MA, LMHC
Senior Justice Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Roberta C. Churchill is a senior justice associate at Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) with more than 35 years of experience working with individuals living with the effects of trauma, substance use, and co-occurring mental health disorders. Since 1996, she has worked with justice-involved individuals who have multiple needs, developing and supervising medication-assisted treatment, educational, and gender-specific programming. She has worked with various jails and prisons, community correction sites, and treatment courts facilitating, supervising, and implementing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorder treatment programs. Ms. Churchill worked with a treatment specialist and program officers to develop one of the first Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) programs in Massachusetts, which is still operating after 25 years. Since coming to AHP, she has assisted Dr. Andrew Klein in developing publications and presentations on medication for opioid use disorder and withdrawal guidelines for jails and the pretrial population. Ms. Churchill has also helped research and co-present with Dr. Klein on the prevention of suicide among people with substance use disorder. She was responsible for the two revisions of the Promising Practices Guidelines for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, is revising and developing toolkits on the topics of integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders and trauma-responsive care, and is currently working on the development of a diversity, equity, and inclusion manual that will help explore disconnections that exist between needs and services due to inequity, lack of diversity, and lack of inclusion.
Mark Cioffi, MBA, MS
Program Analyst, New Hampshire Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Concord, New Hampshire
Mark Cioffi, MBA, MS
Program Analyst, New Hampshire Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Concord, New Hampshire
Mark Cioffi has been the program analyst for the New Hampshire Prescription Drug Monitoring Program since 2018. In that capacity, he is responsible for all data analysis projects, including communications to stakeholders and the New Hampshire Legislature. He served on two of the governor’s eight opioid crisis task forces. Mr. Cioffi’s health care career spans four decades, including positions as health care practice manager for Keane Consulting; in data analysis at three Blue Cross/Blue Shield facilities in New England; in data management for the New Hampshire Medicaid Management Information System; and as senior management analyst at New Hampshire Hospital, a psychiatric hospital. Mr. Cioffi earned a master of business administration degree from Plymouth State University, master of science degree in taxation from Bentley College, and a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Heather Coia, MSW, LICSW
Overdose Fatality Review Coordinator, Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, Rhode Island
Heather Coia, MSW, LICSW
Overdose Fatality Review Coordinator, Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, Rhode Island
Heather Coia is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who serves as Rhode Island’s overdose fatality review (OFR) coordinator under the Drug Overdose Prevention Program at the Rhode Island Department of Health. She has been supporting the Rhode Island OFR Team since 2020 and offers a collaborative, strategic approach to ensuring that the team is impactful in driving public health decision making amidst the overdose crisis. Ms. Coia has worked in the behavioral health field for 16 years, providing clinical services for adolescents and adults in residential programs, inpatient units, outpatient settings, emergency departments, police departments, and private practice settings. She has developed and implemented a pilot post-overdose outreach program in a police department and understands the valuable role that collaboration across public health, public safety, and behavioral health systems can play in effective overdose response. Ms. Coia holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in social work from Rhode Island College.
Jennie Cole-Mossman
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International
Jennie Cole-Mossman
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International
Jennie Cole-Mossman is a technical expert lead for JBS International, serving both the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Training and Technical Assistance project and the Health Resource and Services Administration Rural Communities Opioid Response Program project. She is a mental health specialist whose expertise spans child-parent relationships, family drug courts, dependency court system work, opioid and other drug use disorders, and trauma screening and treatment for young children (aged 0 to 5). Ms. Cole-Mossman is a specialist in the use of reflective practice to decrease secondary trauma and assist with implementation of trauma-informed care for judges, attorneys, and a range of victim service providers. She is also a trained mediator and collaborative divorce child specialist.
Frank Craig, LCDC
State Director, Gateway Foundation, Wyoming Department of Corrections
Frank Craig, LCDC
State Director, Gateway Foundation, Wyoming Department of Corrections
Frank Craig has been the Wyoming State Director for the Gateway Foundation’s contract with the Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC) since 2015. His tenure with the Gateway Foundation has included services with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice since 1999 (minus 3 years working as an investigator for Child Protective Services in Texas). As a former president of the Wyoming Association of Addiction Professionals (WAAP), Mr. Craig worked to re-establish the WAAP as an affiliate of the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) and as a legislative advocate in Wyoming, as well as Texas, to promote the field of substance use disorder (SUD). He volunteered as a member of the Hamilton County, Texas, Child Welfare Board for 8 years, serving as board president and as a board representative (then president) for the Central Texas Council of Child Welfare Boards. His community involvement also saw a term serving as a Hamilton, Texas, City Council member prior to relocating to Wyoming. Mr. Craig has had professional membership with the NAADAC through the WAAP and was formerly a member of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals. For 26 years, he has dedicated his career to providing SUD services primarily to criminal justice populations with a recent initiative to establish trainings/supervision to justice-involved peers in collaboration with Recover Wyoming, the WDOC, and the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium.
Joshua Crews
Resource Engagement Specialist, First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Joshua Crews
Resource Engagement Specialist, First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Joshua (Josh) Crews serves as the resource engagement specialist and primary educator for the Tennessee First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team. He began his emergency medical technician studies in 2003, when he was 17 years old, before becoming a paramedic. During his career, Mr. Crews has worked as an officer in two volunteer fire departments, a countywide rescue squad, and a cave and high-angle rescue team. He has taught fire, rescue, and emergency medical services (EMS) education to professionals all over the Southeast. He worked full-time as a paramedic in Huntsville, Alabama, until a significant injury occurred, after which he transitioned to emergency medical dispatch in 2014. Mr. Crews started working in community overdose education and prevention in 2018 and went back to college, obtaining his bachelor of science degree in criminal psychology.
Timothy J. Cruz
District Attorney, Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, Brockton, Massachusetts
Timothy J. Cruz
District Attorney, Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, Brockton, Massachusetts
Timothy J. Cruz has served as the Plymouth County, Massachusetts, District Attorney since November 2001. During his tenure, he has aggressively prosecuted crime in Plymouth County. Working closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, his office has taken guns, drugs, violent felons, sex offenders, and drunk drivers off the streets. Most recently, Mr. Cruz has focused his office’s efforts on battling the opioid crisis at all levels. Through specialized units in his office, he has worked to protect children, the elderly, domestic violence victims, and the disabled from abuse. His office also works collaboratively with local law enforcement, social service agencies, health care professionals, the faith community, and educators on crime prevention initiatives throughout the county.
Andrea Darr
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International
Andrea Darr
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International
Andrea Darr is a Handle With Care subject-matter expert at JBS International. Prior to this position, she was the director of the West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice from 2015 to 2023. The West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice promotes and supports a statewide trauma-informed response to child maltreatment and children’s exposure to violence. Ms. Darr is a cofounder of the West Virginia Handle With Care Initiative, which promotes safe and supportive homes, schools, and communities that protect children and help traumatized children heal and thrive. Before devoting her work full-time to children’s initiatives, Ms. Darr served as the coordinator of Victim Witness Services at the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute from 2005 to 2015. In that capacity, she coordinated with prosecution-based victim-witness assistance programs as well as community-based programs to improve their collective knowledge concerning available resources and information and to establish a bridge between local, state, and federal agencies regarding victim issues. Ms. Darr has also worked in direct services with victims of crime, violence, and abuse while serving as the victim liaison at the Kanawha County, West Virginia, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office from 2002 to 2015.
Linda Davis, JD
Executive Director, Families Against Narcotics, Clinton Township, Michigan
Linda Davis, JD
Executive Director, Families Against Narcotics, Clinton Township, Michigan
Linda Davis, the executive director of Families Against Narcotics (FAN), was appointed to the bench on March 27, 2000, by Michigan Governor John Engler. Prior to her judgeship, she spent 13 years as an assistant prosecutor with the Macomb County, Michigan, Prosecutor’s Office. Judge Davis played a crucial role in FAN’s inception and, as its executive director, has been instrumental in the success and growth of the organization. She was recently appointed as a voting member of the new Opioid Advisory Commission in Michigan, which will determine how funds from the National Opioid Settlement will be spent in the state.
Jayme A. Delano, MSW
Deputy Director, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC
Jayme A. Delano, MSW
Deputy Director, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC
Jayme A. Delano, deputy director for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has experience spanning years working in public health and public safety. She is characterized in multiple areas, as follows: oversight of federal grant programs; a subject-matter expert supporting interagency task forces and work groups; led daily operations of alternative-to-incarceration programs for the substance use disorder population; hired and supervised management teams that worked with organizations to affect the culture and climate necessary for programmatic success; development and oversight of research activities; provided technical assistance and training to a variety of criminal justice agencies; a therapist in community-based clinics; and owned a private practice treating people with varied mental health diagnoses. Ms. Delano is an Ottawa University and Rio Salado Community College adjunct professor. She holds a master of social work degree from New York University and a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice from Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus.
Michael Delgado
Captain, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Michael Delgado
Captain, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Michael Delgado is a captain with the Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Office (SFCSO), which he joined in 2003 at the age of 23. After 4 years of patrol work, he became a detective in the Criminal Investigations Division. Four years later, he was promoted and returned to the Patrol Division. He worked his way up the ranks and supervised patrol teams for several years until being promoted to the rank of captain. He also served on the SFCSO SWAT Team for more than 10 years. Captain Delgado has worked with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program from its inception in Santa Fe County, assisting in policy implementation and continued coordination with LEAD program manager Elizabeth Peterson. One of his career highlights was receiving the Harry Neal Award, presented for his exceptional heroism in the pursuit and apprehension of an armed and dangerous felon on July 25, 2017. Captain Delgado was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Sonam Delvadia, MPH
Epidemiology Research Associate, Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Sonam Delvadia, MPH
Epidemiology Research Associate, Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Sonam Delvadia is an epidemiology research associate at the Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention (ODSMP) at the Pennsylvania Department of Health and has served in this role for 3 years. In this position, she has conducted several analyses examining opioid, benzodiazepine, and carisoprodol prescription combination (“Holy Trinity”) trends in Pennsylvania and temporal changes in stimulant prescribing trends among different age groups in Pennsylvania and has developed an interactive dashboard displaying Pennsylvania controlled substance prescribing trends per various prescriber categories. Before joining the ODSMP, Ms. Delvadia served as an HIV surveillance analyst at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Ms. Delvadia holds a master of public health degree with a concentration in epidemiology from Emory University and a bachelor of science degree in public health sciences from the University of California, Irvine.
Bobby Dorton
Reentry Program Manager, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska
Bobby Dorton
Reentry Program Manager, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska
Bobby Dorton is a reentry program manager with the Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks, Alaska. An Athabascan from Northway, a village in the Upper Tanana Region, he has lived experience with prisons and substance misuse. His previous job was as an addiction counselor at the Ralph Perdue Center, a 3.5-level-of-care residential treatment center in Fairbanks. Mr. Dorton’s most tremendous success is being a member of the Peer Support Advisory Board, which focuses on helping peers get certified through the Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health, where he serves as a commissioner. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the Alaska Mental Health Board. He has served as the community co-chair for the Fairbanks Reentry Coalition for the past 3 years. In addition, he worked with the Reducing Recidivism Conference as a planning committee member for 3 years.
Shaun Doyne
Drug Intelligence Officer, Overdose Response Strategy, Wisconsin
Shaun Doyne
Drug Intelligence Officer, Overdose Response Strategy, Wisconsin
Shaun Doyne is the drug intelligence officer for the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) in Wisconsin. The ORS is an unprecedented and unique public health-public safety partnership between the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mr. Doyne supports statewide and local overdose prevention and response efforts at the intersection of public health and public safety, facilitating cross-sector collaboration and supporting evidence-based strategies. Mr. Doyne retired as a captain from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Police Department (MPD) in September 2021 after 26 years of service. As a captain, he commanded the MPD’s Forensics and Violent Crimes Divisions. His assignments as a lieutenant included the Homicide Division, the Narcotics Division, the South Investigations Division, and patrol shift commander. Throughout his law enforcement career, he has collaborated with federal, state, and local partners as well as intergovernmental, public health, and other community partners. Mr. Doyne holds a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Brian Dubray
Chief of Police, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Tribal Police Department, Florence, Oregon
Brian Dubray
Chief of Police, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Tribal Police Department, Florence, Oregon
Brian Dubray is the chief of police for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) Tribal Police Department (TPD). He previously served as sergeant and lieutenant of the department. Chief Dubray began his law enforcement career as a reserve officer and police dispatcher with the North Bend, Oregon, Police Department until being hired by the Coquille Tribal Police Department as a police officer. Chief Dubray holds an executive-level certification through the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST). He is a DPSST-certified instructor and has served as an instructor in the following disciplines: firearms; use of force; Multiple Interactive Learning Objectives (MILO); Oregon Physical Abilities Test (ORPAT); Taser; and Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (ALICE). He is also a classroom instructor at DPSST. Chief Dubray serves as the Law Enforcement Data System (LEDS) representative for the CTCLUSI TPD, the CTCLUSI Tribal Gaming Commission, and the CTCLUSI Housing Department. He is an alumnus of the Oregon Executive Development Institute and Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Institute along with DPSST’s Supervisor Leadership Academy and Organizational Leadership Management courses. Chief Dubray holds a bachelor of science degree in criminology and criminal justice and an associate of science degree in music from Portland State University.
Elizabeth Evans, PhD
Professor, University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences
Elizabeth Evans, PhD
Professor, University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences
Elizabeth Evans is a professor of public health and health sciences at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst. Her research focuses on how health care systems and public policies can better promote health and wellness among vulnerable and underserved populations, particularly for individuals at risk for substance use disorders, mental illness, and infectious diseases. Dr. Evans joined UMass Amherst in 2017 and since then has focused on addressing the opioid epidemic, particularly among criminally involved populations.
Liz Evans, BScN, MEd
Senior Director, Liberation Programs, Norwalk, Connecticut
Liz Evans, BScN, MEd
Senior Director, Liberation Programs, Norwalk, Connecticut
Liz Evans is a senior director at Liberation Programs, working to further advance harm reduction approaches and enhance services for individuals at risk of overdose and those who are underserved by mainstream resources in Connecticut. She is the site coordinator for the Connecticut Community and Law Enforcement for Addiction Recovery (CLEAR) Project. Ms. Evans is a recognized authority in the field and has extensive expertise and an unwavering commitment toward transforming the perception and treatment of substance users both nationally and internationally. She has more than 30 years of frontline experience and has dedicated her career to marginalized individuals living in poverty and struggling with substance use. During her tenure in New York, Ms. Evans led two renowned harm reduction organizations and established a pioneering Drug User Health Hub, expanded mobile outreach services, developed new programs, and significantly increased the organizations’ impact. She expanded the use of overdose prevention services and managed the merger of New York Harm Reduction Educators and the Washington Heights Corner Project, forming OnPoint NYC. As a former Open Society Foundation fellow and founder of the PHS Community Services Society (formerly the Portland Hotel Society), Ms. Evans has been instrumental in introducing groundbreaking housing-first policies in Canada and was part of a visionary team that established North America’s first legally sanctioned injection site in 2003. Ms. Evans holds a master’s degree in adult education and a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
Pearl Evans, MAPL
Overdose Prevention Program Administrator, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, Minnesota
Pearl Evans, MAPL
Overdose Prevention Program Administrator, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, Minnesota
Pearl Evans works as an overdose prevention program administrator at the Minnesota Department of Health. She is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist who brings lived experience to the work. Listening to community voices inspires her to champion health equity within her overdose prevention work.
Stephanie Evans, MS
Program Manager, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey
Stephanie Evans, MS
Program Manager, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey
Stephanie Evans has worked in the mental health field for 28 years, including 22 years with Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC). She started at UBHC as a counselor at its partial hospital program and, after 12 years, moved to the case management department. Ms. Evans is currently a program manager within the community-based service department. This department provides outreach services to individuals with mental health/substance use disorders. These services include assessment of the individual’s needs, planning, and implementation through linkages and referrals. In her role, Ms. Evans has overseen various case management programs, including Justice Involved Services (JIS), the Project for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH), Specialized Case Management and Outreach Services (SCMOS), the Support Team for Addiction Recovery (STAR), R-HOME, and Supported Employment. Ms. Evans is a member of several committees, including the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Behavioral Health Justice Involved Task Force; Built for Zero (committee to end homelessness in Middlesex County); the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Veterans Diversion Program; and the Crisis Intervention Team Middlesex County Planning Committee.
Captain Tom Fallon
Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio
Captain Tom Fallon
Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio
Thomas M. Fallon, captain of the Amberley Village, Ohio, Police Department (PD), is the commander and a founding member of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Heroin Coalition Task Force. Commander Fallon has served as the commander of this task force since its inception in June 2015. Under his command, the task force has investigated more than 1,100 opioid-related overdose deaths and more than 60 nonfatal overdoses. On October 5, 2016, the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force was given the award for “Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement” by then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. In September 2019, this task force was named “Ohio Task Force of the Year” by the Ohio Narcotics Association Regional Coordinating Officers (NARCO). Ohio NARCO is a not-for-profit law enforcement association serving Ohio’s law enforcement community.
In his role with the task force, Commander Fallon initiated the Quick Response Team (QRT) in Norwood, Ohio, in 2016 and is currently leading a multijurisdictional, countywide QRT in Hamilton County. In early 2021, he was the law enforcement lead and program coordinator of one of the largest QRT expansion projects in the nation. He is also the law enforcement policy advisor for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Hamilton County, currently serving three jurisdictions.
Commander Fallon began his law enforcement career in 1989 at the Wilmington, Ohio, PD. In July 1990, he moved to the Norwood PD in Hamilton County, where he was supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Section and commander of the Norwood Drug Task Force. In 2015, after noticing a steep increase in heroin-related overdoses and heroin-related deaths in Norwood, Commander Fallon helped create the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, with a mission to investigate overdoses and overdose deaths back to the supplier of the deadly drug. In November 2017, he left the Norwood PD to join the Amberley Village PD. Commander Fallon has an associate of science degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.
Trent Favre, JD
Judge, Hancock County Youth Court, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Trent Favre, JD
Judge, Hancock County Youth Court, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Trent Favre was appointed by Governor Phil Bryant in late 2017 to serve as Hancock County, Mississippi’s first County Court Judge. He presides over youth court matters, including abuse, neglect, and delinquency matters. He also oversees a general civil litigation docket. Prior to his appointment, Judge Favre practiced for 19 years, focusing primarily on civil litigation and governmental law. He has served as a board member to various organizations, including United Way of South Mississippi, Hancock Chamber, and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, which he chaired. In 2019, he was named Mississippi’s 2019 Champion for Children for the judicial branch and the Child Welfare and Child Advocacy Committee of The Mississippi Bar recognized him as a Reunification Hero for the State of Mississippi. At the National Judicial Summit in 2019, Dr. Jerry Milner recognized Judge Favre in his opening address for his work. In 2020, Judge Favre was named the recipient of The Mississippi Bar’s Judicial Excellence Award. He was inducted as Fellow for the Mississippi Bar Foundation in 2023. He currently serves on Mississippi’s Children’s Justice Commission and Access to Justice Commission. In 2021, he established a family treatment court with a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. When Judge Favre took the bench in January 2018, there were 389 children in custody in Hancock County. Today, there are 81. Judge Favre graduated from Millsaps College in 1996 and the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1999.
Robyn Feese, MA, LCADC, CPC, NCC
Director, Substance Abuse Program, Nevada Department of Corrections
Robyn Feese, MA, LCADC, CPC, NCC
Director, Substance Abuse Program, Nevada Department of Corrections
Robyn Feese is the Nevada Department of Corrections Substance Abuse Program Director, in which she oversees five substance use disorder programs statewide. She formerly was the substance abuse lead counselor for the Wells Center within the Illinois Department of Corrections as well as an adjunct professor in Illinois for a community college. Ms. Feese has 17 years of experience in the addiction, behavioral health, and corrections fields and has earned national recognition for implementation of evidence-based principles for corrections programs. She holds state licensure for co-occurring disorders (Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor), mental health licensures in Nevada and Illinois (Clinical Professional Counselor), and a national certification in counseling. Ms. Feese holds a master of arts degree in human development counseling.
