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.
 
 
Interested in submitting a presentation for 2019?  Click here.
 
 
 
Andrea Gelzer
Andrea Gelzer
Sr. VP & Corporate Chief Medical Officer
AmeriHealth Caritas
Andrea Gelzer, MD, MS, FACP, is the Senior Vice President and Corporate Chief Medical Officer for AmeriHealth Caritas. She is responsible for setting and overseeing the organization’s overall population health management, informatics, quality and provider network contracting strategies, as well as clinical policy development and data analytics oversight for all AmeriHealth Caritas’ health plans and ancillary businesses. Previously, Gelzer served as the Chief Medical Officer for Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan. She also served multiple roles, including Senior Vice President of Clinical Public Affairs at CIGNA Corporation, and for 16 years worked in private practice in Internal Medicine. Gelzer serves on several national committees. She earned her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her Doctor of Medicine from St. George’s University. She also received a master’s degree in preventive medicine/administrative medicine at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in clinical informatics.
Health Plans Address America’s Opioid Epidemic with Evidence-Based Strategies


Roshni Ghosh
Roshni Ghosh
MD, MPH, Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer
Premier, Inc.
Dr. Roshni Ghosh had more than 15 years of experience in healthcare, with a focus on the delivery of care, health outcomes, health quality and population health management, with a focus on change management, clinical workflow design and business process reengineering skills and overall quality improvement. Ghosh has extensive experience analyzing trends in health information technology development and health informatics to increase efficiencies in patient care as well as improve quality and access to care while decreasing costs. Prior to joining Premier, Ghosh served as the Chief Medical Information Officer for Deloitte’s federal health practice. There she drove health analytics and reform, care coordination and population health across all major federal health agencies, the Military Health System and Veteran’s Affairs, as well as in the commercial marketplace. As a SME and a certified Project Management Professional, she also managed the development and deployment of the Department of Defense’s global electronic health record system, as well as the Joint Interagency Program’s clinical informatics and requirements department. At Premier, Ghosh is a VP, Chief Medical Information Officer, as well as Premier’s Government Services Lead. She is also the Program Director for Premier’s Hospital Improvement Innovation Network for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. In addition, Ghosh is spearheading numerous opioid focused pilots and initiatives at Premier focusing on different aspects of the crisis, specifically around pharmacy data and quality, safety and quality outcomes, and the patient experience. Ghosh, an adjunct professor at George Washington University, earned her medical degree from Rutgers University and her master’s in public health from Columbia University.
Hospitals in Action: Creating Safer Post-Operative Management to Reduce Opioid-Related Harm


Patrick Glynn
Patrick Glynn
MA, NREMT, Lieutenant Detective-Commander
Special Investigations and Narcotics Units, Quincy (Massachusetts) Police Department
Lieutenant Detective Patrick Glynn is a 32-year veteran of the Quincy (Massachusetts) Police Department and the Commander of the Special Investigations and Narcotics Units and the Director of the South Shore Drug Task Force. He has been training police officers for the past 25 years. He is a Senior Staff Instructor for the Municipal Police Training Committee, presenter for numerous community groups and adjunct faculty for Eastern Nazarene College. He is a founding member of the Norfolk County Prescription Monitoring Program. In addition, he is the Director of the the Quincy Naloxone Program and has spoken throughout the country on the “Quincy Model." He received the 2013 President’s Advocate for Action Award, presented by Office of National Drug Control Policy, the 2014 Gary P. Hayes Award, presented by the Police Executive Research Forum, and the 2012 Quincy Community Hero Award. Glynn holds a bachelor's degree in human services from New Hampshire College and a master's degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College.
Changing Attitudes: Law Enforcement, Public Health and Naloxone


Bruce A. Goldberger
Bruce A. Goldberger
PhD, Professor and Chief, Division of Forensic Medicine, Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Florida College of Medicine
Dr. Bruce Goldberger is a Professor and the Chief of the Division of Forensic Medicine in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Goldberger is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, is a past-President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the President of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and Society of Forensic Toxicologists. Goldberger received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Zoology from Drew University and Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Toxicology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry. He has published numerous articles, reviews and chapters related to forensic toxicology and is co-editor of the "Handbook of Workplace Drug Testing, On-Site Drug Testing and Garriott’s Medicolegal Aspects of Alcohol, 6th Edition."
The National Opioid Overdose Epidemic: It’s Not Just Opioids


