2018 Speakers
 
 
The Rx Summit annually gathers leading field experts, researchers, policy makers, and others to present a comprehensive and diverse agenda. Below are 2018 speakers.
 
 
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Jennifer J. Carroll
Jennifer J. Carroll
PhD, MPH, Science to Action Coordinator, HIDTA/CDC Heroin Response Strategy
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Jennifer J. Carroll is a medical anthropologist who specializes in drug use and overdose prevention. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brown University and a scientific consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Heroin Response Strategy. She holds a doctorate in anthropology and a Master in Public Health in epidemiology from the University of Washington. She has been conducting research on harm reduction and drug treatment efforts in Ukraine since 2007 and is currently writing a book on drug use and global health in Ukraine before, during and after the country’s recent political revolution.
Takeaways from the HIDTA/CDC Heroin Response Strategy and an Assessment of 911 Good Samaritan Laws


Earl "Buddy" Carter
Earl "Buddy" Carter
U.S. Representative
(R-GA, 1st District)
Earl L. "Buddy" Carter is an experienced businessman, health care professional and faithful public servant. As the owner of Carter's Pharmacy, Inc., South Georgians have trusted Buddy with their most valuable assets: their health, lives and families for more than thirty years. While running his business, he learned how to balance a budget and create jobs. He also saw firsthand the devastating impacts of government overregulation which drives his commitment to ensuring that the federal government creates policies to empower business instead of increasing burdens on America's job creators.

A committed public servant, Buddy previously served as the Mayor of Pooler, Georgia and in the Georgia General Assembly where he used his business experience to make government more efficient and responsive to the people. Buddy is serving his second term in the United States House of Representatives and is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. As the only pharmacist serving in Congress, Buddy is the co-chair of the Community Pharmacy Caucus and is dedicated to working towards a health care system that provides more choices, less costs and better services.

A lifelong resident of the First District, Buddy was born and raised in Port Wentworth, Georgia and is a proud graduate of Young Harris College and the University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Buddy married his college sweetheart, Amy, 39 years ago. Buddy and Amy now reside in Pooler, Georgia and have three sons, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.
Plenary Session: Congressional Leaders Update


Jac Charlier
Jac Charlier
MPA, National Director for Justice Initiatives, Center for Health and Justice
TASC, Inc.
Jac Charlier is the National Director for Justice Initiatives for the Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) at TASC. He specializes in solutions to reduce crime and drugs by successfully bridging the criminal justice and behavioral health systems from police to prosecutors to courts to probation to parole. Charlier is a nationally recognized expert in deflection and pre-arrest police diversion, and is the co-founder of the Police, Treatment and Community (PTAC) Collaborative. The mission of PTAC is to strategically widen community behavioral health and social service options available through law enforcement — including probation and parole — deflection and diversion. Charlier is a leader in our nation’s battle against opioids and has developed criminal justice opioid overdose (OD) prevention and post-OD response strategies. Charlier served as Deputy Chief in the Illinois State Parole Division. He earned his master’s degree in public policy from The Ohio State University. Charlier is a father of three (mostly) great kids. Charlier is an accomplished civic and community leader in his home city of Chicago. He is a military veteran, recipient of the Outstanding Eagle Scout Medal, and played rugby for far too long.
“Naloxone Plus”: Exploring Effective Response Methods After Opioid Overdose Reversal


Heidi Christensen
Heidi Christensen
MTS, Public Affairs Specialist, Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Heidi Christensen, MTS, is the Public Affairs Specialist at the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the HHS Partnership Center). Her efforts focus on strengthening the capacity of national faith and community organizations to respond to critical public health issues. During her tenure at the Partnership Center, Christensen has coordinated coalitions of multi-sector community-based partners to address childhood obesity, chronic disease, and the social and economic issues challenging the health of our nation’s communities. She also has coordinated partner-based social media events, educational and training web series, and communications that equip community-level health leadership. Previously, at the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty, she supported U.S. based faith leaders and their communities on collaborative efforts addressing malaria and other health issues affecting the developing world. She also managed communications and event production for the Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral. Christensen holds a master’s degree in systematic theology from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Hope In Action: Partnering with Faith-Based Communities to Address the Opioid Epidemic