Daniel S. Fiore II
Judge, 17th Judicial Circuit, Arlington, Virginia
Daniel S. Fiore II
Judge, 17th Judicial Circuit, Arlington, Virginia
Daniel S. Fiore II is a presiding circuit court judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, a position he has held since 2012. Before his investiture, he had a distinguished 31-year career as a trial attorney and held various leadership roles, including president of the Arlington County, Virginia, Bar Association; chairman of the Arlington County Human Rights Commission; and chairman of the Arlington County Bar Foundation. He also served as a commissioner in chancery of the 17th Judicial Circuit and spent more than a decade as a substitute judge of the Arlington County General District Court. Since becoming a circuit court judge, he has actively participated in panels addressing legal education, presided over moot court competitions, and served on various committees related to the Virginia Supreme Court, including the Office of the Executive Secretary’s Education Committee and the Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS) Committee. Currently, Judge Fiore is an esteemed adjunct professor of law at George Mason University Scalia School of Law, where he earned his juris doctorate degree in 1981. He is also involved in planning the first judicially sponsored Commonwealth of Virginia Mental Health Summit, scheduled for October 2023.
Hope Fiori, MPPA
Acting Director, National Deflection Technical Assistance Center, Center for Health and Justice, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities
Hope Fiori, MPPA
Acting Director, National Deflection Technical Assistance Center, Center for Health and Justice, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities
As acting director of the National Deflection Technical Assistance Center at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities’ (TASC) Center for Health and Justice (CHJ), Hope Fiori provides training and technical assistance (TTA) and strategy development for public safety and public health agencies, with a primary focus on deflection and pre-arrest diversion, alternatives to incarceration, and linkages to care for individuals with behavioral health conditions, including substance use and mental health disorders. She also serves as CHJ’s project lead for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) TTA grant. Prior to joining TASC in 2019, Ms. Fiori was a program coordinator at the Cook County, Illinois, Juvenile Court Clinic, a clinic responsible for providing forensic clinical support to the Juvenile Courts of Cook County. There, she was responsible for grant and budget management and served as a liaison between the clinic’s partners, Northwestern University, and the Office of the Chief Judge of Cook County. She also managed the clinic’s operational needs and supported its research initiatives. Ms. Fiori earned her master of arts degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University and her bachelor of science degree at Loyola University Chicago, where she majored in criminal justice and psychology.
Karen Coen Flynn, MPhil, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Karen Coen Flynn, MPhil, PhD
Senior Research Associate, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Karen Coen Flynn is a senior research associate at Case Western Reserve University’s Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education. Her work focuses on preventing violence and fostering community health through public/private partnerships. She researches drug treatment perspectives in Cleveland, Ohio, and directs federally funded projects to address the opioid epidemic and improve behavioral health outcomes. As a cultural anthropologist with 25 years of experience, Dr. Flynn has worked in the United States, Tanzania, and Indonesia, engaging with people who faced challenges with accessing basic needs. Her street-based research delves into the complexities of gender, identity, poverty, and health. Dr. Flynn holds a doctor of philosophy degree in cultural anthropology from Harvard University, where she studied food-provisioning processes in Tanzania, and a master of philosophy degree in social anthropology from the University of Cambridge.
Amanda Folger
Assistant District Attorney, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Amanda Folger
Assistant District Attorney, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Amanda Folger has been an assistant district attorney with the Winnebago County, Wisconsin, District Attorney’s Office since 2010. She has had a drug caseload for more than 6 years and is presently the Drug and Property Unit’s team captain. Ms. Folger’s focus is on evidence-based prosecution and collaborating with multiple local governmental and nongovernmental agencies in reducing recidivism among community members with a substance use disorder.
Linda Frazier, MA, RN, MCHES
Director, Principal Consultant, Addictions Initiatives, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.
Linda Frazier, MA, RN, MCHES
Director, Principal Consultant, Addictions Initiatives, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.
Linda Frazier is a principal consultant and director of addictions initiatives at Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP). She has worked in public health and behavioral health services for more than 30 years in a variety of clinical settings and has extensive leadership and consulting experience in behavioral health, addictions, and criminal justice. She worked in Maine state government for 10 years and last served as associate director of treatment and recovery services for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHS). Ms. Frazier has delivered technical assistance, nationally and internationally, on behavioral health and primary care integration, implementation of medications for addiction treatment, improving mental health and substance use treatment access, and outcomes in state service networks and adult drug treatment courts. She is a subject-matter expert in trauma, addiction treatment, recovery, large systems change management, research, and policy. Her consulting has also included work with criminal justice systems and services. Ms. Frazier is from a family in recovery and is experienced in co-occurring treatment.
Jocelyn Gainers, EdD
Executive Director, Family Recovery Program, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland
Jocelyn Gainers, EdD
Executive Director, Family Recovery Program, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland
Jocelyn Gainers is president and chief executive officer of The Family Recovery Program, Inc., which serves Baltimore City, Maryland, residents who have lost custody of their children as a result of substance use. She currently serves as the executive director of the organization. Dr. Gainers brings more than 30 years of experience in the field of substance use disorders and recovery. A certified addictions counselor with expertise in working with adolescents, adults, and couples in both group and individual settings, she is also a trainer and consultant for human service programs. Dr. Gainers had a vision to create housing for parents in the program because housing is a significant challenge for parents once they have been reunited with their children. With the help of others, she bought and renovated a 28,000-square-foot Catholic school that is now the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building at Sage Center, where families can live while parents get jobs, return to college, and make other important life decisions. Dr. Gainers was recently nominated as a Reunification Hero by the American Bar Association. She holds a doctoral degree in education from Morgan State University.
Vanessa Gamarra, LMSW
Senior Social Worker, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Vanessa Gamarra, LMSW
Senior Social Worker, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Vanessa Gamarra is a senior social worker at the New York City, New York, Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). Throughout her career, she has worked in a variety of social service settings, such as city and state inpatient psychiatric units, outpatient facilities, and adult/family shelters. Before joining OCME in December 2022, she spent 8 years working as a social worker on Rikers Island in the Intimate Partner Violence program. While at Rikers, she conducted individual risk and safety assessments, provided brief individual therapy, linked clients to community services and programs, and trained New York City Department of Correction officers and civilian staff on a broad range of topics, such as working with criminalized trauma survivors, LGBTQIA populations, and mentally ill and chemically Abusing (MICA) populations. Ms. Gamarra has a master of social work degree from Fordham University and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from City University of New York–Queens College.
Michelle Geiser, EdD, LCAS-A, LCMHC-A, NBCC, LSC
Program Director, Hope Coalition, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Michelle Geiser, EdD, LCAS-A, LCMHC-A, NBCC, LSC
Program Director, Hope Coalition, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Michelle Geiser is the program director for Hope Coalition in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and is an addictions and trauma specialist supporting individuals impacted by substance use across the lifespan. Dr. Geiser has managed the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant for 3 years. She launched the first recovery community center in her community and has helped to lead multiple initiatives in Western North Carolina. Dr. Geiser holds a doctor of education degree in community care and counseling–traumatology and is a licensed clinician. She also holds a certificate for nonprofit management from Duke University and is a certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapist.
Kristen Gentry, MA
Program Director, Community Awareness Recovery Effort (CARE) Coalition, Brevard, North Carolina
Kristen Gentry, MA
Program Director, Community Awareness Recovery Effort (CARE) Coalition, Brevard, North Carolina
Kristen Gentry is the program director of the Community Awareness Recovery Effort (CARE) Coalition of Transylvania County in Brevard, North Carolina. In this role, she oversees community-based projects related to substance misuse, from primary prevention with youth through recovery support services. Ms. Gentry’s academic background is in applied medical anthropology, and she has a special interest in addressing social determinants of mental health among marginalized groups. Prior to her work in Brevard, she managed an ethnographic research project in rural Nepal that focused on the connections among social status, mental health, and resilience.
Sarko Gergerian, MS, MHC, CARC
Lieutenant, Winthrop Police Department, Winthrop, Massachusetts
Sarko Gergerian, MS, MHC, CARC
Lieutenant, Winthrop Police Department, Winthrop, Massachusetts
Sarko Gergerian currently works as a police peace officer at the rank of lieutenant and as a psychotherapist. In these roles, he founded one of the first guardianship police models in the country, known as CLEAR (Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery). He is a certified police peer professional who works to help civilians connect with first responders so they do not succumb to job-related stress injuries. Lieutenant Gergerian is the first working peace officer in the country to earn the Certified Addiction Recovery Coach credential from the commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is a certified HeartMath meditation instructor and trainer and is trained in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. In addition, he holds the 100-hour certificate from the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies and is a federal government-recognized subject-matter expert of the integration of people with lived experience into public safety and health systems. Lieutenant Gergerian is a master’s level clinical mental health counselor with a background in philosophy, religion, and psychology and is currently doing doctorate-level work at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Psychology.
Shelby Gibson, MA
Program Coordinator, Alternatives Pre/Post Arrest Diversion Program, Story County Attorney’s Office, Ames, Iowa
Shelby Gibson, MA
Program Coordinator, Alternatives Pre/Post Arrest Diversion Program, Story County Attorney’s Office, Ames, Iowa
Shelby Gibson is the program coordinator and former care coordinator of the Story County, Iowa, Attorney’s Office’s Alternatives Pre/Post Arrest Diversion Program (Alternatives), which she joined with more than 10 years of case management experience. In this position, she has developed many invaluable community relationships with substance use treatment, mental health, housing, probation, and community service providers. Alternatives now averages 20 to 25 participants per month and has a low recidivism rate of 7 percent for participants who successfully complete the program. Ms. Gibson began her career working with adults with disabilities while completing her bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University. She helped design and managed a successful community-based day habilitation program. While finishing her master’s degree in community psychology, she began working as a mobile crisis counselor with Eyerly Ball in Ames, Iowa. Ms. Gibson is Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI) Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR)-certified and Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) Peer Recovery Coach-certified. She enjoys providing free, comprehensive case management to individuals who are at risk of developing, or struggling with, substance use disorders.
Anthony “Nick” Gill
Justice Program Administrator, Grants Management Division, Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Frankfort, Kentucky
Anthony “Nick” Gill
Justice Program Administrator, Grants Management Division, Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Frankfort, Kentucky
Anthony “Nick” Gill is a justice program administrator with the Grants Management Division of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, where his focus has been on the victim services team. Alongside his work administering Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) funds, he serves as the Victims of Crime Act lead within the division and also provides programmatic training, assistance, and support for subgrant recipients, including a variety of nonprofits, prosecutor-based programs, and law enforcement agencies. Mr. Gill has served in Kentucky state government for more than 15 years, after spending more than a decade in kitchens and dining areas working as a food service manager. He graduated from Nations University in 2016 after attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. He currently serves on the board of the National Association of Victim Assistance Administrators and on the Kentucky Victim Assistance Academy Steering Committee.
Sekiya Golden
Director of Corrections and Overdose Recovery Programs, Center for Family Services, Camden, New Jersey
Sekiya Golden
Director of Corrections and Overdose Recovery Programs, Center for Family Services, Camden, New Jersey
Sekiya Golden is the director of corrections and overdose recovery programs for the Center for Family Services. She is responsible for directing three programs that are committed to providing substance use disorder services with a peer-led, peer-driven component: the LifelineED/OORP Program for Camden and Gloucester County, the Camden County Peer Support Reentry Program, and the Salem County Expansion Medication Assisted Treatment for Inmates Program, all of which consist of 3 program supervisors, 6 case managers, and 35 peer recovery specialists who are stationed in the correctional setting, hospitals, and offices in Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey.
Gerard Gonzales, MPH
Data Analyst, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Gerard Gonzales, MPH
Data Analyst, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Gerard Gonzales is a data analyst at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, a position he has held for the last 2 years. His area of focus is analyzing emergency medical services data, with a particular emphasis on conducting research related to opioid-related incidents.
Cecelia Gonzalez, MSW, LCSW
Homeless and Justice Programs Supervisor, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Wilmington, Delaware
Cecelia Gonzalez, MSW, LCSW
Homeless and Justice Programs Supervisor, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Wilmington, Delaware
Cecilia Gonzalez first joined the Wilmington, Delaware, Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2010. She currently serves as the homeless and justice programs supervisor. Ms. Gonzalez has a master’s degree in social work and certifications in management and public administration and has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for 22 years.
Heather V. Gray, JD
Senior Legislative Attorney, Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association
Heather V. Gray, JD
Senior Legislative Attorney, Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association
Heather V. Gray is a senior legislative attorney with the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, where her duties include legislative research and analysis of laws and policies related to subjects touching on public policy and safety, as well as drafting and editing materials on various matters regarding alcohol, controlled substances, health care, and criminal justice. She also drafts, and assists others with the drafting of, model laws. Ms. Gray earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She is a member of the State of Tennessee Bar.
A. Elizabeth Griffith, JD
Associate Deputy Director, Courts, Communities, and Strategic Partnerships, Bureau of Justice Assistance
A. Elizabeth Griffith, JD
Associate Deputy Director, Courts, Communities, and Strategic Partnerships, Bureau of Justice Assistance
A. Elizabeth Griffith is an Associate Deputy Director overseeing the Courts, Communities, and Strategic Partnerships team at the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). BJA is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), overseeing national criminal justice policy and grants as well as training and technical assistance for state, local, and tribal justice systems. In this role, Ms. Griffith leads cross-cutting strategic efforts, including:
• Pretrial, criminal court, and adjudication processes to use data and research to promote system integrity and Sixth Amendment protections while effectively assessing needs and risks for recidivism and offering critical services to prevent future crime and promote access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment and recovery support.
• Engaging with community leaders and organizations and criminal justice leaders to build strong relationships and address critical violent crime challenges—including community violence interventions and other violent crime and place-based initiatives, hate crimes and their legacy, and those with behavioral health needs at risk for gun violence—building alternative interventions to prevent and respond to crime.
• Tribal justice, including strategic planning and violent crime prosecution, and integration of research and data into program and policy development.
At BJA, Ms. Griffith also has served as the Acting Deputy Director of Planning and as Associate Deputy Director for Justice Systems, working on the issues of courts, corrections, substance use/mental health, and tribal justice. She started her career at DOJ in the National Institute of Justice as the director of development. Before that, she worked for more than a decade on criminal justice at the local level, serving as the director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice for the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Ms. Griffith is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
Vanita Gupta, JD
Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Vanita Gupta, JD
Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Vanita Gupta is the 19th United States Associate Attorney General and serves as the third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). She supervises multiple litigating divisions within DOJ, including the Civil Division, the Civil Rights Division, the Antitrust Division, the Tax Division, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Division. She also oversees the grant-making components of DOJ—including the Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services—and supervises the Office for Access to Justice, the Office of Information Policy, the Community Relations Service, the Executive Office for United States Trustees, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, and the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative.
Associate Attorney General Gupta previously served as the president and chief executive officer of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest and largest coalition of nonpartisan civil rights organizations in the United States. Before serving in that capacity, from October 15, 2014, to January 20, 2017, she served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Appointed by President Barack Obama as the chief civil rights prosecutor for the United States, Associate Attorney General Gupta advanced a wide range of civil rights enforcement matters. Prior to her tenure leading the Civil Rights Division, she served as deputy legal director and the director of the Center for Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In addition to managing litigation, Associate Attorney General Gupta created and led the ACLU’s Smart Justice Campaign aimed at promoting bipartisan justice reform while keeping communities safe. She began her legal career as an attorney at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Associate Attorney General Gupta earned her law degree from New York University School of Law, where later she taught a civil rights litigation clinic for several years. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University.
Meagan Guthrie, MA, CDCA
Director, Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response, Cincinnati, Ohio
Meagan Guthrie, MA, CDCA
Director, Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response, Cincinnati, Ohio
Meagan Guthrie is the director of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Office of Addiction Response. As the director, she is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day work of the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition and its 20-member steering committee; supports the work of the regional and local OneOhio opiate settlement; and oversees the county’s deflection programming. Ms. Guthrie has served as the project director for nine federal and state-funded grants. She earned her master’s degree in private interest and the public good and her bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics, and the public honors program from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ms. Guthrie is grateful to be a part of an organization and a community that are focused on innovative and collaborative strategies to assist individuals and their families on their journeys to long-term recovery.
Becky Harris
Reentry Specialist, Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, Brevard, North Carolina
Becky Harris
Reentry Specialist, Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, Brevard, North Carolina
Becky Harris is a reentry specialist at the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office in Brevard, North Carolina. In this position, she works with people who are admitted to the correctional facility to address reentry needs as they prepare for release into the community. This includes connecting them with a behavioral health provider and other services to promote successful recovery from substance use disorders.
Keith Hasan-Towery, MPP
Program Manager, Youth Justice and System Innovation Division, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC
Keith Hasan-Towery, MPP
Program Manager, Youth Justice and System Innovation Division, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC
Keith Hasan-Towery is a program manager in the Youth Justice and System Innovation Division in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). He has worked for OJJDP since 2015 and in the juvenile justice field for more than 15 years serving in various roles in juvenile detention, probation, courts, advisory groups, research and evaluations, and policy on the local, state, and federal levels. In his spare time, he is a community organizer and leads various organizations in the Washington, DC, area. Mr. Hasan-Towery earned his master of public policy degree from American University with an emphasis in criminal/juvenile justice.
Carina Havenstrite
Program Manager, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Carina Havenstrite
Program Manager, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Carina Havenstrite currently serves as the program manager at the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office. Over the last 3½ years, she has effectively developed the Lackawanna County Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team, which is now a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) OFR mentor site providing mentorship to developing OFR teams throughout the country. Ms. Havenstrite has also successfully obtained and implemented several other successful grant-funded initiatives in the law enforcement and opioid space during this time. Before her role with the District Attorney’s Office, she gained experience working in case management, harm reduction, grant management, and innovative program implementation in the HIV field.
Sarah Capps Hayes, JD
Director, Grants and Pro Bono, Kentucky Legal Aid, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Sarah Capps Hayes, JD
Director, Grants and Pro Bono, Kentucky Legal Aid, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Sarah Capps Hayes is the director of grants and pro bono at Kentucky Legal Aid in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She clerked for Judge Thomas D. Wingate in the Franklin Circuit Court in Frankfort, Kentucky, before joining Kentucky Legal Aid in 2008. Ms. Hayes has dedicated her practice to representing victims of crime (primarily domestic violence victims and their children) in family court while also writing and administering the agency’s grants related to victims of interpersonal violence. She is primarily responsible for maintaining and growing a portfolio of foundation, corporate, and government grants to support civil legal aid and counsel for people who could not otherwise afford justice. She is also charged with directing the operation of the agency’s pro bono program, Lawyers Care Volunteer Attorney Program. She continues to stay actively involved in providing direct legal services, staying invested and familiar with the needs of the clients served by the program. Ms. Hayes has served on the advisory board of the Barren River Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program and is the past president of the Barren River Area Safe Space, Inc., Board of Directors. Ms. Hayes graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2007, where she served on the Moot Court Board and as a student advisor for legal research and writing classes. She earned a bachelor of arts degree from Western Kentucky University, with honors, majoring in both history and political science and minoring in criminology. She was admitted to practice in the commonwealth of Kentucky in 2007.
Angela Hawken, PhD
Professor, New York University, New York, New York
Angela Hawken, PhD
Professor, New York University, New York, New York
Angela Hawken, PhD, is a professor of public policy and the director of the Marron Institute at New York University (NYU), where she leads a team of research and practice scholars, along with NYU graduate students and consultants, who work closely with government agencies and nonprofits in more than 40 states and 6 countries to develop and test policies, practices, and new technologies. Dr. Hawken is dedicated to empowering practitioners and the individuals they serve by giving them a central role in research, ensuring that studies focus on the issues that matter to them and are conducted with them. She also directs the NYU Collaborative, which partners with justice agencies and community-based organizations in nine Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)-supported sites to design, implement, and test responses to assist individuals with substance use disorders. Previously, Dr. Hawken was a professor of public policy at Pepperdine University; a research economist at the University of California, Los Angeles; and an associate policy analyst at the RAND Corporation.
Edmond Hayes
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Opioid Treatment Program, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Edmond Hayes
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Opioid Treatment Program, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Ed Hayes is an assistant superintendent at the Franklin County, Massachusetts, Sheriff’s Office (FCSO), located in rural Western Massachusetts. During Mr. Hayes’ 10-year tenure as treatment director, the FCSO has been recognized nationally as a demonstration site by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as well as the Bureau of Justice Assistance for its work with incarcerated co-occurring clients. The FCSO treatment program was the first in Massachusetts and one of the first in the nation to offer a comprehensive treatment approach for incarcerated clients living with opioid use disorder by becoming a fully licensed opioid treatment program. Mr. Hayes was a 2020 National Institute of Health Learning Experiences to Advance Practice (LEAP) Scholar and has a background in clinical social work and provision of special education for adult learners.