Mark Gold, MD
Mark Gold, MD
Cocaine and Addiction Researcher
Mark S. Gold, MD, is a teacher, translational researcher, author, mentor and inventor best known for his work on the brain systems underlying the effects of opiate drugs, cocaine and food. He has worked as an advisor to several White House drug czars, National Institute on Drug Abuse directors and National Institute of Mental Health directors over his more than 40-year career. Gold was co-inventor of the use of clonidine in opioid withdrawal and the dopamine hypothesis for cocaine addiction and anhedonic withdrawal. He pioneered the use of clonidine and lofexidine in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Gold has earned a number of national awards for his research, including the Foundations Fund Prize, the McGovern Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Leadership Award from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, the DARE Lifetime Achievement Award and the PATH Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award--presented to him by drug czar Michael Botticelli. He was awarded distinguished alumni awards from Yale University and Washington University.
America's Hidden Drug Epidemic: It's More than Opioids


Sean Goodison
Sean Goodison
PhD, Deputy Director and Senior Research Criminologist
Police Executive Research Forum
Dr. Sean Goodison is a Deputy Director and Senior Research Criminologist at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). His work focuses on quantitative research, research methodology, program evaluation, police use of technology and national data collection efforts. He is a member of the FBI’s Use of Force Data Task Force and National Institute of Justice (NIJ) LEADS Agencies Coordinating Council. Prior to joining PERF, he was an analyst and civilian researcher for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. Goodison has been the Primary Investigator on a number of studies, including a randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of body-worn cameras on citizen perceptions, and a project to collect and analyze 15 years of homicide data from official records in Washington, D.C. He has worked on numerous other policing-related grants. Goodison has published and presented on various criminological issues, such as firearms, homicide and the history of criminological thought. He received his doctorate in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland and has two master’s degrees, one in forensic science and another in criminal justice, from The George Washington University.
Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction: Merging Public Safety and Public Health Roles


Eric Goplerud
Eric Goplerud
PhD, MA, Vice President and Senior Fellow Public Health
NORC at the University of Chicago
Eric Goplerud, PhD, Vice President and Senior Fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, has more than 25 years in senior federal and non-governmental leadership directing numerous studies and task forces on behavioral health. At the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), he led the agency’s policy and planning office, directed the agency’s managed care, quality and finance office, and served as first director of SAMHSA’s science to service program to speed transmission of evidence-based practices into everyday clinical practice. In the 15 years since leaving federal service, he has directed major government and foundation-supported programs to integrate behavioral health into acute and primary care settings, including hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and workplace programs. Goplerud led the successful effort to secure new substance use screening and brief intervention CPT codes from AMA and new SBI HCPCS II codes from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and was instrumental in getting Medicare to cover primary care SA screening and brief intervention as a preventive service.
Real Costs of Rx Pain Meds, Opioids and Substance Use in the Workplace: What Employers and Communities Can Do


Thomas Gorman
Thomas Gorman
Director
Rocky Mountain HIDTA
In 1968, Tom Gorman graduated from San Jose State University and joined the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. He served 10 years as an undercover agent. He made 1,000 undercover purchases and received two Purple Hearts from being shot and later stabbed. He was promoted in 1990 to Deputy Chief in charge of statewide drug enforcement operations. In 1997, he retired to become the director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Gorman is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and is past President of the California Narcotic Officers Association and the National Alliance of State Drug Enforcement Agencies. He is President of the National HIDTA Directors Association. He authored "The Myths of Drug Legalization and Marijuana Legalization: The Issues." He authored a recently published book titled "To Believe or not Believe, That is the Question - An Undercover Agent’s Quest for the Truth."
Marijuana: Reading Between the Lines and Understanding the Impact


Scott  Gottlieb
Scott Gottlieb MD
MD, Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Scott Gottlieb, MD, was sworn in as the 23rd Commissioner of Food and Drugs on May 10, 2017. Dr. Gottlieb is a physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate who previously served as the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a senior advisor to the FDA Commissioner.

He also worked on implementation of the Medicare drug benefit as a Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he supported policy work on quality improvement and the agency's coverage process, particularly as it related to new medical technologies.

In 2013 Dr. Gottlieb was appointed by the Senate to serve on the Federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee, which advises the Department of Health and Human Services on healthcare information technology.