Kelly Clark
Kelly Clark
MD, MBA, DFAPA, DFASAM, Chief Medical Officer, Clean Slate Centers
President, American Society of Addiction Medicine, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Dr. Kelly Clark has focused her career on issues of addictive disease, evidence-informed behavioral healthcare and payment reform. She is Chief Medical Officer of CleanSlate Centers, a multi-state medical group currently treating over 7,000 patients with opioid addiction in office based settings in eight states. Clark is the President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and has served as expert to the National Safety Council, the U.S. Comptroller General and the U.S. Attorney General’s office in Kentucky, where she is past President of the Kentucky Society of Addiction Medicine, and she led the workgroup on Health Systems and Reimbursement at Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Buprenorphine Summit. Clark continues her work as a founding member of the Advisory Board of the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit.
Knowledge and Agility: Pivoting in Response to Federal and State Health Policy Changes


Katherine  Clark
Katherine Clark
U.S. Representative
(D-MA, 5th District)
Katherine Clark proudly serves the Fifth District of Massachusetts. She was first elected in a special election in December of 2013.

Katherine's career in public service is driven by her commitment to helping children and families succeed. She is a vocal advocate for ending wage discrimination, protecting women's health care, access to affordable, high-quality child care, paid family leave, safer schools, and other reforms to address the challenges women and families face. She believes that Congress must work to end the glaring disconnect between the needs of families at home and priorities in Washington.

In Congress, she brings her experience as a state senator, state representative, general counsel for the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services, and policy chief for the state attorney general.

Katherine represents a diverse district comprised of 24 cities and towns that stretch from the coastal communities of Revere and Winthrop through the economic engine of MetroWest.

Katherine serves on the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. In the House Democratic Caucus she serves as a Senior Whip, and is a member of the Steering and Policy Committee. Katherine is a member of several caucuses in Congress, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Women's Caucus.
Plenary Session: Congressional Leaders Update


Jennifer Clarke
Jennifer Clarke MD, MPH, FACP
Medical Program Director
Rhode Island Department of Corrections
Jennifer Clarke is an associate professor of medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She has been working as an internist at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections since 1998, and became the department's medical programs director in November 2015. Her research interests include incarcerated populations, women's health, substance misuse and reproductive health.
Expanding Access to Treatment for Justice-Involved Populations: Lessons Learned from States


Francis Collins
Francis Collins
MD, PhD, Director
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, was appointed the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate. He was sworn in on August 17, 2009. On June 6, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his selection of Dr. Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director. In this role, Dr. Collins oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research. Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993-2008. Before coming to NIH, Dr. Collins was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009.
Plenary Session: Agency Update Part 1


Mary Colvin
Mary Colvin
CPA, CPCU, MBA, Chief Operating Officer
Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance, and Member, Operation UNITE Board of Directors
As Chief Operating Officer for Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance, Mary Colvin focuses on the day-to-day operations of the organization. She manages several departments including Underwriting, Claims, and Field Services. Colvin joined KEMI in 1996 and, over the course of her tenure, has held a variety of management-level positions. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky and obtained her MBA from the University of Phoenix. Colvin is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants. She serves as a Board Member for Operation Unite. Mary is a native of Campbellsville, Kentucky, and currently resides in Lexington with her family.


Mary Beth Cox
Mary Beth Cox
MPH, Substance Use Epidemiologist
North Carolina Division of Public Health
Mary Beth Cox is an Epidemiologist with the North Carolina Division of Public Health. In the six years since receiving her Master of Public Health in epidemiology and global health from New York Medical College, she has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi and worked in communicable disease surveillance in New York and North Carolina. She joined the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch in January 2016 as a Substance Use Epidemiologist. Cox serves on several state and national work groups that aim to reduce alcohol and other drug morbidity and mortality.
It's More Than Opioids: Polysubstance Use in North Carolina


Robin Cruise
Robin Cruise
Project Manager, Behavioral Health
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Robin Cruise is a Behavioral Health Project Manager for BlueCross BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST). She is responsible for managing behavioral health improvement projects related to all lines of business including the BlueCare Tennessee state government business and the BCBST commercial business. Prior to joining BCBST in 2008, she was Program Director at a transitional housing program for homeless women with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. She has worked as a clinician at various organizations, including an outpatient substance abuse treatment facility, a residential substance abuse treatment facility and the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, a prison housing 1,000-plus female felony offenders. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in social work from Louisiana State University and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Tackling the Opioid Epidemic in Tennessee: Third-Party Payer and Provider Perspectives