Marisa Hebble, MPH
Project Co-Director, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Marisa Hebble, MPH
Project Co-Director, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Marisa Hebble is a public health professional and project manager in the Massachusetts Executive Office of the Trial Court. She manages the statewide Sequential Intercept Mapping project, which supports communities in addressing the behavioral health needs of people in, or at risk of, contact with the criminal justice system. Ms. Hebble is the project co-director for Project NORTH (Navigation, Outreach, Recovery, Treatment, and Hope), the court-based navigation-to-treatment initiative focused on court-involved persons impacted by substance use disorder (SUD). She is also the project director for the Juvenile Court Department’s Upstream-Prevention and Treatment for Health and Stability of Children and Families (PATHS) initiative, a child welfare mapping and family treatment court project focused on vulnerable children and families impacted by parental SUD. Ms. Hebble serves on multiple trial court, state, and regional workgroups and committees. She holds a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in community health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an undergraduate degree in political science from Rutgers University.
Melissa Heinen, RN, MPH
Senior Research Associate/Manager, Overdose Fatality Review, Institute for Intergovernmental Research
Melissa Heinen, RN, MPH
Senior Research Associate/Manager, Overdose Fatality Review, Institute for Intergovernmental Research
Melissa Heinen is a senior research associate/manager with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). She works on the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), providing day-to-day oversight of staff members, programmatic activities including coordination and provision of support to overdose fatality review teams, information sharing/privacy issues, and harm reduction initiatives, as well as assistance with document development, project evaluation, and provision of training and technical assistance (TTA) to COSSUP grantee sites. Ms. Heinen has expertise in facilitating meetings; data analysis; program design, implementation, and evaluation; strategic planning; grant writing; and TTA delivery. She has more than 20 years of experience working in injury and violence epidemiology and prevention at the local, state, regional, and national levels. Previously, she was a senior epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, where she led the analysis and project coordination of the Minnesota Violent Death Reporting System, including facilitating suicide, homicide, and overdose fatality reviews. Ms. Heinen earned her master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and her bachelor of science degree in nursing, with a minor in psychology, from Winona State University.
Maureen Hillhouse, PhD
Senior Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University,Brooklyn, New York
Maureen Hillhouse, PhD
Senior Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University,Brooklyn, New York
Maureen Hillhouse is a senior research scholar in the Litmus program at New York University’s (NYU) Marron Institute of Urban Management. She manages BetaGov, working with criminal justice, health, education, and social service agencies to plan and implement randomized controlled trials aimed at making improvements in process and outcomes. She also works with several Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grantees as part of the NYU research team. Dr. Hillhouse completed her doctor of philosophy degree in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She remained at UCLA as a research psychologist at the Drug Abuse Research Center and its successor, the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, for almost 20 years. Her research included the implementation of clinical trials on the medical and behavioral treatment of substance use disorders.
Micah Hillis, DSW, LCSW
Program Director, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey
Micah Hillis, DSW, LCSW
Program Director, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey
Micah Hillis is a program director for Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care and has extensive experience providing services and managing programs that focus on outreach, peer support, and case management services in the community and incarcerated settings. The focus of these programs has been to provide services to at-risk populations, including incarcerated persons, the chronically homeless, veterans, and individuals struggling with mental illness and substance use. Many of these services have been provided through programs utilizing the Critical Time Intervention Model. Dr. Hillis is currently focused on services addressing the ongoing opioid/fentanyl epidemic in New Jersey through multiple partnered programs with the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the New Jersey Department of Corrections, and the New Jersey State Parole Board. He is also a part-time lecturer for the Rutgers School of Social Work and the chief executive officer of Illuminate Behavioral Health Care.
Erica Hochberger, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Director, National Children’s Advocacy Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Erica Hochberger, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Director, National Children’s Advocacy Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Erica Hochberger is the Intervention and Clinical Director at the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC) in Huntsville, Alabama, where she facilitates the child abuse multidisciplinary team and carries a small trauma therapy caseload. Prior to joining the NCAC 9 years ago as a therapist, she worked primarily with children who were impacted by domestic violence. She is certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and has trained in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and a problematic sexual behavior adaptation of TF-CBT (TF-CBT/PSB). Ms. Hochberger earned a master of social work degree from Alabama A&M University and a bachelor of arts degree in human development and family studies from Samford University.
Joseph Hogan-Sanchez
Director of Programs, Faces and Voices of Recovery, Austin, Texas
Joseph Hogan-Sanchez
Director of Programs, Faces and Voices of Recovery, Austin, Texas
Joseph Hogan-Sanchez has worked as a recovery coach since 2006 and currently works in this role for Faces and Voices of Recovery in Austin, Texas. Finding his passion in facilitating recovery-based solutions, he began training other recovery coaches. In addition to his work within the recovery community, he is committed to reaching out to the LGBTQIA community to help eliminate homophobia and heterosexism. Mr. Hogan-Sanchez has tested HIV-positive since 2003, and his courage lends a positive face and voice to individuals living with HIV and AIDS. He appeared in the 2009 December/January issue of Instinct magazine, briefly sharing his experience and strength with readers across the nation. Mr. Hogan-Sanchez is currently the director of accreditation services for the Council on Accreditation of Peer Recovery Support Services (CAPRSS), an accrediting body for recovery community organizations and other programs offering addiction peer recovery support services. He is also a cofounder of a recovery community organization in Austin that provides recreational and educational events and activities for the community. A passionate and positive advocate for recovery, Mr. Hogan-Sanchez’s personal mission statement is “To Inspire Positive Thinking and Forward Movement Through Motivation, Education, and Empowerment.”
Janene Holter, PhD
Strategic Initiatives Operator, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Janene Holter, PhD
Strategic Initiatives Operator, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Janene Holter is the strategic initiatives operator for the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, where she manages the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI) currently for 23 counties, as well as the Office of Attorney General’s policy. She works with the District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement, and other stakeholders to develop countywide policies. Dr. Holter attends monthly case management meetings with treatment providers and counties regarding LETI referrals. She also instructs law enforcement officials on substance use disorder, stigma, and referring persons for treatment using their county LETI policy. She is currently working with other counties to develop additional countywide LETI policies. Dr. Holter has been employed in the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General since 1999. Prior to attaining her current position, she worked as an undercover narcotics agent and supervisory narcotics agent and with the Office of Public Engagement. Dr. Holter also is employed at Alvernia University as an adjunct faculty member.
Jason Hoppe, DO
Associate Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Jason Hoppe, DO
Associate Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Jason Hoppe is a clinician-researcher, medical toxicologist, and associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. His clinical work, research, and public health efforts are aimed at addressing the complicated decision-making process regarding the safe prescribing of opioid analgesics and effectively initiating treatment for patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD). Dr. Hoppe is a national expert in prescription opioid safety, prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), and emergency department buprenorphine use. He is interested in using clinical decision support as an implementation strategy to deliver evidence-based practices. Dr. Hoppe is a founding member of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and has assisted with multiple public health efforts, education programs, and successful legislative changes in Colorado regarding PDMP access, opioid prescribing, and medications for OUD.
Heather Howard, PhD, LCSW
Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Heather Howard, PhD, LCSW
Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Prior to her current, tenured position at Florida Atlantic University, Heather Howard was a perinatal social worker specializing in perinatal mental health and maternal substance use for more than 20 years. Her clinical and research expertise focused on the treatment of grief and loss, trauma, shared-decision-making training for perinatal providers, and prevention and treatment of substance use disorders at a Brown University-based birthing hospital. Ms. Howard’s recent peer-reviewed publications focus on factors associated with adherence to standard of care and the use of shared decision making with pregnant women presenting with opioid use disorder. These publications emphasize the importance of decreasing stigma for perinatal women who are opioid-dependent and of utilizing interprofessional approaches involving clinicians, social workers, and health educators, focusing primarily on health disparities and public health responses to maternal substance use. Ms. Howard is active in the peer recovery-oriented community in South Florida and created the trauma-informed care learning module for the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Initiative. Her current research is a community-based, mixed-methods study examining the impact of recovery capital on housing stability, recovery, and recidivism reduction.
Renee Howell, MS
Grants Management Specialist, Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Renee Howell, MS
Grants Management Specialist, Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Prior to joining the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in March 2023 as a grants management specialist in the Programs Office, Renee Howell was employed as a supervisory program manager at the State of Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs, where she oversaw BJA coronavirus emergency supplemental funding and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds. Prior to her role as a supervisory program manager at the Tennessee State Administrative Agency, Ms. Howell worked as a legal assistant for both the State of Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and Department of Human Services and as a victim-witness coordinator for two Tennessee District Attorneys’ Offices. She served as treasurer for the 2022/2023 National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators. Ms. Howell holds a master’s degree in criminal justice public administration from South University and a bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Memphis.
John Hulick, MS
Senior Program Manager, Palm Beach County Community Services Department, Office of Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders, Palm Beach County, Florida
John Hulick, MS
Senior Program Manager, Palm Beach County Community Services Department, Office of Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders, Palm Beach County, Florida
John Hulick currently leads the opioid response strategies for the County of Palm Beach, Florida, which has been considered the epicenter of the state’s opioid epidemic. He is also responsible for policy and service planning as well as the coordination and delivery of addiction recovery, treatment, and prevention services in the county. He has been described as “a fierce advocate and service provider to those with addictions and is widely recognized in the behavioral health community for his leadership.” He is considered a leading expert on addiction policy and has trained community leaders throughout the country to equip them with essential skills to address this devastating social problem.
Prior to locating to Florida, Mr. Hulick served as managing partner of New Jersey-based In-Depth Solutions, LLC, where he dedicated his work and human services expertise to assisting private and public sector corporations in New Jersey in nationally achieving their desired strategic growth and public policy aims. He served as Governor Christopher J. Christie’s policy advisor for human services, children and families, and he was nominated by him, and confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, to also serve as executive director of the Governor's Council in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. There, he helped retool drug courts, as well as led efforts to combat the state’s heroin epidemic and plan addiction services. Mr. Hulick directed then-National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-New Jersey’s (NCADD-NJ) public affairs and legislative initiatives for 16 years, where he led the fight to protect consumers of addiction treatment through enactment of the Alcohol and Drug Counselor Licensing and Certification Act. He has had numerous other laws successfully enacted to expand New Jersey’s prevention, treatment, and recovery services and played a lead role in establishing the state’s first recovery community organization, recovery walk, and numerous public awareness campaigns. Mr. Hulick is the founding executive director of Signs of Sobriety, Inc. (SOS), a nationally recognized agency that provides addiction services for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. He is the architect of a landmark disabilities access law that created dedicated funding to establish an alcohol and substance misuse program for the deaf, hard of hearing, and disabled. Mr. Hulick has been in recovery from alcoholism for more than 35 years. He has the unique ability to marry his addiction policy and service expertise with very personal experiences. He has been informed the most by navigating the care of his daughter’s early onset mental illness, heroin addiction, and subsequent traumatic brain injury from a violent assault that left her comatose and on the brink of death in 2017. These experiences continue to fuel his passion to ensure consumer protections and his desire to assist families in similar circumstances. They have also focused him on developing quality and continuum of care initiatives that deliver improved outcomes and keep the client’s health and well-being at the center of the care they receive.
Jessica Hulsey
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Addiction Policy Forum, Bethesda, Maryland
Jessica Hulsey
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Addiction Policy Forum, Bethesda, Maryland
Jessica Hulsey is the founder and chief executive officer of Addiction Policy Forum, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and dedicated to helping patients and families struggling with the disease of addiction. Since 2019, Ms. Hulsey has served as lead of the Dissemination and Stakeholder Engagement Core of the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Coordination and Translation Center. In that role, she leads efforts to translate JCOIN research results into actionable information for individuals working in community-based treatment and criminal-legal settings. She also leads engagement activities with JCOIN’s Practitioner Board and Stakeholder Board, building essential feedback loops between the research and practice worlds. Ms. Hulsey has previously served on the national Drug Free Communities Commission, as a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s National Advisory Council.
Kevin Hunter, MS
Captain, Hope and Recovery Team, Fort Wayne Police Department, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Kevin Hunter, MS
Captain, Hope and Recovery Team, Fort Wayne Police Department, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Kevin Hunter is a captain with the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Police Department (FWPD) and currently oversees the Hope and Recovery Team. He has worked for the FWPD since 1989 and has served in various divisions within the department. He served as the vice and narcotics commander from 2012 to 2020 and saw the evolution of the drug crisis affect the community. Captain Hunter has learned over the last few years that we cannot arrest our way out of this drug crisis! What the current epidemic has taught us is that treatment and recovery is the best way to help people who suffer from substance use disorder. Captain Hunter is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy, 223rd Session, and the FBI National Crisis Negotiation Course. He is a graduate of Indiana Tech, holding a master’s degree in organizational leadership and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
Shawn Ironmaker
Capture and Proposal Development Manager, Buffalo Horse Inc., Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana
Shawn Ironmaker
Capture and Proposal Development Manager, Buffalo Horse Inc., Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana
Shawn Ironmaker (wamni gichianga “sits with eagle”) works for Buffalo Horse Inc. (BHI) as a capture and proposal development manager, providing contract services to the federal government and the U.S. Department of Defense. BHI is a tribally owned small business serving as a government contracting vehicle providing economic development to the Aaniiih and Nakoda Nations. Mr. Ironmaker is an enrolled member of the Aaniiih (Gros Ventre/White Clay) Tribe. He is also a descendant of the Nakoda (wakpa wicasa/Stoney) and Rocky Boy Chippewa Cree/Pembina Chippewa Tribes from the Fort Belknap Indian Community, located in northeastern Montana.
Susan James-Andrews, MS, CAC, CHTS
Senior Consultant, James-Andrews and Associates, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Susan James-Andrews, MS, CAC, CHTS
Senior Consultant, James-Andrews and Associates, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Susan James-Andrews is a senior consultant for James-Andrews & Associates with 30 years’ extensive, hands-on experience providing strategic planning, training, and technical assistance, nationally and internationally, to federal, state, and local agencies as well as community and tribal partners. She has collaborated and served as a consultant to assess and review criminal justice and clinical needs from a community and advocacy lens. Ms. James-Andrews uses her experience as a former program director in substance misuse programs and psychiatric programs and as a counselor and educator. Her commitment and advocacy for treatment, especially from opioids, result from the death of a family member and the long journey of other family members’ recoveries and their impact. Ms. James-Andrews is an advocate for youth, families, and the LGBTQ, underserved, and marginalized communities and works to ensure that gender-responsive/inclusive and generationally focused services that address trauma are culturally and developmentally relevant for communities experiencing violence and in need of services. She also is a Certified Historical Trauma Specialist.
Tim Jeffries, MSW
Senior Policy Advisor, Policy Division, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Tim Jeffries, MSW
Senior Policy Advisor, Policy Division, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Tim Jeffries serves as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), coordinating all BJA drug policy-specific programming. He has provided drug policy services for the last 22 years at the Office of Justice Programs through the Drug Court and Residential Substance Abuse Treatment programs and now assists in the delivery of the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) site-based training and technical assistance program. Mr. Jeffries holds a master’s degree in social work and a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Janai Jenkins, MS
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Janai Jenkins, MS
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Janai Jenkins is a State Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Her current focus is collaborating with and providing support to organizations that receive funding for the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant and justice assistance grant. Prior to joining BJA, Ms. Jenkins was employed as a grant monitor at the Howard County, Maryland, Health Department, where she monitored grant programs under the state opioid response grant. Prior to her role as a grant monitor, she served as a drug and alcohol program representative for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where she monitored grants and provided technical assistance to state-contracted drug and alcohol treatment providers. She has also served as a behavioral specialist consultant, an intake coordinator, and an addictions counselor. Ms. Jenkins holds a master of science degree in mental health counseling and a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Nova Southeastern University.
Hannah Johnson, MPH
Program Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Hannah Johnson, MPH
Program Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York
Hannah Johnson is the program manager for the Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group at the New York City, New York, Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), where she oversees overdose surveillance and bereavement support programming for the agency. Prior to her role at OCME, she worked for 6 years with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the Overdose Response Strategy, a national public health/public safety partnership initiative to reduce overdose deaths nationally. Ms. Johnson was a Bloomberg Fellow in Addiction and Overdose at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from 2018 to 2020.
Todd Jones
COSSUP Program Manager, Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, Des Moines, Iowa
Todd Jones
COSSUP Program Manager, Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, Des Moines, Iowa
Todd Jones has served as the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) program manager in the Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy since May 2020, where he is responsible for directing the implementation of a COSSUP drug deflection grant program in three Iowa counties: Story, Jones, and Black Hawk. Mr. Jones served in the United States Air Force and obtained his bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice while serving. He left the air force in 1987 and served as an Iowa State Patrol officer for 7 years. He was an original member of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) team. Mr. Jones then spent 18 years as a special agent for the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement investigating illegal narcotics activities, historical conspiracies, trafficker organizations, clandestine laboratories, financial investigations, and weapons violations and assisting prosecutors. He was promoted to special agent in charge, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, in 2012 and was the Northwest Iowa gaming supervisor. In 2013, Mr. Jones returned to the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement to supervise the western-third of Iowa’s narcotics enforcement operations until his retirement in 2019.
Marcus Julius
Recovery Coach, Lummi Nation, Whatcom County, Washington
Marcus Julius
Recovery Coach, Lummi Nation, Whatcom County, Washington
Coming soon!
Rachel Katz, MSN, FNP-BC
Director, Addiction Services, Community Health Center of Franklin County, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Rachel Katz, MSN, FNP-BC
Director, Addiction Services, Community Health Center of Franklin County, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Rachel Katz is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in primary care, most of which has been in rural settings. She has been a practicing addiction clinician for the last 10 years and is a strong advocate for incorporating treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) into the scope of routine primary care. She is a strong proponent of low-barrier access to care and firmly believes in incorporating harm reduction principles into all aspects of treatment for SUDs. Ms. Katz currently sees patients at the Community Health Center of Franklin County in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where she directs the Office-based Addiction Treatment program and is actively engaged in teaching students and residents. She is currently a community faculty member for the National Institutes of Health-funded HEALing Communities Study. Ms. Katz is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University and is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Gregorio Kishketon, MS
Native American/Alaska Native Liaison, Center for Minority Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Gregorio Kishketon, MS
Native American/Alaska Native Liaison, Center for Minority Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Gregorio Kishketon serves as the Native American/Alaska Native liaison at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Center for Minority Veterans. He also serves on the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act and Strong Act Committees as well as the White House Committee on Native American Affairs. Mr. Kishketon previously worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education for the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and served as a contracting officer with the U.S. Department of the Interior. He has also worked in the field for the VA North Texas Health Care System and the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System. Mr. Kishketon served in the United States Marine Corps in several roles and was honorably discharged in 1991. He is a lifetime member of the Marine Corps League and Disabled American Veterans. Mr. Kishketon is a Tribal Elder with the Water Clan – Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and a member of the Comanche and Lipan Apache Tribes. He also serves on the board of trustees for Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Kishketon earned his master of science degree from the University of Texas and his bachelor of science degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Andrew Klein, PhD
Senior Justice Scientist, Advocates for Human Potential
Andrew Klein, PhD
Senior Justice Scientist, Advocates for Human Potential
Andrew Klein is a senior scientist for criminal justice at Advocates for Human Potential. His areas of expertise include criminal justice, court administration, institutional and community corrections, substance use disorder treatment, domestic violence, medication-assisted treatment, and victim services. Since 2010, he has served as the project director for providing training and technical assistance for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, prison and jail drug treatment initiative, the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners Program. Dr. Klein earned his doctor of philosophy degree in law, policy, and society from Northeastern University.
Patrick Knue
Director, Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Institute for Intergovernmental Research
Patrick Knue
Director, Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Institute for Intergovernmental Research
Patrick Knue is a senior project coordinator with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). He works on the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), serving as the director for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC). In this capacity, he oversees daily operations and administration of the PDMP TTAC services for the field; in addition, he provides expert assistance to PDMPs, oversees the implementation of national and regional meetings, provides assistance to the new data-driven pilot grantees, and maintains communication with national and federal partners. He also assists in the development of PDMP TTAC website content, supports the development of a library of training/education curricula and resources, participates in the production of the COSSUP newsletter, and assists in the update of PDMP grantee profiles. Mr. Knue holds a bachelor of arts degree in sociology/psychology from the University of Texas.
Albert M. Kopak, PhD
Research Scientist, University of North Carolina Health Sciences at the Mountain Area Health Education Center, Sylva, North Carolina
Albert M. Kopak, PhD
Research Scientist, University of North Carolina Health Sciences at the Mountain Area Health Education Center, Sylva, North Carolina
Albert M. Kopak, PhD, is a research scientist at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, North Carolina. Prior to joining the center, he was a faculty member in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University, where he held the rank of professor. Dr. Kopak specializes in research design, data collection methods, and advanced statistical modeling. These skills are the foundation of his work, which is dedicated to addressing substance use disorders in marginalized populations.
Samatha Kossow
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Samatha Kossow
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Samatha Kossow is a research associate at Advocates for Human Potential (AHP). She has more than 10 years of experience working with a wide array of populations, including older adults and justice-involved individuals. Before joining AHP, she was the assistant director overseeing the implementation of clinical services and program evaluation at the Beverly Council on Aging in Massachusetts. Ms. Kossow has experience providing training on the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) with drug courts, substance use treatment providers, behavioral health providers, and law enforcement. She has also worked on regional public health planning to address substance use prevention, treatment, intervention, and harm reduction using EBPs.
Shannon Krauss, PhD
Research Chemist, Center for Public Safety and Resilience, RTI International
Shannon Krauss, PhD
Research Chemist, Center for Public Safety and Resilience, RTI International
Shannon Krauss is a research chemist at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) within the Center for Public Safety and Resilience. Her current roles there include principal investigator; senior advisor for technology implementation; and subject-matter expert for projects funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, including the research, development, technology, and evaluation lead for the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence. Dr. Krauss has more than 11 years of experience in analytical chemistry and microscale technologies working on technology development, analytical method development, and evaluations to support the fields of forensic science, public safety, health, and defense. Her research projects have focused on scaling down, automating, advancing, or streamlining traditional laboratory techniques and protocols for improved ease of use and portability. Prior to RTI, she was a research chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, leading and supporting several activities aimed at advancing measurement science in forensic drug chemistry and emerging drug threat detection, among others. Dr. Krauss has been awarded multiple fellowships for work in the development of novel technologies and methods; received multiple institutional author awards; has three technology patents; and received several awards in recognition of technology innovation.
Margaret Kursey, MA
Director, The Martinsburg Initiative, Martinsburg, West Virginia
Margaret Kursey, MA
Director, The Martinsburg Initiative, Martinsburg, West Virginia
Margaret Kursey is the director of The Martinsburg Initiative—a police, school, community, health, and education partnership with the mission of preventing substance use, building strong families, and empowering the community. Following a career in public education that included working as a teacher, principal, and administrator, Ms. Kursey led The Martinsburg Initiative to become a respected, evidence-based program for community use that promotes healthy development; supports children, youth, and their families; and increases their resilience. Ms. Kursey earned a master of arts degree in education administration and a bachelor of science degree in elementary education, both from West Virginia University.
Abby Kuschel
Senior Court Management Consultant, Court Consulting Services Division, National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Virginia
Abby Kuschel
Senior Court Management Consultant, Court Consulting Services Division, National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Virginia
Abby Kuschel works as a senior court management consultant for the National Center for State Courts’ Court Consulting Services Division in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her work is focused primarily in the areas of court governance, leadership, case flow management, and problem-solving courts. Ms. Kuschel previously worked as a supervisor of the Programs Unit at the State Court Administrator’s Office in Minnesota. In this role, she oversaw statewide program staff in the areas of court interpreter programs, psychological services, treatment courts, jury management, and the Children’s Justice Initiative. Ms. Kuschel’s career with the Minnesota Judicial Branch began in 2008 working with treatment courts at the state and local levels, including work with tribal nations for 15 years. Ms. Kuschel earned her bachelor of science degree in community health education and psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Robin LaVallee, MPP
Deputy Project Director, Planning, Performance, and Impact Team, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Robin LaVallee, MPP
Deputy Project Director, Planning, Performance, and Impact Team, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Robin LaVallee (she/her) serves as the deputy task lead on the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Performance, Planning, and Impact contract team. She oversees a team of analysts supporting the performance measurement and performance management of BJA grant recipients. Ms. LaVallee has a background in research, evaluation, and policy analysis in the criminal justice and public health arenas. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and program evaluation from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in policy studies from Syracuse University.
Nancy La Vigne, MPA, PhD
Director, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Nancy La Vigne, MPA, PhD
Director, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
In March 2022, Nancy La Vigne was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden to be director of the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) National Institute of Justice (NIJ). As head of NIJ, she leads the U.S. Department of Justice’s research, technology, and evaluation agency, overseeing a wide array of social science research projects, technology initiatives, and forensic activities focused on improving public safety and ensuring the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system. Dr. La Vigne is a nationally recognized criminal justice policy expert and former nonprofit executive whose expertise ranges from policing and corrections reform to reentry, criminal justice technologies, and evidence-based criminal justice practices. Her previous position was senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), where she served as executive director of CCJ’s Task Force on Policing. Prior to joining CCJ, she served as vice president of justice policy at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit social policy research organization based in Washington, DC. Over the course of a decade, she directed Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center and, from 2014 to 2016, also served as executive director of the congressionally mandated bipartisan Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections Reform. Before being appointed as director of the Justice Policy Center in 2009, Dr. La Vigne served for 8 years as a senior research associate at Urban Institute, leading groundbreaking research on prison reentry. Prior to joining Urban Institute, she was the founding director of the Crime Mapping Research Center at NIJ and was special assistant to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She previously served as research director for the Texas sentencing commission. Dr. La Vigne holds a doctor of philosophy degree in criminal justice from Rutgers University-Newark, a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas-Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in government and economics from Smith College.
Lori Lawrence, MBA, MS, LPC
Deputy Director, Community Health Initiatives, Criminal Justice and Centers of Excellence, Program Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Lori Lawrence, MBA, MS, LPC
Deputy Director, Community Health Initiatives, Criminal Justice and Centers of Excellence, Program Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Lori Lawrence is the deputy director of community health initiatives with the Criminal Justice and Centers of Excellence portfolio of projects at the University of Pittsburgh Program Evaluation and Research Unit. She has more than 15 years of leadership and management experience in the behavioral health industry with a focus on individual, organizational, and system change. She also provides counseling services to individuals, couples, and families as a Licensed Professional Counselor and offers leadership and organizational coaching and consulting. Ms. Lawrence earned a master of science degree in psychology from Chatham University, a master of business administration degree in strategic leadership and globalization from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Ohio University.
Caroline Lee
Tribal Justice Coordinator, Alaska Tribal Justice Resource Center
Caroline Lee
Tribal Justice Coordinator, Alaska Tribal Justice Resource Center
Caroline “Aranagiaq” Lee is of Yup’ik and Caucasian descent. She has been employed with the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP) since November 2020 as a tribal justice coordinator under the Alaska Tribal Justice Resource Center. Ms. Lee has worked with Alaska Native organizations since 1992 in the areas of case management, elder provider, annual meeting coordinator, and support positions in the field of treatment. She was raised in Anchorage, Chuathbaluk, and Aniak, Alaska. Ms. Lee graduated from the University of Alaska, Anchorage with a bachelor’s degree in legal studies and an associate of applied science degree in paralegal studies. She is currently working toward an associate of applied science degree in tribal governance from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Virginia Lee
County Grant Manager, Sierra County, New Mexico
Virginia Lee
County Grant Manager, Sierra County, New Mexico
Virginia Lee is the county grant manager for Sierra County, New Mexico, a position she has held since January 2023. Prior to this position, from 2014 to 2022, she was the Sierra County Detention Administrator. During her tenure at the detention facility, she wrote grants to help start rehabilitation programs, as she saw that the recidivism rate was booming and detainees had no support when they left the jail. She has seen firsthand that it is nearly impossible to break this lifestyle of addiction without intensive case management, therapy, and a supportive community. She now writes and oversees the county grants to support these programs. Ms. Lee worked for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for 18 years as an officer, sergeant, counselor, and correctional captain. During the evenings, she taught criminal justice classes at Palo Verde College and worked weekends as a reserve deputy sheriff for Riverside County, California.
Jocelyn Linde
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Jocelyn Linde
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Jocelyn Linde is the State Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Before joining BJA in 2020, Ms. Linde worked at the Justice Programs Office at American University’s School of Public Affairs Research Center.
Tiffany Lombardo, MA, LISW-S, LICDC-CS
Project Director, Altarum
Tiffany Lombardo, MA, LISW-S, LICDC-CS
Project Director, Altarum
Tiffany Lombardo is a project director and senior substance use recovery specialist in Altarum’s Community Health practice area. She has more than 18 years of experience in the behavioral health field managing large-scale projects, partnership development, and collaboration. Her expertise includes implementing programs and services for substance use disorder within community and justice settings. Ms. Lombardo currently leads Altarum’s Training and Technical Assistance Center for Peer Recovery Support Services funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, including leading the Peer Recovery Support Services Mentoring Initiative.
Dana Longobardi, MPH
Administrative Director, Public Health Prevention Programs, Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Dana Longobardi, MPH
Administrative Director, Public Health Prevention Programs, Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Dana Longobardi is the administrative director of Public Health Prevention Programs at Fenway Health, a Federally Qualified Community Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts. In this role, she oversees the Access: Drug User Health Program, a harm reduction and syringe exchange program based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ms. Longobardi has a background in global public health, working in Sub-Saharan Africa on a number of initiatives related to sexual and reproductive health. She spent 8 years working in the field of quality improvement, project management, and program evaluation before assuming her current role. Ms. Longobardi has a strong passion for providing dignified care and services to people who use substances and believes that evidence-based harm reduction strategies are highly effective in reducing negative outcomes associated with substance use.
Caitlin Looney, LISW-S
Grants Administrator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Caitlin Looney, LISW-S
Grants Administrator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Caitlin Looney, a Licensed Independent Social Work-Supervisor, has worked in the justice field for 15 years and currently serves as the grants administrator for the Franklin County, Ohio, Office of Justice Policy and Programs. This role combines her extensive knowledge in program development and implementation, funding administration, data collection, community partnership procurement, and direct service provision to the justice-involved residents. Current areas of focus for Ms. Looney’s work include jail-based medication-assisted treatment and harm reduction; jail-based programming to reduce recidivism; community deflection for first responders; and the role of peer support across the justice intercepts.
Cedric Love
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Cedric Love
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential
Cedric Love is a research associate at the Advocates for Human Potential Center for Research and Evaluation. He previously worked as a drug and alcohol therapist for juvenile boys and as a service coordinator helping at-risk youth in school systems get access to mental health treatment and navigate their way through the juvenile justice system. Mr. Love currently assists the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) team by providing summaries for recent medication-assisted treatment studies.
Brad Mansur
Patrol Sergeant, Billings Police Department, Billings, Montana
Brad Mansur
Patrol Sergeant, Billings Police Department, Billings, Montana
Brad Mansur is a patrol sergeant and an 8-year veteran of the Billings, Montana, Police Department. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Sergeant Mansur was integral in the reimplementation of the downtown Motivated Addiction Alternative Program, serving inebriate unhoused individuals in downtown Billings. He also served as the primary partner and liaison with the homeless outreach team and the Billings Police Department. Sergeant Mansur began his career in law enforcement in 2011.
Kevin Mariano
Project Coordinator, National Criminal Justice Training Center, Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, Wisconsin
Kevin Mariano
Project Coordinator, National Criminal Justice Training Center, Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, Wisconsin
Kevin Mariano is the project coordinator at the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin. Prior to joining the agency, he served as the chief of police with the Pueblo of Isleta Police Department, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Mariano has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience capitalizing on supervisory experience, operational management, staff development, administrative and finance management, motivational leadership, and decision making. He served as the liaison between the Pueblo of Isleta, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and surrounding law enforcement agencies to build relationships in matters related to community safety. He has worked closely with diverse teams to successfully receive federal grant funding, implement memoranda of agreement, develop policy and procedures, and implement and manage the Sex Offender Registry Program. As chief of police, Mr. Mariano implemented innovative approaches to tribal and community policing and, prior to retirement, initiated a movement to merge reentry and tribal law enforcement. He also created a case worker position within the tribal police department to better serve tribal community members experiencing mental health crises and struggling with addiction to get them better connected to appropriate services, including treatment or a reentry caseworker, if appropriate.
Kevin Marino, DPH, LCSW
Executive Director, REAL Academy, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Kevin Marino, DPH, LCSW
Executive Director, REAL Academy, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Kevin Marino is the executive director of the REAL Academy in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and has more than 20 years of experience in mental health, substance misuse, social work, and leadership in public and private agencies. Prior to launching the REAL Academy in summer 2020, he served as the social work program administrator in Henderson County, North Carolina. Dr. Marino has served on several state boards and local government boards and is well recognized by his peers and colleagues for innovations in systems work across the state.
Douglas B. Marlowe, JD, PhD
Senior Scientific Consultant, Law and Policy, All Rise
Douglas B. Marlowe, JD, PhD
Senior Scientific Consultant, Law and Policy, All Rise
Douglas B. Marlowe is a senior scientific consultant for All Rise (formerly the National Association of Drug Court Professionals). He is a lawyer and clinical psychologist whose research and practice focus on the effects of treatment courts and other rehabilitation programs for persons with substance use and mental health disorders involved in the justice system, as well as behavioral treatments for persons with substance use disorders (SUDs) and justice system involvement. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Dr. Marlowe has published more than 175 journal articles, monographs, books, and book chapters on the topics of correctional rehabilitation, forensic psychology, and treatment of SUDs. He is the editor-in-chief of The Journal for Advancing Justice, serves on the editorial boards of Criminal Justice and Behavior and the Drug Court Review, and was formerly the editor-in-chief of the Drug Court Review.
Libby Martin
Vice President, Family Services, Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Libby Martin
Vice President, Family Services, Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Libby Martin currently serves as the vice president of family services with Lutheran Social Services of Indiana. During her more than 15 years of social services experience, her work has been focused on trauma-responsive care for families, children, and adults. Ms. Martin specializes in program development and implementation of services for both prevention and intervention of individual and family crises, including abuse and neglect, addiction and recovery, clinical services, and home-based safety education. In all roles, her goal is to create systems and support frontline staff to provide individuals and families with the skills necessary to overcome barriers and achieve lasting change.
Luma Issa Masarweh-Zawahri, PhD
Research Associate, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Luma Issa Masarweh-Zawahri, PhD
Research Associate, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Luma Issa Masarweh-Zawahri is a research associate at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University, where she combines her public health, epidemiology, and sociology background in her multidisciplinary teaching and research. Dr. Masarweh-Zawahri uses mix-methods to understand and improve life for vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to, Native Americans, Arab Americans, women veterans, immigrant descendants and, more recently, individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental disorders. Dr. Masarweh-Zawahri earned a doctor of philosophy degree in sociology with specializations in medical sociology and aging from Case Western Reserve University.
Susan McCafferty, MA, MPA
Statewide Opioid Court Project Director, Division of Policy and Planning, New York State Unified Court System, New York, New York
Susan McCafferty, MA, MPA
Statewide Opioid Court Project Director, Division of Policy and Planning, New York State Unified Court System, New York, New York
Susan McCafferty is the statewide opioid court project director for the New York State Unified Court System’s Division of Policy and Planning. In this role, she oversees the development, policies, practices, and sustainment of all opioid courts throughout New York State. Ms. McCafferty is the former project director of the Brooklyn, New York, Treatment Court, where she was responsible for managing the court’s operations, including the DWI court, the veterans court, the co-occurring disorders track, and the opioid court. She has conducted numerous workshops and presentations at the national and international levels. She has also co-authored several articles examining the factors related to substance misuse and criminality among adolescents cross-culturally with a specific focus on the impact of trauma. Ms. McCafferty earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton and holds a master’s degree in forensic psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Amber McConnell, MSFS
Research Chemist, Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Amber McConnell, MSFS
Research Chemist, Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Amber McConnell has been employed by the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division since 2005 serving as the forensic supervisor overseeing the three Controlled Dangerous Substances Units and the Toxicology Unit. In addition to being an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB) assessor and a very experienced controlled dangerous substances (CDS) examiner, Ms. McConnell has taken a lead role in the quest for safer, more efficient, and more effective methods for detecting synthetic opioids. She has been named a guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with leading scientists in the field. Ms. McConnell has a master of forensic science degree and a bachelor of science degree in biology.
Nancy McConnell, MSW, MCAP, CRPS
Chief Executive Officer/Co-founder, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida
Nancy McConnell, MSW, MCAP, CRPS
Chief Executive Officer/Co-founder, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida
As co-founder and chief executive officer of Rebel Recovery Florida, Nancy McConnell has been on the forefront of creating hybrid organizations that combine the values of harm reduction, syringe service programs, and increasing access to peer support services through recovery community organizations. Her passion is reducing stigma and barriers for returning citizens and expanding incarceration alternative programs. As a queer woman and former sex worker, Ms. McConnell is a devoted advocate for sex workers’ rights and members of the LGBTQI+ community. She is an advanced-level facilitator of evidence-based practices such as wellness recovery action plans (WRAP), whole health action management (WHAM), and motivational interviewing. She is a founding board member of Florida Harm Reduction Collective, for which she serves as president and chair, and a board member of Floridians for Recovery, the Florida Certification Board, the Behavioral Health Advisory Board, and the Palm Beach County, Florida, HIV Care Council. Ms. McConnell is a Master’s Level Certified Addiction Professional and a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist. She holds a master of social work degree from Florida Atlantic University and is currently completing her second master’s degree in nonprofit management.
Bradley McCoy, MA
COSSUP Project Coordinator, Marshall University Research Corporation, Huntington, West Virginia
Bradley McCoy, MA
COSSUP Project Coordinator, Marshall University Research Corporation, Huntington, West Virginia
Bradley McCoy serves as the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) project coordinator at Marshall University Research Corporation. He graduated from Marshall University with a master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in behavioral statistics and research methods. His background in psychology and experience with projects pertaining to addiction science support the West Virginia COSSUP grant through his role as an evaluator.
Ryan McMaster
Research Data Manager, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Ryan McMaster
Research Data Manager, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Ryan McMaster is a research data manager at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University. He supports several drug-related grants—primarily focused on data collection, analysis, and dissemination for multiple partners—focusing on improving the public health response to the ongoing epidemic. Before his work in academic research, Mr. McMaster served as a senior intelligence officer in the U.S. Department of Defense and served in the counterdrug mission for the state of Ohio, supporting federal drug investigations and providing strategic drug intelligence for law enforcement and managing the state’s program as the coordinator.
Orlando Mercado
Program Director, Nueva Vida Program, New North Citizens’ Council, Inc.
Orlando Mercado
Program Director, Nueva Vida Program, New North Citizens’ Council, Inc.
Orlando Mercado has served as the program director for Nueva Vida since July 2021. He has 14 years’ experience working with the substance-using population in mental health and 9 years’ experience in case management. He is bilingual/bicultural. Mr. Mercado holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Elms College and an associate degree in business administration from Springfield Technical Community College.
Shannon Gwin Mitchell, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Shannon Gwin Mitchell, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Shannon Gwin Mitchell is a senior research scientist at the Friends Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and a community psychologist specializing in health services research. Her work focuses not just on individuals but the systems in which they work and live, and how those systems impact individual and organizational functioning. Dr. Mitchell has participated as a lead or co-investigator on numerous clinical trials addressing treatments for opioid use disorder as well as issues associated with treatment entry for people involved with the criminal justice system. She is the multiple principal investigator of the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Research Hub at the Friends Research Institute, which is conducting a comparative effectiveness trial of extended-release naltrexone versus the Brixadi formulation of extended-release buprenorphine for individuals at the point of release from jail. Dr. Mitchell also has collaborated on several studies examining the use and implementation of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment in rural and urban community health centers and schools.
Christina Mitchell, CRPS-A
Care Coordinator, Rebel Recovery, West Palm Beach, Florida
Christina Mitchell, CRPS-A
Care Coordinator, Rebel Recovery, West Palm Beach, Florida
Christina Mitchell has been a Certified Recovery Peer Support Specialist for the last 5 years. She is the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) care coordinator for Rebel Recovery’s related program. In this position, she completes the intakes, data collection, and data management for the program. In addition, Ms. Mitchell provides care coordination in improving the personal, social, and cultural capital of the COSSUP participants. She also provides training in harm reduction, Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) Recovery, motivational interviewing, mental health first aid, and helping others heal.