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Timothy Cruz
District Attorney
Plymouth County District Attorney's Office
Timothy J. Cruz has served as the Plymouth County District Attorney since November, 2001. During his tenure he has aggressively prosecuted crime in Plymouth County. Most recently, Cruz has focused his office’s efforts on battling the opioid crisis at all levels. His office also works collaboratively with local law enforcement, social service agencies, healthcare professionals, the faith community and educators on crime prevention initiatives throughout the county. Cruz has served as a member of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance; Department of Corrections Advisory Council; Governor’s Council on Capital Punishment; and the Forensic Technology Subcommittee of the Governor’s Commission on Criminal Justice Innovation. He has also served two terms as the President of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. Previously, he worked in private practice, and as an Assistant District Attorney in Plymouth County. He is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School and is admitted to both the Massachusetts and the United States District Court bars, as well as the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Drug-Endangered Children: How Law Enforcement, Child Protection Agencies and Schools Can Help


Kathryn Cunniff
Kathryn Cunniff
PharmD, Primary Care Pharmacist
Penobscot Community Health Care
Dr. Katie Cunniff is a Hepatitis C Primary Care Pharmacist at Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center based in Bangor, Maine. Cunniff graduated from the University of New England’s College of Pharmacy in 2016 and subsequently completed a Community Pharmacy Residency Program at PCHC. Highlights of her work at PCHC throughout residency and her current position include participating in pharmacist role expansion into the transitions of care arena, pioneering a pharmacist-managed hepatitis C testing and treatment initiative, and integrating pharmacists into Medication Assisted Recovery in the greater Bangor area. She is passionate about expanding services to provide higher quality, more comprehensive care for the underserved.

Pharmacists and Physicians: Strategies for Effective Collaboration in Pain Management and MAT


Corey Davis
Corey Davis
JD, MSPH, EMT-B, Deputy Director
Network for Public Health Law
Corey Davis is a Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program and Deputy Director at the Network for Public Health Law (NHeLP). His work focuses on public health, particularly identifying and leveraging opportunities in the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid to improve public health. Prior to joining NHeLP, Davis was a health policy consultant at Temple University’s fledgling Center for Health Law, Policy, and Practice, where his work focused on improving access to essential medications, particularly opioids for the treatment of cancer and AIDS pain. He also served as an employment rights attorney at Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, where he represented lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and provided education, outreach and strategic support to the LGBT community. Before joining Equality Advocates, Davis was a New Voices fellow at Prevention Point Philadelphia, where he oversaw a street-based legal clinic sited at the city’s only syringe exchange program. He is the recipient of the International AIDS Society’s Young Investigator Award and has been published numerous times in the lay and academic press.
Opioid Prevention 2.0: Innovative Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Trends


Steve Daviss
Steve Daviss
MD, DFAPA, Senior Medical Advisor, Office of the Chief Medical Officer and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Dr. Steve Daviss currently serves as Senior Medical Advisor to the Office of the Chief Medical Officer and to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He is double-boarded in psychiatry and in psychosomatic medicine, with expertise in the intersections of psychiatry, addiction, primary care, health information technology and healthcare policy. Prior to beginning his service to HHS in September 2017, he served in numerous leadership positions in clinical, policy and medical informatics areas, including clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at University of Maryland, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center, founding president at Fuse Health Strategies, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at M3 Information, chair of the Parity Accreditation Committee of ClearHealth Quality Institute, and election to Recorder of the Assembly at the American Psychiatric Association in 2017.
A Review of TIP #63: Medications for Opioid Use Disorder


Greg Delaney
Greg Delaney
Outreach Coordinator
Woodhaven Ohio
Pastor Greg Delaney who serves as the Outreach Coordinator at Woodhaven, which is a treatment center known as “a safe place to recover.” Delaney is a frequent Faith Collaborator with/for the Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's Statewide Outreach on Substance Use, as well as Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia’s Combating Addiction with Grace initiative. Delaney has been instrumental in a number of initiatives, such as The CHAMPIONS NETWORK, a coordinated and collaborative network of qualified individuals, community-based services, ministries and churches ministering to the addicted in our local communities, and an ongoing weekday BLOG called “Opportunities for Hope,” which offers messages of encouragement and recovery to its readers and subscribers. He also hosts a weekly radio show of the same name broadcast on 90.9 in Lancaster, Ohio.
Hope In Action: Partnering with Faith-Based Communities to Address the Opioid Epidemic