Tina Mitchell
President/Executive Director, CrossBRIDGE, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee
Tina Mitchell
President/Executive Director, CrossBRIDGE, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee
Tina Mitchell is the founder, president, and executive director of CrossBRIDGE, Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates in the heart of one of Nashville, Tennessee’s most impoverished and high-crime areas. CrossBRIDGE aims to break the destructive cycles of generational poverty, substance use disorder (SUD), and incarceration that inflect this community. When Ms. Mitchell moved to Nashville 20 years ago and began working at Trevecca Community Church, her heart was moved to make a difference after seeing the suffering occurring daily on and around the Murfreesboro Road area. Her passion for change led to the establishment of CrossBRIDGE, which includes the Restoration House and KidPOWER programs. Restoration House has grown from 6 beds in 2009 to its current capacity of 74. At Restoration House, residents receive safe and supportive housing and services for managing their SUDs, along with peer-led programming and medication management. The KidPOWER program aims to prevent these problems in the youth they serve.
Faith Montoya, CRPS
Community Case Manager, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida
Faith Montoya, CRPS
Community Case Manager, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida
Faith Montoya is a community case manager at Rebel Recovery Florida, where she has been a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist for 4 years. She is long-term recovery and helps others with her own lived experience, and she is dedicated to harm reduction and social justice issues. Before becoming a case manager, Ms. Montoya was the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Peer Navigator. While in this role, she was inspired by all the people she worked with and saw this program make a positive difference in the community. Ms. Montoya is currently a student at Palm Beach State College working toward her bachelor’s degree in social work.
Cheryll Moore
Medical Care Administrator, Erie County Department of Health, Buffalo, New York
Cheryll Moore
Medical Care Administrator, Erie County Department of Health, Buffalo, New York
Cheryll Moore has extensive grant administration and project management experience with the Erie County, New York, Department of Health and has directly administered and implemented numerous grant projects over the past 20 years. She has been a leader in addressing the opioid epidemic in Erie County, providing naloxone trainings to first responders and community members and integrating data to focus her efforts. She also manages the nationally recognized community-engaged intervention known as the Erie County Opioid Epidemic Task Force to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths.
Karhlton Moore
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice
Karhlton Moore
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice
Karhlton Moore was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden as Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), effective February 28, 2022. Prior to joining BJA, Director Moore served as the executive director of Ohio’s Office of Criminal Justice Services, where he oversaw state and federal grants for law enforcement, victim assistance, juvenile justice, crime prevention courts, anti-trafficking efforts, reentry, corrections programs, and traffic safety. In that role, he led Ohio’s grant-making operations, advising the governor and the director of the Department of Public Safety on criminal justice strategies. He also served as the facilitator for former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s Task Force on Community-Police Relations, precursor of the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, a multidisciplinary panel that establishes standards for law enforcement agencies as part of the state’s effort to strengthen community-police relations. Director Moore served on the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) Advisory Council and Executive Committee and was president of NCJA’s board of directors. He also served on the steering committee of the Justice Counts initiative.
Angel Morfin, CPSW
Harm Reduction Services Project Coordinator, Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Angel Morfin, CPSW
Harm Reduction Services Project Coordinator, Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Angel Morfin is the harm reduction services project coordinator for Pueblo of Pojoaque Behavioral Health in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the program manager for the Resources, Opportunity, Advocacy, and Diversion (ROAD) Program. She is a Certified Peer Support Worker and an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Pojoaque Tribe. Ms. Morfin returned to work for her tribe in 2020 after working as a teacher in high-risk communities for more than 10 years. Her goal is to help fight the stigma against substance misuse as well as to support those who struggle with substance use disorder and those in recovery.
Siobhan A. Morse, MHSA, CRC, CAI, MAC
Product Director, Addiction Services, Universal Health Services, Inc.
Siobhan A. Morse, MHSA, CRC, CAI, MAC
Product Director, Addiction Services, Universal Health Services, Inc.
As product director for addiction services at Universal Health Services, Inc., a Fortune 300 health care company, Siobhan A. Morse is charged with spearheading the research, clinical operations management, and new product development focusing on substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. She regularly presents original research worldwide, has published multiple articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and conducts education within the addiction services network. She contributed a chapter highlighting her lived experience with SUD, trauma, and mental health to the book Breakthrough, which won a Book Excellence Award. She is also currently the chairperson of the Washington, DC-based Partners in Care Network and on the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Advisory Panel addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion in the nation’s correctional drug treatment programs. In recognition of her dedicated work to support Americans who are in or seeking recovery, Ms. Morse was presented a Presidential Proclamation in 2020 by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and Bureau of Justice Administration. Ms. Morse holds a master’s degree in health services administration and is certified as a Master Addiction Counselor, Clinical Research Coordinator, and ARISE Interventionist.
Jackie Mungo
Public Health Analyst and Implementation Specialist, Community Health Implementation and Research Program, RTI International
Jackie Mungo
Public Health Analyst and Implementation Specialist, Community Health Implementation and Research Program, RTI International
Jackie Mungo is a public health analyst and implementation specialist in the Community Health Implementation and Research Program at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI International). She has been a training and technical assistance (TTA) liaison on the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) project since May 2022. Ms. Mungo has 10 years of public health experience, with 9 of those years including TTA and substance use prevention and intervention. She has worked with numerous community organizations through roles in both higher education and nonprofit sectors. Ms. Mungo has a passion for improving the overall health and well-being of at-risk and disadvantaged populations. Her research interests include substance use prevention and early intervention, violence prevention, school-based health, health education and promotion, and evidence-based programming.
Sarah Murfree, PhD, CPS
Executive Director, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Sarah Murfree, PhD, CPS
Executive Director, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Sarah Murfree is the executive director of Prevention Coalition for Success (PC4S), a nonprofit organization primarily grant-funded by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. PC4S is a substance abuse prevention coalition providing prevention and recovery resources to Middle Tennessee. PC4S services include programs supporting first responders; the Rutherford County, Tennessee, Juvenile Court; and prevention for youth and young adults. After more than 10 years in the pharmaceutical clinical research industry, Dr. Murfree returned to academia at Middle Tennessee State University’s (MTSU) Community and Public Health program. She holds a doctoral degree in human performance specializing in health and a master’s degree in health. She serves as adjunct professor for the Drugs and Violence in Health Education class at MTSU. Dr. Murfree’s community involvement and professional affiliations include the Tennessee Public Health Association, Prevention Alliance of Tennessee, MTSU’s Public Health Community Advisory Board, and Rutherford County’s Regional Health Council Representative.
Ryan Newsome, MSW, LISW
Social Services Coordinator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Ryan Newsome, MSW, LISW
Social Services Coordinator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio
Ryan Newsome is a Licensed Independent Social Worker and currently serves as the social services coordinator for the Franklin County, Ohio, Office of Justice Policy and Programs, where he manages the Male Pathways Program and the rapid resource centers for the agency. In 1995, Mr. Newsome was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison. After 17 years of incarceration, he has worked diligently in the field of reentry since 2013. Mr. Newsome earned a master of social work degree from The Ohio State University in 2019, a bachelor of science degree in social work from Capital University in 2016, and a bachelor of arts degree in criminology and criminal justice studies from The Ohio State University in 2013. As an independent contractor, he also provides counseling services for the justice-involved population and their families.
Jess Nickila, PRS
Substance Use Response Team Program Coordinator/Peer Recovery Specialist, Duluth Police Department, Duluth, Minnesota
Jess Nickila, PRS
Substance Use Response Team Program Coordinator/Peer Recovery Specialist, Duluth Police Department, Duluth, Minnesota
Jess Nickila is the creator and program coordinator of the Substance Use Response Team (SURT) in Duluth, Minnesota. SURT is a peer recovery-led diversion and deflection program housed within the Duluth Police Department, serving three counties in Minnesota, as well as the City of Superior, Wisconsin.
Juleigh Nowinski-Konchak, MPH, MD, FASAM
Physician Advisor, Substance Use Disorder/Medications for Addiction Treatment Program, Cook County Health, Cook County, Illinois
Juleigh Nowinski-Konchak, MPH, MD, FASAM
Physician Advisor, Substance Use Disorder/Medications for Addiction Treatment Program, Cook County Health, Cook County, Illinois
Juleigh Nowinski-Konchak is an addiction medicine and preventive medicine physician at Cook County Health (CCH) in Chicago, Illinois. She is the program director for the Public Health/General Preventive Medicine Residency Program with CCH and Northwestern University; provides oversight for CCH’s substance use disorder (SUD) program; and is an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Prior to this role, Dr. Nowinski-Konchak served in public health positions in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Chicago Department of Public Health. She recently completed a K12 Scholars program with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Northwestern University, focusing on a regional learning health system to improve access to evidence-based SUD care for individuals involved in the criminal-legal system. Dr. Nowinski-Konchak earned her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and her master of public health degree and certificate in health care quality and patient safety from Northwestern University.
Mallory O’Brien, MS, PhD
Associate Scientist, Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
Mallory O’Brien, MS, PhD
Associate Scientist, Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
Mallory O’Brien is a distinguished public health professional and researcher specializing in violence prevention, injury epidemiology, and overdose prevention. She currently serves as an associate scientist at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Department of Health Policy and Management, at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, focusing on violence and overdose prevention as well as public health and public safety partnerships. Mallory contributes and supports overdose prevention efforts through two Interagency Personnel Agreements—one with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), under the U.S. Department of Justice (through August 2023) and at the Centers for Disease Control, Division of Overdose Prevention. Dr. O’Brien holds a doctor of philosophy degree in epidemiology, a master of science degree in epidemiology and environmental studies, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Daniel J. O’Connell, PhD
Senior Scientist and Assistant Professor, Center for Drug and Health Studies, University of Delaware Newark, Delaware
Daniel J. O’Connell, PhD
Senior Scientist and Assistant Professor, Center for Drug and Health Studies, University of Delaware Newark, Delaware
Daniel J. O’Connell is the senior scientist with the Center for Drug and Health Studies and an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, where he teaches criminology. His research specialties are research design and methodologies, intervention development, and project management. He is currently the principal investigator on an evaluation of both the statewide Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) 2019 and 2022 grants as well as the Hero Help program, all supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Sarah O’Donnell, MPH
Team Lead Rural Strategic Initiative Division, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Sarah O’Donnell, MPH
Team Lead Rural Strategic Initiative Division, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Sarah O’Donnell is the team lead for the Rural Strategic Initiatives Division in the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). As team lead, she helps oversee the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, which has provided more than $400 million in funding to more than 1,500 counties across 47 states and 2 territories for substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Prior to joining FORHP, Ms. O’Donnell served as public health analyst for the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program within HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She joined the federal government in 2012 as a presidential management fellow. During her fellowship, she worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Health and Biodefense, and HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Ms. O’Donnell holds a master of public health degree in global health, with a specialization in design, monitoring, and evaluation, from The George Washington University. She also holds a master of music degree in flute performance from Ohio University.
Laura Ordway, PharmD
Pharmacy Consultant, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York
Laura Ordway, PharmD
Pharmacy Consultant, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York
Laura Ordway is a pharmacist with a background in public health and clinical pharmacy. As a pharmacy consultant at the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, she advises on controlled substance regulations and dispensing trends. Her clinical experience includes extensive work with behavioral health conditions and using evidence-based practice principles to support the development of disease state management protocols and policies. In her role as an educator at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Dr. Ordway has actively advocated for pharmacist-led community health programs. She is passionate about expanding the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) as a tool for public health initiatives.
Jessica Owen
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program Manager, Guidance Center of Lea County, Hobbs, New Mexico
Jessica Owen
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program Manager, Guidance Center of Lea County, Hobbs, New Mexico
Jessica Owen is the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program manager for the Guidance Center of Lea County in Hobbs, New Mexico. She has dedicated her career to being a champion for those who are most often championless. By choosing the role of social services in prisons, juvenile corrections, and youth residential settings, Ms. Owen is helping create a world where all people have a voice. It is with such purpose that she developed and guides the Lea County LEAD program with her tireless commitment to making “Hobbs America” a place to be proud to call home.
Joseph P. Owen
Superintendent, Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program, Lawrenceville, Virginia
Joseph P. Owen
Superintendent, Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program, Lawrenceville, Virginia
Joseph P. Owen is the superintendent at the Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program (CCAP) in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The Brunswick CCAP is a residential program that offers intensive substance use treatment, cognitive-based programming dealing with life skills, and academic and vocational courses to a population of adult male probationers who have been sentenced to the program by a circuit court in the state of Virginia. Mr. Owen started his career with the Virginia Department of Corrections in 1990, when he was hired as a correctional rehabilitation counselor at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. He worked in that capacity until being promoted to probation officer in District 27 Probation and Parole in Chesterfield, Virginia, in 1993. Mr. Owen transferred to District 38 Probation and Parole in Emporia, Virginia, in 1994. He was promoted to senior probation officer in District 38 in 2003 and to deputy chief probation officer in 2007. In 2013, he was promoted to chief probation officer in District 38, where he served for more than 7 years as the unit head overseeing the probation supervision responsibilities of a staff that covered a jurisdiction that included five counties and two cities in southside Virginia. He left this position in 2020 for his current position. Mr. Owen completed the Workforce Development Specialist Training and the Orientation for Probation and Parole Executives through the National Crime Information Center as well as completed the Virginia Department of Corrections Executive Leadership Academy in 2017. Mr. Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Richmond with a major in sociology and a minor in criminal justice.
Anthony Pantaleo
EMS Opioid Outreach Coordinator, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness, EMS, and Systems of Care, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Anthony Pantaleo
EMS Opioid Outreach Coordinator, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness, EMS, and Systems of Care, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Anthony Pantaleo is the emergency medical services (EMS) opioid outreach coordinator for the Bureau of Emergency Preparedness, EMS, and Systems of Care with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. He has more than 25 years’ experience in public safety as a paramedic, firefighter, and instructor. He also coordinates critical incident stress management debriefings for public safety responders when needed. Mr. Pantaleo earned a bachelor of applied sciences degree in public safety from Siena Heights University.
Bailee Peralto
Public Health Analyst, Mental Health, Risk and Resilience Research Program, RTI International
Bailee Peralto
Public Health Analyst, Mental Health, Risk and Resilience Research Program, RTI International
Bailee Peralto is a public health analyst in the Mental Health, Risk and Resilience Research Program at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI International). She has been a part of the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance team at RTI International since May 2022, supporting the state-based COSSUP grantees and creating resources to support the field. Ms. Peralto has extensive behavioral health and public policy research experience, and she is especially passionate about the intersections of mental health and substance use, as well as school mental health research. Her current projects address topics such as sexual violence prevention, school mental health, and substance use treatment and prevention.
Jessica Perillo, MS, CADC
Program Manager, Boone County Health Department, Belvidere, Illinois
Jessica Perillo, MS, CADC
Program Manager, Boone County Health Department, Belvidere, Illinois
Jessica Perillo is the program manager at the Boone County, Illinois, Health Department and leads the Community Outreach, Advocacy, and Recovery (COAR) Team by directly supervising the staff as well as managing the grants and contracts. She has 10 years of experience in the field of addictions and has experience supervising a substance use treatment program and a problem-solving court. Ms. Perillo holds a master’s degree in forensic psychology and is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor.
Alyssa Perry, MSW, LSW
Corrections Reentry Specialist, Camden County Department of Corrections, Camden, New Jersey
Alyssa Perry, MSW, LSW
Corrections Reentry Specialist, Camden County Department of Corrections, Camden, New Jersey
Alyssa Perry is a corrections reentry specialist at the Camden County, New Jersey, Department of Corrections. In addition to this role, she assists with the implementation of grants and programs. Ms. Perry oversees the team of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) navigators who provide services that ensure continuity of care for individuals leaving the facility on MOUD. Prior to working as a corrections reentry specialist, she was employed as one of the MOUD navigators for the Camden County Jail. Ms. Perry is a Licensed Social Worker, with specialization in addiction. She obtained her master’s degree in social work and completed her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University. During her schooling, she was the communications officer for the Undergraduate Social Work Organization.
Jessica Pete
Jail Administrator, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Duluth, Minnesota
Jessica Pete
Jail Administrator, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Duluth, Minnesota
Jessica Pete is the jail administrator for the St. Louis County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Department. She started her career in corrections working for the Wadena County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Office and a halfway house from 2000 to 2002. She began working at the St. Louis County Jail in 2003 as a corrections officer and, in 2010, was promoted to corrections sergeant and worked as the field training commander. In September 2010, she was promoted to captain. In 2020, she was assigned as interim jail administrator and was officially promoted to her jail administrator role in July 2021. Ms. Pete built and implemented a full in-house training program for the jail in 2012; rebuilt a stronger field training program, which won a state award; and built and implemented a medication-assisted treatment program in 2019. She also was awarded the Patriotic Employer Award through the Department of Defense in 2019 for her work with military employees. Ms. Pete attended the University of Minnesota Duluth and graduated in 2002 with a degree in criminology and anthropology.
Elizabeth Peterson, MPH
COSSUP Administrative Program Manager, Santa Fe County Community Services Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Elizabeth Peterson, MPH
COSSUP Administrative Program Manager, Santa Fe County Community Services Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Elizabeth Peterson is the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) administrative program manager for the Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Community Services Department. She has worked in public health for more than 30 years, with an emphasis on public policy, systems change, and advocacy, in New Hampshire and New Mexico, where she has worked for the last 20 years. She is passionate about systems development that melds innovation and local expertise and creating new programs, community services, and resources that promote better quality of life and well-being for New Mexicans. Ms. Peterson earned a master of public health degree from the French School of Public Health, where she attended with an interest to gain insight from an international perspective.
Erin Pfeltz, MA
Division Chief, Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Erin Pfeltz, MA
Division Chief, Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Erin Pfeltz is a Division Chief with the Programs Office in the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), within the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. In that capacity, she supervises a team that manages grants and cooperative agreements for the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP); the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program; and the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program, among others. Before joining BJA in 2016, Ms. Pfeltz worked in grants management at the U.S. Department of Education for more than 10 years. Ms. Pfeltz holds a master of arts degree in international economic affairs from The George Washington University and a bachelor of arts degree in economics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Megan Pinasco , LMSW, CMII, BHWC, PRSS
Program Director, Medication Assisted Treatment and Tribal Opioid Response Program, Muscogee Creek Nation Department of Health, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Megan Pinasco , LMSW, CMII, BHWC, PRSS
Program Director, Medication Assisted Treatment and Tribal Opioid Response Program, Muscogee Creek Nation Department of Health, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Megan Pinasco is the program director for the Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) Medication Assisted Treatment and Tribal Opioid Response Program as well as the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) project coordinator, working with the Lighthorse Police Department to get Narcan trainings and Narcan to MCN communities. She is a Marine Corps veteran and Muscogee Creek citizen. She is the commander of the Este Cate Hoktvke Suletawv (MCN Women Veteran Honor Guard), trains service dogs for veterans, and is trained as a facilitator in Mending Broken Hearts, Warrior Down Recovery Coaching, and the 12-Step Medicine Wheel for Youth and Adults. Ms. Pinasco holds a Licensed Master of Social Work licensure and is a Case Manager Level II and Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist. She has obtained several college degrees: a master of social work degree from the University of Oklahoma–Tulsa, a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Tulsa, and a culinary arts degree in San Francisco, California, where she worked as a chef for many years.
Jason Piotrowski, MPH (Candidate)
Captain, Office of Drug Monitoring and Analysis, New Jersey State Police, Trenton, New Jersey
Jason Piotrowski, MPH (Candidate)
Captain, Office of Drug Monitoring and Analysis, New Jersey State Police, Trenton, New Jersey
Captain Jason Piotrowski began his career in law enforcement in 1995 as a local police officer before joining the New Jersey State Police in 2001. He was an original member of the state fusion center in 2006. He also represented New Jersey at the National Operations Center in Washington, DC, serving multiple tours. In 2014, Captain Piotrowski helped develop the New Jersey Drug Monitoring Initiative, currently leading the drug environment information sharing network, specifically focused on the overdose epidemic. Captain Piotrowski is a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow and a master of public health degree candidate at Johns Hopkins University, where he is focusing on overdose, addiction, and health disparities.
Connie Priddy, RN, MA
Program Coordinator, Huntington Quick Response Team, Huntington, West Virginia
Connie Priddy, RN, MA
Program Coordinator, Huntington Quick Response Team, Huntington, West Virginia
Connie Priddy currently serves as director of quality compliance at Cabell County, West Virginia, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and program coordinator for the Huntington, West Virginia, Quick Response Team (QRT). She assisted in the development and implementation of the QRT model, which was developed utilizing a multidisciplinary team as the first point of contact after an overdose event. This is a collaborative effort among EMS, law enforcement, treatment providers, and faith-based leaders. Ms. Priddy serves on several advisory boards to develop the first responder deflection program on a national level; this includes developing standards and sharing data collection methods. She continues to promote first responder involvement as a critical component in fighting the opioid crisis through information sharing. Ms. Priddy worked for 25 years as a flight nurse for a hospital-based medical helicopter before transitioning to a county-based EMS system. She is active on many national committees and serves on many stakeholder boards with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities’ Center for Health and Justice, and the Addiction Policy Forum, among others. She was recognized as West Virginia EMS Instructor of the Year for 2018 and selected as a presenter at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, in April 2020. Ms. Priddy also did multiple presentations at the BJA “United We Stand” 2020 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP) Forum in Washington, DC. She currently does various presentations on the QRT model across the country and in British Columbia, Canada. Ms. Priddy graduated from Marshall University with a master’s degree in sociology and a nursing degree.
Lauren Pristo, MPH
Director of Community Engagement, McCall Behavioral Health Network, Torrington, Connecticut
Lauren Pristo, MPH
Director of Community Engagement, McCall Behavioral Health Network, Torrington, Connecticut
Lauren Pristo is the director of community engagement at McCall Behavioral Health Network in Torrington, Connecticut, and serves as the statewide project manager for Connecticut’s Community and Law Enforcement for Addiction Recovery (CLEAR) project. In her role as the Litchfield County, Connecticut, Opiate Task Force (LCOTF) Network Coordinator, Ms. Pristo is responsible for the planning and management of LCOTF initiatives, including implementing and expanding a regional harm reduction program; engaging stakeholders and coordinating efforts in the development of an overdose spike alert response plan; creating a multidisciplinary toolkit and training stakeholders statewide, including state police troopers, on developing a trauma-informed community; and coordinating regional multiagency outreach and recovery coaching work. Ms. Pristo holds a master’s degree in public health in epidemiology of microbial diseases from the Yale School of Public Health, where she assessed the needs and barriers to care for people living with HIV with an emphasis in using epidemiological research methods to examine synergistic health and social conditions, including injection drug use. She attained her bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from Northern Arizona University, where she co-authored research on the infectious disease melioidosis.
Janelle Prueter, MS, CRADC
Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University, Brooklyn, New York
Janelle Prueter, MS, CRADC
Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University, Brooklyn, New York
Janelle Prueter is a research scholar in the Litmus program at New York University’s (NYU) Marron Institute of Urban Management. Her work focuses on supporting public safety organizations, agencies, and nonprofits to safely reduce prison populations and improve reentry and services to individuals in the justice system with substance use and behavioral health disorders through technical assistance, evaluation, and research. Ms. Prueter works with several sites in NYU’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSAP) Collaborative to develop and test innovative strategies to counter the opioid and stimulant crises. She co-directed the Graduated Reintegration pilot, a proof-of-concept reentry program implemented in partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections, and is an advisor to the Swift Certain Fair Resource Center. Ms. Prueter holds a master of science degree in public services management from DePaul University and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and sociology from Beloit College.
Ruby Qazilbash
Deputy Director for Policy, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Ruby Qazilbash
Deputy Director for Policy, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Ruby Qazilbash is the Deputy Director for Policy at the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) within the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs. As deputy director, she leads a team of criminal justice experts in developing and implementing programs that meet the challenges facing today’s criminal justice systems, leaders, and practitioners. BJA’s policy team interprets legislation and congressional intent for more than $1.2 billion of discretionary funding appropriated to BJA annually to support and strengthen state, local, and tribal criminal justice systems. For the past 12 years at BJA, Ms. Qazilbash has directed policy and programs to support the criminal justice field to develop community-based alternatives for people with substance use and mental health disorders and to improve programming, conditions of confinement, and sexual safety in the nation’s jails and prisons. During her tenure, Ms. Qazilbash and her team have implemented the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Second Chance Act. She helped fund, launch, and sustain the Stepping Up Initiative to reduce the prevalence of people with serious mental illness in the nation’s jails and Justice Counts, a nationwide initiative to develop and build consensus around a set of key criminal justice metrics that drive budget and policy decisions. She has also overseen the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which uses data to identify and address drivers of crime and state corrections costs, shifting state resources to more effective uses of criminal justice dollars to produce more public safety for the same cost. Ms. Qazilbash has been with DOJ for 19 years, with previous experience at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Arlington County, Virginia; and the New York City, New York, Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice.
Kristen Raese, MPH
Health Program Specialist, Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Division of Public Health, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
Kristen Raese, MPH
Health Program Specialist, Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Division of Public Health, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
Kristen Raese is a health program specialist with the Drug Overdose Prevention Program at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW), Division of Public Health. Since 2017, she has worked within the Drug Overdose Prevention Program on statewide opioid misuse and overdose prevention efforts, including the development, implementation, and evaluation of two statewide media campaigns, as well as assisting in the implementation of DHW’s naloxone distribution program. Ms. Raese holds a master of public health degree with an emphasis in health promotion and education from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Austin, Texas.
Rene Ramirez
Program Sponsor, Healing Spirit Clinic Opiate Treatment Program, Lummi Nation, Whatcom County, Washington
Rene Ramirez
Program Sponsor, Healing Spirit Clinic Opiate Treatment Program, Lummi Nation, Whatcom County, Washington
Rene Ramirez is the program sponsor for the Lummi Healing Spirit Clinic Opiate Treatment Program (OTP). The Lummi Healing Spirit Clinic (Lummi) is one of the longest-running tribally owned and operated buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone)-only OTPs in the nation. It is a part of the Lummi Counseling Services and provides outpatient treatment for people who are dependent on opiates, including prescription drugs, heroin, and fentanyl. During his time with Lummi, Mr. Ramirez has been instrumental in transitioning from an office-based opioid treatment model to an OTP with a paperless electronic health record. Also, he has streamlined the business processes for efficient revenue capture at Lummi Nation. Currently, he works with a total of 14 counselors, 3 medical providers, and 4 nurses. Prior to his promotion to program sponsor, Mr. Ramirez served as the primary computer systems analyst for 4 years. Since the inception of the OTP, Lummi has expanded services through grants and third-party revenue to include peer support services (recovery coaches and peer support counselors), transitional housing, youth engagement and prevention, and various other harm reduction strategies. Currently, Lummi is working on adding methadone to its OTP and a secure withdrawal management services wellness center that respects both tribal sovereignty and culture to combat the fentanyl epidemic.
Brad Ray, PhD
Senior Justice and Behavioral Health Researcher, Research Triangle Institute, Duluth, Minnesota
Brad Ray, PhD
Senior Justice and Behavioral Health Researcher, Research Triangle Institute, Duluth, Minnesota
Brad Ray is a senior justice and behavioral health researcher who has expertise in multiple methodologies, including record linkage among sizeable administrative data sets, randomized controlled trials development within criminal-legal systems, and qualitative and survey research with difficult-to-reach populations. His current work includes ethnographic interviews with persons who use drugs to understand the iatrogenic effect of law enforcement disruptions to the illicit drug market, a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also leads a randomized controlled trial of a police-mental health co-response unit, a study funded by Arnold Ventures, and previously developed peer-recovery support models for returning citizens, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His most recent project is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative data-to-action program and involves creating real-time dashboards that identify touchpoints, along with training, for overdose fatality review teams.
Annette Redding, CBHPSS
Director of Peer Support Services, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana
Annette Redding, CBHPSS
Director of Peer Support Services, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana
Annette Redding has been a Certified Behavioral Health Peer Support Specialist (CBHPSS) with the Rimrock Foundation since 2018 and the director of peer support services since 2020. She graduated from felony drug court in 2016 and immediately began advocating within the recovery community. She has been essential in the development of the peer support services at Rimrock as well as throughout the Billings community, including integrating peers into the Yellowstone County, Montana, Detention Center; the Billings Clinic Psychiatric Center; the Department of Family Services; and local sober-living programs. Ms. Redding has led the initiative to implement a peer outreach program assisting local law enforcement in addressing chronic homelessness in the community and expanding to include a Mobile Crisis Unit in partnership with area first responders. She is a coordinator for the Yellowstone County Crisis Intervention Team.
Dennis A. Reilly, JD
Statewide Drug Court Coordinator, Division of Policy and Planning, New York State Unified Court System, New York, New York
Dennis A. Reilly, JD
Statewide Drug Court Coordinator, Division of Policy and Planning, New York State Unified Court System, New York, New York
Dennis A. Reilly, Esquire, is the statewide drug court coordinator for the New York Unified Court System’s Division of Policy and Planning. Previously, he served as a national project director at the National Drug Court Institute and as the director of operations for treatment court programs at the Center for Court Innovation. Prior to joining the New York Unified Court System, Mr. Reilly worked for the Connecticut Judicial Branch as a special deputy sheriff, trial court clerk, pretrial services officer, supervision officer, and court planner and was a founding team member of Connecticut’s first three drug courts. He served as director of the Brooklyn, New York, Treatment Court and the problem-solving courts coordinator for the Kings County, New York, Supreme Court. Mr. Reilly has served as an expert consultant to the National Drug Court Institute, the Justice Management Institute, the American University Drug Courts Program Office, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Mr. Reilly is a graduate of the University of Connecticut’s School of Administration and Management, the University of Denver College of Law, and the University of Amsterdam School for Executive Development in International Relations.
Kimberly L. Reilly, MA, LPC
Alcohol and Drug Coordinator, Ocean County Health Department, Ocean County, New Jersey
Kimberly L. Reilly, MA, LPC
Alcohol and Drug Coordinator, Ocean County Health Department, Ocean County, New Jersey
Kimberly Reilly is the alcohol and drug coordinator at the Ocean County, New Jersey, Health Department, where she oversees the Department of Substance Abuse, Addiction, and Opioid Dependency. She has been working in public health for the past 11 years. Ms. Reilly has a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is a Licensed Professional Counselor for New Jersey.
Kimbra Reynolds, MBA, LCAC, CAPRC I, CAPRC II
Executive Director, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition, Inc., Portland, Indiana
Kimbra Reynolds, MBA, LCAC, CAPRC I, CAPRC II
Executive Director, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition, Inc., Portland, Indiana
Kimbra Reynolds is the executive director of the Jay County, Indiana, Drug Prevention Coalition and is a Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor and Certified Addiction Peer Recovery Coach. She has 34 years’ experience in successful coalition building and addiction intervention and prevention. Ms. Reynolds provides contractual work with various coalitions and is a local and federal grant reviewer. She leads two of the five pilot sites for the Integrated Reentry and Correctional Support (IRACS) Program in Indiana and serves on the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute’s Local Coordinating Council Advisory Board. She most recently became a member of the Indiana Counselors Association on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ICAADA) workgroup for prevention professionals. Her years of leadership experience provided her the opportunity to become a graduate of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s (CADCA) Graduate Coalition Academy and National Coalition Academy. Ms. Reynolds holds a master of business administration degree specializing in health care from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Jim Rieber, MS, LCSW, JD, PhD
Director of Emergency Services, Perham Health, Perham, Minnesota
Jim Rieber, MS, LCSW, JD, PhD
Director of Emergency Services, Perham Health, Perham, Minnesota
Jim Rieber is the director of emergency services at Perham Health in Perham, Minnesota, and has 44 years’ experience in emergency medical services (EMS) working as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, firefighter and SWAT tactical paramedic. He has been in EMS management for 28 years and in management of other systems for 10 additional years. Dr. Reiber is a past president of the Minnesota Ambulance Association and has served as chair of the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. He has been with the West Central Minnesota EMS Council for 25 years and the chair for the past 10 years.
Chelsey Richwine, PhD
Economist, Office of Technology, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology The George Washington University
Chelsey Richwine, PhD
Economist, Office of Technology, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology The George Washington University
Chelsea Richwine is an economist in the Office of Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT). Her work is focused on the intersection between public health and health IT, including health information exchange, patient access to electronic health information, and public health reporting. Dr. Richwine earned a doctor of philosophy degree in public policy and public administration with an emphasis in health policy from The George Washington University and a master of economics degree from Duke University.
Jason Ringdahl
Sergeant, St. Louis County Jail, Duluth, Minnesota
Jason Ringdahl
Sergeant, St. Louis County Jail, Duluth, Minnesota
Jason Ringdahl is the administrative sergeant for the St. Louis County, Minnesota, Jail. He began his career in corrections in July 2001. As a corrections officer, he worked as a field training officer, taught several jail academy classes, and completed background investigations. In January 2017, he was promoted to corrections sergeant. In this role, he took over the field training program as the field training commander. In January 2023, he began work under a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant. The grant’s focus is on responding to illicit substance use, promoting public safety, and supporting access to treatment and recovery services. Prior to becoming a corrections officer, Mr. Ringdahl taught in the fifth grade for 8 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of North Dakota.
Ariel Roddy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
Ariel Roddy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
Ariel Roddy is an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northern Arizona University and a member of the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Ojibwe Tribe. She is a community-based researcher whose work explores the effects of gender-responsive and culturally relevant treatment for Indigenous populations. Dr. Roddy’s work with the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) has included an evaluation of the Intensive Methamphetamine Treatment Program operating through the Pennington County, South Dakota, Sheriff’s Office, which has contributed to the development of the Cascade of Care planning tool.
Molly Roffers-Susa, MS
Special Programs Coordinator, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Molly Roffers-Susa, MS
Special Programs Coordinator, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Molly Roffers-Susa is the current special programs coordinator for the Winnebago County, Wisconsin, District Attorney’s Office (WCDAO). Starting as an administrative assistant, she carved out this new role for herself in the WCDAO after discovering her passion for working in a position that truly makes a difference. Using her background in medicolegal death investigation and anthropology, Ms. Roffers-Susa focuses much of her work on creating and implementing new alternative-to-incarceration programs for defendants in Winnebago County, securing grant funding for these programs, and connecting agencies in these efforts. Currently, she oversees all grant-related activity for the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)-funded Stimulant and Opioid Addiction Recovery (SOAR) Program, as well as co-manages a prosecutor-led data transparency grant with evaluation partner New York University to update the WCDAO data infrastructure. Ms. Roffers-Susa earned her master of science degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and her bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Elizabeth Romero, MBA, MS
Executive Director, Consultant, Rosmaris Group, Warrenton, Virginia
Elizabeth Romero, MBA, MS
Executive Director, Consultant, Rosmaris Group, Warrenton, Virginia
Elizabeth Romero is the executive director of Rosmaris Group in Warrenton, Virginia, and has more than 20 years of experience in building and leading systems change initiatives to improve health across the life span. She previously served as the director of the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, where she oversaw and managed Delaware’s state hospital and behavioral health agency. Ms. Romero implemented a statewide health informatics strategy for behavioral health to address value-based care, connectivity and collaboration, referral management, and analytics. She also created a multiagency initiative for high-risk youth in transition, improved behavioral health services for those leaving prison, and led the development of a pre-arrest diversion program with law enforcement. Ms. Romero also served as the senior director for health improvement with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, where she provided oversight of behavioral health, injury, and substance misuse and chronic disease health teams with a focus on building systems of care to improve population and community health outcomes.
Kristina Rose, MS
Director, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Kristina Rose, MS
Director, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Kristina Rose is the director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she oversees programs and services that support crime victims and survivors. Ms. Rose was appointed to this position by President Joseph R. Biden and sworn in on July 12, 2021. At OVC, she oversees nearly $9 billion in grant funding to provide vital compensation and assistance to persons impacted by crime. OVC invests in new and innovative approaches to improving the criminal justice and community response to crime victimization and raises awareness of crime victim rights. Prior to her OVC appointment, Ms. Rose was selected to serve on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military, where she led the Victim Care and Support line of effort. She spent nearly 20 years at DOJ serving in numerous roles, including deputy director at OVC, acting director and deputy director for the National Institute of Justice, and chief of staff for the Office on Violence Against Women. In 2016, Ms. Rose had the distinct privilege of working at the White House on detail as a senior policy advisor on violence against women in the Office of Vice President Biden. As senior policy advisor, she provided expert advice and guidance on domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. In 2013, Ms. Rose spent 8 months as a victim advocate in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, working hands-on with victims of all violent crimes. At DOJ, Ms. Rose spearheaded many large-scale federal projects, including the first national survey to measure the crime of stalking in the United States; an action research project on untested sexual assault kits that produced national models for jurisdictions around the country; and a virtual training on sexual assault forensic exams with Dartmouth Medical School. She also led the development of the first National Sexual Assault TeleNursing Center, which provides virtual guidance to medical personnel conducting sexual assault forensic exams in rural and isolated areas. Between her periods of federal service, Ms. Rose served in the nonprofit sector as the director of strategic partnerships for Healing Justice and as the executive director for End Violence Against Women International. Ms. Rose holds a master of science degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from George Mason University.
Stephanie Ruane, MS, LCADC, CCS
Supervisor, Social Services and Substance Abuse Services, Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold, New Jersey
Stephanie Ruane, MS, LCADC, CCS
Supervisor, Social Services and Substance Abuse Services, Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold, New Jersey
Stephanie Ruane is the supervisor of social services and substance abuse services for the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold, New Jersey. As part of those departments, she also directs the reentry program and is the clinical supervisor of the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program within the correctional institution. Ms. Ruane has worked in the jail for more than 15 years and has developed a multitude of classes and programs based on the current population and the needs of the population at that particular time. During the pandemic, she developed a creative outlet for the inmates by starting an inmate newsletter. The inmates named the newsletter The SMART Way Newsletter, with SMART being an acronym for Streets Making A Right Turn. The newsletter was incredibly successful within the correctional institution and was even featured in American Jails magazine. Before coming to work in corrections, Ms. Ruane worked for a community-based methadone clinic for approximately 6 years. Ms. Ruane earned a master’s degree in psychology in 2014 from California Coast University and obtained her Certified Clinical Supervisor certification in 2020.
Stephanie Rubel, MPH
Health Scientist, Overdose Preparedness and Response Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stephanie Rubel, MPH
Health Scientist, Overdose Preparedness and Response Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stephanie Rubel is a health scientist who leads the Overdose Preparedness and Response Team within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Overdose Prevention, where she also directs the Opioid Rapid Response Program (ORRP). She has more than 20 years of experience designing, managing, and evaluating national public health programs. Prior to joining the CDC, Ms. Rubel worked as a consultant and federal government contractor supporting a wide range of public health program areas, including teen pregnancy prevention, cancer screening, and public health emergency preparedness and response. In 2019, she joined the CDC’s Center for Injury Prevention and Control to work on public health and public safety coordination in addressing the overdose crisis. She led the development of the CDC’s Public Health and Safety Team (PHAST) Toolkit, designed to support data-driven, multisector collaboration to reduce overdose deaths. She currently leads a team focused on building state and local capacities to respond to overdose spikes, anomalies, and emergent threats that may increase overdose risk. Ms. Rubel earned her master of public health degree in behavioral science and health education from Emory University in 2001.