Brian DeLeonardo
Brian DeLeonardo
JD, State's Attorney
Carroll County, Maryland
State’s Attorney Brian DeLeonardo has served since 2014 as the chief law enforcement officer for Carroll County, Maryland, and oversees an office of 43 prosecutors, investigators and support staff. He previously served as an Assistant Attorney General for Maryland, and as the managing partner in a law firm where he represented hundreds of clients facing criminal charges as a result of their battle with drug addiction. He served as an Adjunct Law Professor at the University Of Baltimore School Of Law and as instructor for both state and federal law enforcement agencies for over 15 years, including the Maryland State Police, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He was appointed in 2016 by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to serve on Maryland’s Criminal Sentencing Commission. He participated in the Law Enforcement Subcommittee for the Maryland Governor’s Heroin Task Force, which was formed to discuss innovative ways to address the rise in opioid overdoses. DeLeonardo is the elected Vice President of the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association and is the head of the Legislation Committee for the association.
Stamp Out Heroin: One County's Three-Pronged Approach


Kurt DeVine
Kurt DeVine
MD, Family Physician
Family Medical Center, CHI St Gabriel's
Dr. Kurt Devine has been a full spectrum family medicine physician for more than 26 years. As a practicing physician in rural Minnesota, he has faced many unique challenges caring for patients in the primary care setting amid evolving care delivery models demanded forward thinking and creative strategies for change. As opioid use and its attributing issues became increasingly apparent, he became more engaged and involved with the local community task force assembled to address concerns of opioid use and dependency within the county. He quickly discovered the importance of guiding change with a strong provider championship and building impactful community partnerships. His leadership has enabled grant funding to be put to practical use and demonstrate positive outcomes from both the financial and patient care perspectives. Over the last year he has provided medication assisted treatment. It is his exemplary leadership, Devine created a culture shift within his own practice and other practices throughout the state. The program model he created has shown significant impact on opioid prescribing, as well as treatment of patients and will be reproduced in other communities with the help of recent legislative funding.
A Rural Primary Care Clinic's Successful Response to the Opioid Epidemic


Bethany DiPaula
Bethany DiPaula
PharmD, BCPP, Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy
University of Maryland - Baltimore
Bethany A. DiPaula, PharmD, BCPP, is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, Director of Pharmacy at Springfield Hospital Center, and Clinical Pharmacist at Helping Up Mission. DiPaula completed her Doctor in Pharmacy and psychiatric residency training at the University Of Maryland School Of Pharmacy, Baltimore. She became a Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist in 1997. DiPaula has been active in shaping state collaborative drug therapy management legislation and in developing physician-pharmacist collaborative practices. She currently practices collaboratively providing medication management services for psychiatric and opioid use disorder patients at Helping Up Mission. She previously created a collaborative buprenorphine/naloxone-maintenance program at a federally funded community health clinic and a local health department. She received state approval for her physician-pharmacist opioid use disorder and psychiatric disorders drug therapy management protocols. DiPaula has worked on a state committee, which legislatively advocated for expanded access to naloxone through greater pharmacist involvement. She has served as an instructor and supervisor for Maryland’s opioid overdose response program curriculum at a local health department. DiPaula has mentored addicted pharmacists while volunteering with the Pharmacist Education and Assistance Committee.
Interprofessional Excellence: Integrating Pharmacists into the MAT Team


John Dombrowski
John Dombrowski
MD, FASA, DABAM, Chief Executive Officer
Washington Pain Center
Dr. John Dombrowski has 25 years of experience in anesthesiology and pain medicine. With the rise of addiction in the United States, he became board certified in addiction medicine to treat these patients. He is a frequent lecturer across the country to discuss techniques that anesthesiologists can use to limit the amount of opiates provided patients. Also, he is frequently on national television, such as FOXNews, Good Morning America and Today.
Treating Chronic Pain in a Non-Opiate-Based Format