Liz Ryan, MS
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice
Liz Ryan, MS
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice
Liz Ryan became the administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) on May 16, 2022, following her appointment by President Joseph R. Biden. Prior to leading OJJDP, she served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Youth First Initiative, a national campaign focused on ending the incarceration of youth by investing in community-based alternatives. Ms. Ryan founded the Youth First Initiative in 2014; under her leadership, it achieved the closure of youth prisons in six states and redirected more than $50 million to community-based alternatives to incarceration. Ms. Ryan founded the Campaign for Youth Justice in 2005 and served as its president and CEO until 2014. The national, multistate initiative sought to end the prosecution of youth in adult criminal courts and the placement of youth in adult jails and prisons. During Ms. Ryan’s tenure, the campaign’s work led to legislative and policy changes in more than 30 states, a 60 percent decrease in the number of youth in adult courts, and a greater than 50 percent decrease in the number of youth placed in adult jails and prisons. A staunch advocate for youth, Ms. Ryan cofounded and cochaired Act 4 Juvenile Justice, a campaign to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. She also served as advocacy director for the Youth Law Center, national field director for OJJDP’s Juvenile Court Centennial Initiative, and an advocate for the Children’s Defense Fund. She has written extensively about juvenile justice reform, including articles, editorials, reports, and book chapters. Since 2020, Ms. Ryan has worked as a student investigative journalist with the Louisiana State University Cold Case Project, focusing on the murders of African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan during the civil rights era. She collaborated with other Cold Case Project students on “Killings on Ticheli Road,” a four-part narrative investigating the murders in 1960 of four Black men in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The reporters reconstructed the day of the murders and questioned local authorities’ failure to prosecute the killer: the murdered men’s employer, a white man who later became a statewide Klan leader. For their work, Ms. Ryan and the other Cold Case Project reporters were named semifinalists for the 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, an award by the Harvard Kennedy School for reporting that impacts U.S. public policy. They were the only students recognized. Ms. Ryan also worked with families of the Martinsville Seven and other advocates to obtain posthumous pardons for seven young Black men who were executed in Virginia in 1951 for the alleged rape of a white woman. Ms. Ryan and her colleagues revisited the convictions, ultimately asserting that they were tinged by systemic racism, a rush to judgment, and a lack of due process. The Virginia governor issued posthumous pardons in 2021, saying that the men did not deserve the death penalty. Ms. Ryan earned a master’s degree in international studies from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College.
Rhonda Sanford, LCSW
Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Rhonda Sanford, LCSW
Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Rhonda Sanford is a veterans justice outreach (VJO) specialist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a position she has held since 2012 to serve the needs of veterans at the front end of the justice system: those in contact with law enforcement, incarcerated in local jails, on probation, and/or participating in treatment courts. Ms. Sanford collaborates with community partners and provides education and support around veteran issues. She has collaborated with Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, partners to establish a veterans response team that provides support to first responders who encounter veterans. This collaboration provides the highest-priority connections to the Coatesville, Pennsylvania, VA VJO and VA police, community mental health crisis responders, local veteran service organizations, and the Montgomery County Veterans Treatment Court. Ms. Sanford began her VA career in 2008 and spent 4.5 years as a VA Homeless Outreach Social Worker.
Timothy Santamour
Director and Peer Support Worker, Outreach and Networking, Florida Harm Reduction Collective
Timothy Santamour
Director and Peer Support Worker, Outreach and Networking, Florida Harm Reduction Collective
Tim Santamour is a long-time harm reduction activist working in the areas of infectious disease and overdose prevention. He currently works for Florida Harm Reduction Collective building networks of service providers and community organizations in efforts to eliminate infectious disease transmission and overdose fatalities related to substance use. As director of outreach and networking, Mr. Santamour organizes and facilitates regional and statewide harm reduction workgroups strategizing how to increase distribution of naloxone in Florida. In addition, he works on several collaborative partnerships of research investigators and community organizations. He has founded or worked for programs in Buffalo and New York City, New York, as well as Florida, and has served as executive director of DanceSafe.
Nelson Santos, MPA
Principal Scientist, Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application, RTI International
Nelson Santos, MPA
Principal Scientist, Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application, RTI International
Nelson Santos is a principal scientist in the Research Triangle Institute’s (RTI International) Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application. In this role, he serves as the senior advisor to the center’s projects and programs and is part of the Forensic Science Technology Center of Excellence leadership team. Prior to joining RTI, Mr. Santos worked more than 34 years for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), where he held a number of leadership positions within DEA’s Office of Forensic Science, the last 12 years as the deputy assistant administrator. Mr. Santos has been active in the national and international forensic science communities, holding leadership positions in prominent organizations, such as the vice-chair for the National Commission on Forensic Science and the chair of Interpol’s Forensic Science Symposium Committee. He was the DEA member-representative to the White House Subcommittee of Forensic Science and served for 5 years as chair of the Scientific Working Group for the Analysis of Seized Drugs (SWGDRUG). From 2004 to 2006, he served as a board member for the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD). He remains an active member of ASCLD, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and Interpol’s Forensic Science Managers Organizing Committee. Mr. Santos holds a master of public administration degree from George Mason University and a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Florida International University.
Stacie Schaner
Captain, Special Services and Innovation Bureau, Tucson Police Department, Tucson, Arizona
Stacie Schaner
Captain, Special Services and Innovation Bureau, Tucson Police Department, Tucson, Arizona
Stacie Schaner, a member of the Tucson, Arizona, Police Department (TPD) since 2004, is a captain currently assigned as the Community Engagement Division commander in the Special Services and Innovation Bureau. Her responsibilities include the Community Outreach Resource and Engagement Section, which houses the Mental Health Support Team, the Substance Use Resource Team, and the Homeless Outreach Team and works closely with the Analysis Division and community partners to use evidence-based strategies to implement and evaluate progressive policing strategies and partnerships to better serve the community of Tucson. The TPD substance use pre-arrest deflection program was implemented in 2018 and continues to be a tool for all department patrol officers. Captain Schaner’s former assignments included Rapid Response Team supervisor, Downtown Entertainment District captain, and Patrol Services Bureau executive officer.
Coralee Schmitz, MS, MBA, MAC
Chief Operations Officer, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana
Coralee Schmitz, MS, MBA, MAC
Chief Operations Officer, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana
Coralee Schmitz has been in the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment field for more than 20 years and is currently the chief operations officer at the Rimrock Foundation in Billings, Montana. She is responsible for managing the general operations at Rimrock, including a full continuum of SUD and mental health services. Ms. Schmitz holds accreditation from the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) as a Master Addiction Counselor and is certified by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) as a surveyor. She holds master’s degrees in psychology and business administration.
Levin Schwartz, MSW, LICSW
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Reentry Services, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Levin Schwartz, MSW, LICSW
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Reentry Services, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Levin Schwartz is the assistant superintendent of clinical and reentry services at the Franklin County, Massachusetts, Sheriff’s Office (FCSO). He is the implementation specialist for FCSO special projects, including the FCSO’s federally licensed opioid treatment program; behavioral health grants, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Medication-assisted Treatment (MAT)-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (PODA) grants (2018 and 2021); and Bureau of Justice Assistance/U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program, and Second Chance Act grants. Mr. Schwartz has co-developed and implemented what has become a nationally recognized mindfulness-based opioid treatment and reentry program at the FCSO. Mr. Schwartz earned his master’s degree from Smith College School for Social Work and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts.
Michelle Schwartz
Community Law Enforcement Officer, Belvidere Police Department, Belvidere, Illinois
Michelle Schwartz
Community Law Enforcement Officer, Belvidere Police Department, Belvidere, Illinois
Michelle Schwartz is the community law enforcement officer through the Belvidere, Illinois, Police Department (BPD) and an integral member of the Community Outreach, Advocacy, and Recovery (COAR) Team. Officer Schwartz has been with the BPD for more than 20 years and is also a crisis negotiator. She is certified in Mental Health First Aid and Crisis Intervention. Officer Schwartz uses her experience to serve on the Boone County, Illinois, Drug Prevention Coalition; the Family Violence Coordination Council; and the Boone County Behavioral Health Task Force.
Frances Scott, PhD
Physical Scientist/Program Manager, Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences, National Institute of Justice
Frances Scott, PhD
Physical Scientist/Program Manager, Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences, National Institute of Justice
Frances Scott is a physical scientist and program manager in the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences. He is a trained expert in physical and analytical chemistry with experience in all phases of research, teaching, and applied forensic science. Dr. Scott manages NIJ’s Seized Drugs and Toxicology research and development portfolios.
Kevin M. Scott, PhD
Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Kevin M. Scott, PhD
Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Kevin M. Scott is the principal deputy director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). In that role, he oversees all the statistical collections undertaken by BJS and serves as a member of the agency’s senior leadership team. Dr. Scott has been with BJS since July 2017 and was its deputy director of statistical operations from 2021 to 2023. From 2017 to 2022, he was chief of the Law Enforcement Statistics Unit and chief of the Courts Statistics Unit. In those roles, he supervised data collections that covered federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and training academies, forensic laboratories, medical examiners’ and coroners’ offices, prosecutors, indigent defense providers, and courts. Before joining BJS, Dr. Scott was a professor of political science at Texas Tech University, worked for the Congressional Research Service and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and served as director of the Policy Analysis Unit in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy. Dr. Scott earned his doctor of philosophy and master of art degrees in political science at The Ohio State University.
Rita Seith, MS
Manager, Opioids and Emerging Drugs Unit, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Lansing, Michigan
Rita Seith, MS
Manager, Opioids and Emerging Drugs Unit, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Lansing, Michigan
Rita Seith manages the Opioids and Emerging Drugs Unit at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The team leverages a number of substance use disorder-related data sources to support program and policy decisions. Ms. Seith holds a master of science degree in occupational and environmental epidemiology from the University of Michigan–Rackham Graduate School and a bachelor of science degree in biobehavioral health from Pennsylvania State University.
Christopher Sellers, MPH
Director of Analytics, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Montgomery, Alabama
Christopher Sellers, MPH
Director of Analytics, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Montgomery, Alabama
Christopher Sellers is an epidemiologist with the Alabama Department of Mental Health. His prior work includes being an early adopter of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services core set of quality of health care measures. Having specialized in analysis of claims data, he was selected to lead the development of Alabama’s Community Health Assessment, which collected data from a broad spectrum of agencies and health interests to provide a comprehensive perspective on the current state of population health. Mr. Sellers also spearheaded an innovative research collaboration between the University of Alabama School of Public Health and Alabama’s Children’s Health Insurance Program that spawned more than 20 peer-reviewed publications that provided timely and relevant information used to develop and refine program policies. His current work involves co-chairing the Alabama Opioid and Addiction Council’s Data Committee, which has led to exciting work such as the establishment of a centralized repository for data related to the addiction crisis. Partners include entities from the justice community, health care providers and payers, and public health surveillance. “I have been fortunate to see how powerful data can be used when made available to all stakeholders—decision makers and non-decision makers alike.” Mr. Sellers looks forward to making statewide data accessible to better inform state agencies and community partners as they continue collaborations to prevent and treat substance misuse in Alabama.
Mickenzie Simmons, MA
Behavioral Health Analyst, Community Health Division, Altarum
Mickenzie Simmons, MA
Behavioral Health Analyst, Community Health Division, Altarum
Mickenzie Simmons is a behavioral health analyst for Altarum’s Community Health Division and currently serves as the behavioral health analyst for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance Center on peer recovery support services. Ms. Simmons has worked in the criminal justice field for more than 10 years and, prior to joining Altarum, worked with and for law enforcement agencies and assisted justice-involved individuals by providing subject-matter expertise, training, and curriculum development for patrol and corrections divisions, as well as behavioral health and substance use evaluations within the judicial system. Her expertise also includes data collection and dissemination, webinar and podcast production, technical writing, behavioral health research, and program analysis. Ms. Simmons holds a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee.
Brian Sink
Program Manager, Access: Drug User Health Program, Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Brian Sink
Program Manager, Access: Drug User Health Program, Fenway Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Brian Sink is the program manager for Fenway Health’s Access: Drug User Health Program, a long-standing syringe services program in Boston, Massachusetts. Previously, he served as the outreach coordinator providing trainings, community engagement, HIV/hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infection testing, and mobile harm reduction services to the broader metro area. He also led the agency’s post-overdose follow-up efforts alongside community partners across neighboring municipalities. Mr. Sink comes to this work with both lived experience in the realm of substance use and having worked previously in the area shelter system, where he realized that the one-size-fits-all approach to human services can often leave many feeling left out. He is an enthusiastic advocate for systems and health care settings that utilize a harm reduction model, respecting the inherent dignity of people who use substances while acknowledging that they are the experts of their own lives.
Edward Sisco, PhD
Research Chemist, Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Edward Sisco, PhD
Research Chemist, Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Edward Sisco has been a research chemist within the Surface and Trace Chemical Analysis Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology since 2014. His research has focused on mass spectrometry systems for forensics, homeland security, and public health. He has worked extensively with federal, state, and local forensic counterparts to help address forensic chemistry metrology challenges in seized drugs, fire debris, explosives, and trace evidence analysis. His current research efforts are focused on addressing measurement challenges in forensic chemistry, providing fundamental measurements to address the opioid epidemic, and increasing awareness of the advantages of implementing ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AI-MS) in screening and laboratory environments. Dr. Sisco is a member of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS). He is also an associate editor for Forensic Chemistry.
Mike Skowyra
Detective Lieutenant, Special Operations Commander, Kingston Police Department, Kingston, Massachusetts
Mike Skowyra
Detective Lieutenant, Special Operations Commander, Kingston Police Department, Kingston, Massachusetts
Michael “Mike” Skowyra is the special operations commander for the Kingston, Massachusetts, Police Department (KPD) and currently holds the rank of detective lieutenant. Also an army combat veteran, he has served with the KPD for 10 years. There, he has held positions including patrol, detective, police prosecutor, supervisory roles, and various specialized assignments. In the decade that he has been with the KPD, Detective Lieutenant Skowyra leads the department in arrests yet also advocates for alternative remedies to drug violations. He has played an active role as an outreach officer for Plymouth County Outreach (PCO), in Massachusetts, since the program’s inception and continues to work with PCO’s leadership team to educate law enforcement on the importance of the PCO post-overdose deflection program.
Andrea Sivanich, PhD, JD
Senior Manager, Center for Children and Family Futures, Irvine, California
Andrea Sivanich, PhD, JD
Senior Manager, Center for Children and Family Futures, Irvine, California
Andrea Sivanich is the senior manager for the Center for Children and Family Futures in Irvine, California, and has more than 10 years of experience using cross-system collaboration to improve systems and build organizational capacity. She worked for the Colorado Judicial Department for more than 7 years, serving as the Criminal Justice Program’s unit manager at the State Court Administrator’s Office, the coordinator for Colorado’s 4th Judicial District’s Recovery Court and Family Treatment Court programs, and the volunteer mental health court liaison for the El Paso County, Colorado, District Attorney’s Office. Dr. Sivanich led judicial system innovations and oversaw large expert multidisciplinary teams when she managed four statewide training and technical assistance programs: problem-solving courts, adult diversion, restorative justice, and the pretrial behavioral health liaison program. Dr. Sivanich is skilled in cross-system collaboration and partnerships, implementation of evidence-based practices and policies, evaluation, capacity building, and continuous quality improvement. As a community volunteer, she has managed multiple volunteer teams, providing family-centered programming and support to service members and their families.
Caley Small, MPH
Project Coordinator, Community Health Division, Altarum
Caley Small, MPH
Project Coordinator, Community Health Division, Altarum
Caley Small is a project coordinator for Altarum’s Community Health Division. She has served as project manager, project coordinator, and analyst in the public health field for 8 years, focusing on tribal health, behavioral health, and maternal and child health. She currently serves as a behavioral health technical assistance specialist for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance Center on peer recovery support services (PRSS), specifically working with tribal populations. Ms. Small has worked closely on various community-based projects to address health disparities and health equity among tribal populations across the United States. Most recently, she co-authored a paper addressing PRSS, including information on how to navigate the uniqueness of the different intercepts in tribal communities, and has worked with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College and the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP) on bringing awareness for the need of PRSS in Alaska Native villages through roundtable discussions, focus groups, and webinars. Ms. Small holds a master of public health degree from Michigan State University and a bachelor of science degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
Robert Snyder
Community Service Officer, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Tribal Police Department, Florence, Oregon
Robert Snyder
Community Service Officer, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Tribal Police Department, Florence, Oregon
Robert Snyder is a community service officer with the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Tribal Police Department. He has spent the majority of his life and law enforcement career in the Washington, DC, metro area and has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience in one of the largest counties in the country. In addition to his primary duties, Officer Snyder served as an undercover task force officer assigned with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation primarily focused on large-scale narcotics and violent crime operations.
Amy Solomon, MPP
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Amy Solomon, MPP
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Amy Solomon serves as the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Nominated by President Joseph R. Biden and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the Senate on April 18, 2023, Ms. Solomon leads DOJ’s principal funding, research, and statistical component, overseeing about $5 billion annually in grants and other resources to support state, local, and tribal criminal and juvenile justice activities and victim service programs. Prior to her confirmation, she served as OJP’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General since May 2021. Before 2021, Ms. Solomon was vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures, where she launched and led a corrections reform portfolio that aimed to transform the culture of prisons; spark a fundamental shift in the focus of community supervision from catching failure to promoting success; and expand economic opportunities for people with a criminal record. She actively collaborated with other philanthropies, serving on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum and the founding Clean Slate Advisory Board. From 2010 to 2017, Ms. Solomon served as director of policy for OJP and as a senior advisor to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She worked to shape, launch, and implement a broad range of domestic policy initiatives focused on criminal justice reform, urban policy, and building trust between the justice system and communities of color. She was also executive director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, a cabinet-level body established by President Barack Obama comprising more than 20 federal agencies. The council spearheaded the federal Ban the Box rule, fair housing guidance, the Second Chance Pell initiative, and Medicaid guidance for the justice-involved population. Ms. Solomon previously spent 10 years at the Urban Institute, directing projects relating to prisoner reentry and public safety. She also worked at OJP’s National Institute of Justice, where she developed community crime reduction and reentry initiatives. In addition, she managed a community service program for justice-involved individuals; developed reentry strategies for a state department of correction; and worked with juveniles in probation, halfway house, and school settings. Ms. Solomon has served on numerous advisory councils and boards, helping shape innovative approaches to criminal justice challenges in collaboration with policymakers and practitioners, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and the advocacy community. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan.
Stephanie Starr, MS
Parole Program Administrator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio
Stephanie Starr, MS
Parole Program Administrator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio
Stephanie Starr is a program administrator for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and currently oversees the Quality Assurance section. She has approximately 30 years of correctional experience with positions that included case management in halfway houses, reentry coordination, parole officer, parole board hearing officer, and quality analyst. Ms. Starr coordinated the implementation of the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS) throughout the state. She has written and managed multiple grants to explore, pilot, and implement various emerging best practices and strategic initiatives. She has trained extensively on evidence-based practices, and her trainer certifications include ORAS Master Trainer, Thinking for a Change, Decision Points, Core Correctional Practices, Anger Control, Case Conference Review, Correctional Program Checklist, Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for Employment, and Trauma-Informed Care. Ms. Starr obtained a master of science degree in criminal justice from Tiffin University.
Glenn Sterner, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, The Pennsylvania State University, Abington, Pennsylvania
Glenn Sterner, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, The Pennsylvania State University, Abington, Pennsylvania
Glenn Sterner, PhD, is an associate professor of criminal justice at The Pennsylvania State University. His research sits at the intersection of criminal justice and public health, with emphases in the key areas of substance use, human trafficking, and gambling. He addresses issues of substance use through a data-driven, community-oriented approach. Dr. Sterner has had several National Institute of Justice- and U.S. Department of Justice-funded projects that are built on this ethos. He is appointed to the Pennsylvania Overdose Task Force, where he connects with stakeholders across the commonwealth.
Edith Faith Sunga, MSA
Financial Monitoring Manager, Grants Financial Management, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Edith Faith Sunga, MSA
Financial Monitoring Manager, Grants Financial Management, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
Edith Faith Sunga is a financial monitoring manager at the Grants Financial Management Division in the Office of Justice Programs, bringing more than 30 years of accounting and financial management experience with government, nonprofit, for profit, and international organizations. In addition to managing a team of staff accountants conducting financial monitoring reviews on U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) grants, she has been conducting various grant financial management trainings tor the DOJ grantees. Ms. Sunga holds a master of science degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business economics. She also holds a certificate in federal grants management.
Jennifer Swanson, MPA
COSSUP Program Coordinator, Recovery Alliance Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota
Jennifer Swanson, MPA
COSSUP Program Coordinator, Recovery Alliance Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota
Jennifer (Jenny) Swanson is a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant program coordinator for Recovery Alliance Duluth. The grant project is focused on providing medication-assisted treatment and recovery services for justice-involved individuals in St. Louis County, Minnesota. Ms. Swanson’s broader focus is on network and coalition building for systems change to help Minnesota communities become recovery-oriented systems of care.
Nicole M. Swiderski, PhD
Supervisor, Research and Grants Unit, New Jersey State Parole Board, Trenton, New Jersey
Nicole M. Swiderski, PhD
Supervisor, Research and Grants Unit, New Jersey State Parole Board, Trenton, New Jersey
Nicole M. Swiderski is the supervisor of the Research and Grants Unit and co-coordinator of the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJSPB) Internship Program. She serves as lead researcher and grant program manager of the agency’s Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) award, and she previously served as a research assistant for the NJSPB’s Second Chance Act Reentry Program and research consultant to evaluate the effectiveness of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) in predicting supervised offender recidivism. Dr. Swiderski is dedicated to interdisciplinary research, particularly at the intersection of criminal justice and psychology. Her primary lines of research include offender reentry, cognitive consequences of victimization, domestic violence and sports, and media and crime. Dr. Swiderski is the registered agent, treasurer, and a board member of the Living in New Directions Assistance (LINDA) Organization, which helps justice-involved women struggling with homelessness, mental health, and/or substance use regain their freedom and redefine their future. She is also on the board of trustees in an at-large capacity of the Middle Atlantic States Correctional Association. In addition to her work at the NJSPB, Dr. Swiderski teaches as an adjunct professor at several New Jersey colleges and universities. She has published articles in several interdisciplinary journals and recently co-authored a book, Crime in TV, the News, and Film: Misconceptions, Mischaracterizations, and Misinformation, published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Kelsey Tambasco
Data and Fiscal Analyst, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Kelsey Tambasco
Data and Fiscal Analyst, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Kelsey Tambasco currently serves as the data and fiscal analyst for the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office. She brings a young, fresh energy and perspective to the team and the various innovative initiatives they are implementing within the local community. Ms. Tambasco has previous professional experience in the data and finance fields, which she is leveraging to improve and maximize the efficiency of these initiatives, particularly the Lackawanna County Overdose Fatality Review Team and the recommendations being generated and implemented by this team.
Holly Taylor, CADC
Reentry Coordinator, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, Little Rock, Arkansas
Holly Taylor, CADC
Reentry Coordinator, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, Little Rock, Arkansas
Holly Taylor works as the reentry coordinator for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) in Little Rock, Arkansas. She oversees programming for the reentry program at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility for incarcerated individuals. Once individuals complete the reentry program, Ms. Taylor helps them transition to treatment or transitional living. Another component of this program is helping incarcerated individuals with their criminal cases. Ms. Taylor and her staff work with public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and probation/parole officers to ensure that the best interests of the individuals are met. The hope is to prevent people from going to prison and pursue treatment instead. While working at the PCSO, Ms. Taylor became a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Prior to working at the PCSO, she worked at Hoover Treatment Center in Little Rock. She started out as an AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) volunteer and transitioned into a full-time position as the health and wellness coordinator. Her passion for working in this field stems from her own history with incarceration and substance use disorder. She hopes to encourage others to see the same light that helped her through her own battles.
Tyrina Taylor, MPH
Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Specialist, Altarum, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tyrina Taylor, MPH
Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Specialist, Altarum, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tyrina Taylor is a behavioral health technical assistance specialist in Altarum’s Community Health practice area. She has 11 years of experience in public health, all of which include health promotion, leading community-based partnerships to decrease drug overdoses with special emphasis on harm reduction among people who use intravenous drugs. She also has expertise in sexual and reproductive health, managing the implementation of public health programs to improve awareness, education, prevention, and screening to reduce health disparities for high-risk ethnic communities disproportionately impacted by HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C. Ms. Taylor holds a master of public health degree from Mercer University of Atlanta and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Valdosta State University.
Carrie Thompson
Chief of Intelligence, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Arlington, Virginia
Carrie Thompson
Chief of Intelligence, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Arlington, Virginia
Carrie Thompson was selected as chief of intelligence for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in October 2022. In this role, she serves as a strategic advisor to the DEA Administrator on intelligence matters and works daily to achieve DEA mission goals through data-driven intelligence operations, engaging global partners, advancing law enforcement intelligence tradecraft, and promoting a diverse and professional workforce. Chief Thompson began her career at DEA as an intelligence research specialist (IRS) in September 1998, assigned to the DEA Detroit Field Division Office. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held DEA posts at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia; the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan; and the United States Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, as the field intelligence manager for Europe and Africa. Chief Thompson has also served in a variety of capacities at DEA Headquarters, during which she developed wide-ranging expertise in global strategic intelligence, intelligence policy and strategic planning, and partner engagement. Chief Thompson received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she studied international relations and economics.
Sadie Thompson, CPSS
Chief Implementation Officer, Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska
Sadie Thompson, CPSS
Chief Implementation Officer, Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska
Sadie Thompson, chief implementation officer of Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., has been working in the wellness and recovery fields for 17 years. She is the author of the state-certified and nationally certified PEERiodical Peer Support Training; The Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., Provider Employee Training Manual; and The Whole Health Employment Support and Training Program. She has experience in clinical and nonclinical direct behavioral health service delivery, executive leadership, nonprofit development, facilitation of professional education, federal grant management, legislative advocacy, curriculum development, organizational culture assessment, and integration of recovery-oriented systems of care. Her lived experience with mental health, substance use, homelessness, overdose, and suicide fuels her passion in supporting organizations’ transition to true recovery-oriented systems of care that provide strengths-based, low-barrier services and employee satisfaction. Ms. Thompson serves on several advisory committees and recovery-focused boards; as vice president of consumer affairs for the Nebraska Association for Behavioral Health Organizations (NABHO); and as the Region 7 Director for the National Council on Mental Wellbeing’s Board of Directors representing Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.
Valarie Tickle
Grant Coordinator, Delaware Criminal Justice Council, Wilmington, Delaware
Valarie Tickle
Grant Coordinator, Delaware Criminal Justice Council, Wilmington, Delaware
Valarie Tickle is the grant coordinator for the Delaware Criminal Justice Council (CJC), where she has been employed for more than 25 years and has managed more than 20 different block and discretionary grants. As a criminal justice coordinator, her responsibilities include directing management studies, analyzing data, drafting statewide policy, conducting strategic planning, writing federal grants, and ensuring compliance with grant regulations and reporting requirements. She began her career with the Delaware CJC as a grant monitor and progressed to her current level. Ms. Tickle earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology from the University of Delaware.
Becca Titus, MCJ
Chief Executive Officer, United Way, Hobbs, New Mexico
Becca Titus, MCJ
Chief Executive Officer, United Way, Hobbs, New Mexico
Becca Titus is the Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Lea County, New Mexico, where her responsibilities include helping the indigent and misplaced population better their lives by connecting them to available community resources. She also works part-time at New Mexico Junior College. Prior to these roles, Ms. Titus worked full-time in the criminal justice field for 16 years, first as a legal assistant to the District Attorney’s Office and then in the employment of a highly acclaimed criminal defense lawyer in New Mexico. She realized her passion was in prosecution and returned to the District Attorney’s Office as the victim coordinator. She then moved into the nonprofit field at United Way of Lea County and is a part of law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD). Ms. Titus graduated from New Mexico State University with a master’s degree in criminal justice.
Alexandria Van Dall, MPH
Economist, Low-Income and Uninsured Populations Division, RTI International
Alexandria Van Dall, MPH
Economist, Low-Income and Uninsured Populations Division, RTI International
Alexandria Van Dall is an economist in the Health Coverage for Low-Income and Uninsured Populations Division at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) and recently joined the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance team. She has experience with both qualitative and quantitative methodology supporting health policy research projects, namely Medicaid program evaluations. Ms. Van Dall’s primary research interests are data infrastructure design and technical assistance to facilitate coverage and health care quality in correctional settings and after release from incarceration.
Kristina Varela
Trauma Support Specialist, Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Bridgeton, New Jersey
Kristina Varela
Trauma Support Specialist, Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Bridgeton, New Jersey
Kristina Varela is a trauma support specialist at the Cumberland County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with implementing community justice prevention and intervention initiatives. Her work focuses on developing programmatic responses to emerging needs in the county impacting crime and public safety. Her major projects include coordinating the prosecutor-led diversion program Fighting Relapse Effort Employing Drug Offense Monitoring Plus (FREEDOM+), coordinating positive youth development strategies for justice-involved and at-risk youth, assisting in a violence reduction initiative, and developing judicious mental health supports. Her work is informed by her experience working within the criminal justice system specific to reentry preparation and evidence-based practices. Prior to working at the prosecutor’s office, Ms. Varela worked in the fields of reentry and mental health. Ms. Varela holds a master’s degree in administration of justice and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, both from Wilmington University.
Bonnie M. Vest, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Primary Care Research Institute, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
Bonnie M. Vest, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Primary Care Research Institute, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
Bonnie M. Vest is a research associate professor in the Primary Care Research Institute at the University at Buffalo. She is a medical anthropologist with 10 years of experience in mixed-methods program evaluation related to the implementation of community programs and interventions. She has served as lead evaluator for multiple Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded programs implementing interventions to address opioid and other substance use in the community. Dr. Vest is and has been a co-investigator on large U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs- and National Institutes of Health-funded health services research studies. She has extensive expertise in research related to substance use, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Laura Viafora Ray, MPH, CPH
Project Director, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Jacksonville, Florida
Laura Viafora Ray, MPH, CPH
Project Director, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Jacksonville, Florida
Laura Viafora Ray is the project coordinator of Opioid Abatement with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) in Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to this, Ms. Viafora Ray was the project director of a community-based overdose prevention and Narcan distribution project with JFRD, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), for four years. She has been an adjunct instructor with the University of North Florida (UNF), Department of Public Health, since 2015, teaching courses in substance misuse prevention, program planning and evaluation, and public health research. Ms. Viafora Ray earned a master of public health degree from UNF and a bachelor of health sciences degree from the University of Florida.
Ron Waddell
Executive Director, Legendary Legacies, Inc., Worchester, Massachusetts
Ron Waddell
Executive Director, Legendary Legacies, Inc., Worchester, Massachusetts
Ron Waddell is the executive director and cofounder of Legendary Legacies, Inc. Legendary Legacies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to interrupting cycles of incarceration, racism, and poverty among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) males. Mr. Waddell is a Certified Transformational Life Coach through the Association for Christian Character Development, a Certified Gang Specialist through the National Gang Crime and Research Center, a Certified Youth Mental Health Specialist, and a Certified Recovery Coach. He was one of Worcester Business Journal’s (WBJ) 40 under 40 in 2021 and WBJ Power 50 in 2022. He also serves as a board member of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and Worcester Education Collaborative. Mr. Waddell has completed and cofacilitated multiple reentry trainings inside Massachusetts House of Corrections facilities. He is present at a number of community and state events and speaks passionately and eloquently about issues affecting marginalized communities. Mr. Waddell holds a certificate in nonprofit management and leadership from Boston University.
Alexia Walker
Public Health Analyst, RTI International
Alexia Walker
Public Health Analyst, RTI International
Alexia Walker is a public health analyst within the Research Triangle Institute’s (RTI International) Justice Practice Area and brings to her role in project management her experience gained throughout her academic career. Ms. Walker uses her skills in data analysis, problem solving, decision making, communication, and strategic planning to diligently deliver well-organized and high-quality events that accurately portray the mission of a project. Her work as part of the RTI Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance team is to lead the Post-arrest Diversion Community of Practice and provide support to grantees.
Caitlin Weihing, MS
Crime Data Analyst, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Caitlin Weihing, MS
Crime Data Analyst, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Caitlin Weihing is the crime data analyst for the Winnebago County, Wisconsin, District Attorney’s Office (WCDAO). She is the first to hold the position since its approval in 2020. Although the WCDAO has long valued the importance of data, this position serves as the next step toward improving the data-driven decision making within the WCDAO. In this position, Ms. Weihing serves as data wrangler, data analyst, and data communicator. She oversees data connected to program evaluation, grant management, collaborative research projects, and evaluation of performance for the WCDAO as a whole. She thoroughly enjoys the challenges that accompany working with public sector data. Ms. Weihing earned both her master of science and bachelor of science degrees in psychology from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Hannah White, MA
Program Manager, Community Corrections Alternative Program, Virginia Department of Corrections, Richmond, Virginia
Hannah White, MA
Program Manager, Community Corrections Alternative Program, Virginia Department of Corrections, Richmond, Virginia
Hannah White began her career with the Virginia Department of Corrections in September 2015 as a cognitive counselor with the Cognitive Therapeutic Community (CTC) at the Virginia Correctional Center for Women (VCCW). In September 2018, she was hired as the program director of the CTC with Spectrum Health Services at VCCW. In January 2021, she returned to the Virginia Department of Corrections as the program manager for the Community Corrections Alternative Program. Ms. White holds a master of arts degree in forensic psychology from The George Washington University and bachelor of science degrees in criminal justice and psychology from Appalachian State University.
Michelle White, MPA
Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Michelle White, MPA
Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Michelle White is currently serving in dual roles as both a Senior Policy Advisor for the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and a Senior Program Advisor for the State Justice Institute (SJI). At BJA, she supports the statewide grantees of the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), along with work in the areas of prosecutor and court diversion programs, child welfare activities, harm reduction strategies, and support for rural communities across the portfolio. At SJI, she strengthens, supports, and guides the work of local and state court grantees across numerous program areas and monitors national trends in justice and their potential impact on the state courts and their justice system partners. Ms. White has more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of the justice and health systems, which includes providing training and technical assistance, program evaluation, and practical experience as a drug court coordinator, criminal justice planner, probation officer, and police officer. Ms. White graduated from George Mason University with both a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice.
David Whitesock, JD, MA
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Commonly Well, Potsdam, New York
David Whitesock, JD, MA
Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Commonly Well, Potsdam, New York
David Whitesock is the chief executive officer and founder of Commonly Well. He has led innovative and entrepreneurial programs in addiction, recovery, and technology since 2004. While designing new approaches to peer coaching, he developed the Recovery Capital Index® (RCI). The RCI is a scientifically validated assessment that measures recovery and overall well-being. Mr. Whitesock founded Commonly Well in 2020 to broaden the reach and impact of the RCI. Through Commonly Well, he works with health care systems and behavioral health clinics to design and implement improved patient experiences. Mr. Whitesock is a regular speaker and advocate for addiction and mental health. He focuses his advocacy on improving well-being for fellow attorneys and reducing impaired driving.
Tisha Wiley, PhD
Chief, Services Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Tisha Wiley, PhD
Chief, Services Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Tisha Wiley serves as the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) associate director for justice systems and director of the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN). As chief of NIDA’s Services Research Branch, she manages a staff of program officials and a broad scientific portfolio of research and training grants seeking to improve the availability, accessibility, efficiency, effectiveness, quality, cost, and outcomes of substance use disorder treatment services in health care systems, community-based settings, and criminal legal systems. Dr. Wiley previously served as NIDA’s science officer on earlier justice initiatives, including the Juvenile Justice Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS) and Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) cooperative research programs. Before joining the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she was the assistant director of research at the Juvenile Protective Association, a nonprofit social service agency in Chicago, Illinois, focusing on child welfare. Dr. Wiley has served as a consultant for the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center and the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services.
Diana Williams, MSW, LCSW
Senior Subject-matter Expert, Center for Behavioral Health, Altarum
Diana Williams, MSW, LCSW
Senior Subject-matter Expert, Center for Behavioral Health, Altarum
Diana Williams recently joined the Altarum team as a senior subject-matter expert for its Center for Behavioral Health. Prior to coming to Altarum, she held the position of senior director for addiction services for Aspire Indiana Health, one of Indiana’s community mental health systems, which included clinical oversight of recovery housing, outpatient programming, and the residential treatment facility, Mockingbird Hill Recovery Center. Ms. Williams has more than 30 years of management and administration experience in the behavioral health field. Nationally, she has worked closely with federal clients, specifically the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), state agencies, and SAMHSA grantees. She has successfully managed SAMHSA contracts, including the SAMHSA Community-based Organizations and Access to Recovery (ATR3 and ATR4) initiatives. At the state level, for Indiana, Ms. Williams has experience as a clinical director for two inpatient substance abuse treatment centers. She has served Indiana as the Division of Mental Health and Addiction’s deputy director of substance abuse and emergency preparedness services, deputy director of mental health and substance abuse policy and programs, single state agency for substance abuse services, state opioid treatment authority, and director of substance abuse services, as well as the director of programs for the Indiana Department of Corrections. Ms. Williams is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and was an associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, from which she holds a master of social work degree.
Shayne Willis
COSSUP Grant Coordinator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio
Shayne Willis
COSSUP Grant Coordinator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio
Shayne Willis is a grant analyst for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) governing the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant, which aims to study the implementation of virtual reality-led substance use treatment for both inmates and those on community supervision. Mr. Willis began his career with ODRC as a Franklin County parole officer. He is a certified trainer in multiple evidence-based practices curricula provided by ODRC. Mr. Willis is a graduate of Otterbein University.
Jessica Wolff, MPH
Public Health and Public Safety Team Lead, Division of Overdose Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jessica Wolff, MPH
Public Health and Public Safety Team Lead, Division of Overdose Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jessica Wolff is a lead health scientist within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She is the public health and public safety team lead in the Division of Overdose Prevention and also serves as the public health director of the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS). The ORS is a national public health and public safety program and a partnership between the CDC and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program to prevent and reduce overdose. In this capacity, Ms. Wolff coordinates with federal partners at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, HIDTA, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance and provides oversight to a team at the CDC Foundation that supports 60 ORS public health analysts. Ms. Wolff has 12 years of program evaluation and project management experience in various public health fields, including global HIV/AIDS prevention, youth suicide prevention, and children’s mental health services.
Maureen Wood, JD
Judge, Rockdale County Juvenile Court, Conyers, Georgia
Maureen Wood, JD
Judge, Rockdale County Juvenile Court, Conyers, Georgia
Maureen Wood was appointed as Rockdale County, Georgia’s Juvenile Court Judge on September 30, 2016, by the Honorable David B. Irwin, Chief Judge of the Rockdale County Superior Court. Judge Wood is a Child Welfare Law Specialist certified through the National Association of Counsel for Children. Since taking the bench in 2016, she has expanded the Rockdale County Juvenile Court program offerings by implementing two additional accountability courts (family treatment court and mental health court), revamping the court’s Child in Need of Services (CHINS) protocol, and starting the Project Girls Learning Our Worth (GLOW) group. Judge Wood is committed to ensuring that the court-involved youth of Rockdale County receive supervision, instruction, and therapy that responds to their individual and familial needs. The court targets its resources for more effective interventions and expedited resolution of court involvement, which Judge Wood believes will ultimately produce the best results for the youth in her community. Judge Wood earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Law and her bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jon Woodruff, JD
Senior Legislative Attorney, Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, Charlottesville, Virginia
Jon Woodruff, JD
Senior Legislative Attorney, Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, Charlottesville, Virginia
Jonathan (Jon) Woodruff, Esquire, is a senior legislative attorney at the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA). At LAPPA, his duties include researching, drafting, and speaking about model laws and other legislative materials covering state and federal criminal justice and health care issues. These issues include fentanyl test strips and other drug paraphernalia, naloxone access, health information disclosure provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and 42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 2, deflection initiatives, and Good Samaritan fatal overdose prevention. Mr. Woodruff is the lead drafter of LAPPA’s Model Fentanyl Test Strip and Other Drug Checking Equipment Act (April 2023); Model Law Enforcement and Other First Responder Deflection Act (March 2022); and Model Overdose Mapping and Response Act (March 2020). Mr. Woodruff earned a juris doctorate degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2003, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review, and a bachelor of arts degree in physics from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1995.
Karen Yost, MA, LSW, LPC, NCC, ALPS, MAC, CCDVC, CSOTS
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International, North Bethesda, Maryland
Karen Yost, MA, LSW, LPC, NCC, ALPS, MAC, CCDVC, CSOTS
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International, North Bethesda, Maryland
Karen Yost is a technical expert lead for JBS International, serving both the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Training and Technical Assistance project and the Health Resource and Services Administration Rural Communities Opioid Response Program project. She has more than 30 years’ experience providing, developing, and overseeing services for individuals with behavioral health and substance use disorders and intellectual/developmental disabilities. Ms. Yost is a Licensed Social Worker, Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, Approved Licensed Professional Supervisor, Master Additions Counselor, Clinically Certified Domestic Violence Counselor, Certified Sex Offender Treatment Specialist, and Certified School Counselor for grades K–12. She has extensive experience in leadership, training, trauma-informed practice, multisystem collaboration, working with first responders and law enforcement, and working with rural and economically challenged communities. Ms. Yost was appointed to serve on the West Virginia Governor’s Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse, which has been a leader in framing statewide and community responses to the opioid crisis, and the West Virginia Governor’s Indigent Defense Commission. She brings the frontline perspective and experience of program directors across a range of clinical settings as well as expertise in service integration at local, state, and regional levels.