Dr. Gottlieb was previously a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan, where he also practiced medicine as a hospitalist physician.

He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York and is a graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and of Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, where he studied Economics.


Plenary Session: Agency Update Part 2


Traci Green
Traci Green
PhD, MSc, Deputy Director, Boston Medical Center Injury Prevention Center
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University
Dr. Traci Green is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on drug abuse, addiction and injury. She earned a master's degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill University and a doctorate in epidemiology from Yale University. She helped design the ASI-MV®, a real-time illicit and Rx drug abuse surveillance system developed by Inflexxion, Inc. Currently, she is Deputy Director of the Boston Medical Center Injury Prevention Center and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. Green helped co-found www.prescribetoprevent.org, chairs the Drug Overdose Prevention and Rescue Coalition for the Rhode Island Department of Health, and serves as an advisor to the Rhode Island Governor on addiction and overdose. Her research is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Department of Justice.
Drug Checking: A Novel Evidence-Based Strategy for Preventing Overdose
Pharmacy-Based Naloxone: Strategies from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oregon and Washington


Catherine "Bizz" Grimes
Catherine "Bizz" Grimes
MEd, ASN, RN, Ambulatory Nurse Clinician
Indiana University School of Medicine
Catherine "Bizz" Grimes obtained her nursing degree in 2003 from the School of Nursing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Upon receipt of her degree, she worked with the high-risk obstetric population on the Obstetric Intensive Care Unit at Indiana University Health, University Hospital for ten years. After a three-month respite, she returned to work as an Ambulatory Nurse Clinician in the Prenatal Diagnosis Clinic at Indiana University Health, University Hospital. She naturally gravitated toward the opioid use disorder population within the first year of working as an outpatient nurse. Prior to obtaining her nursing degree, she spent 10years working as a Reference Assistant and Interlibrary Loan Coordinator at the Roy O. West Library at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
What We Wish We Had Known: Lessons Learned in Establishing a MAT Program for Pregnant Women


Doris Gundersen
Doris Gundersen
MD, Colorado PHP Medical Director
Federation of State Physician Health Programs
Dr. Doris Gundersen is board certified in both general adult and forensic psychiatry. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado, where she teaches medical students residents and fellows. Additionally, she maintains a private practice in general adult and forensic psychiatry. In 2000, Gundersen was invited to join the Colorado Physician Health Program (CPHP) team and for 15 years, has been dedicated to assisting physicians with serious illnesses and providing education to medical communities locally, nationally and internationally concerning physician health. She has been CPHP’s medical director since 2009. She has collaborated with her CPHP colleagues on physician health research and coauthored articles accepted for publication. She currently chairs the Colorado Medical Society’s committee on physician well-being. Gundersen is the past-President of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs.
Improving Addiction Outcomes: Lessons from the Physician Health Program Model


Erin Gutierrez
Erin Gutierrez
Executive Producer
WXIA Tegna, Inc.
Erin Gutierrez is a producer whose background spans from overseeing local newscasts to crafting coverage for CNN. Gutierrez and Jeremy Campbell are the creators of “The Triangle,” a documentary news series that exposed the dramatic increase in heroin related deaths in Atlanta’s suburbs and investigated potential solutions to the crisis.  Their work together has been honored with six Emmy Awards, a Murrow Award for Innovation and the National Association of Broadcaster’s President’s Award. 
How to Talk to the Media About Heroin


Gery Guy
Gery Guy
PhD, MPH, Senior Health Economist
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Gery P. Guy, Jr., is a Senior Health Economist in the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He conducts health economics and health services research focusing on the prevention of opioid overdose. His research focuses on the patterns of Rx drug use, the impact of state policies and health system interventions on prescribing patterns and opioid-related morbidity and mortality, and the economic burden of opioid and heroin overdoses in the United States. Guy received his doctorate in health services research and health policy with a concentration in economics from Emory University, and his Master of Public Health in health policy from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He also completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in prevention effectiveness at the CDC. Guy has authored over 80 scientific publications and book chapters.
Problematic Patterns: Overlapping Opioid/Benzodiazepine Prescriptions


Nicholas  Hagemeier
Nicholas Hagemeier
PharmD, PhD, Associate Professor and Research Director
Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University
Nicholas “Nick” Hagemeier, PharmD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice in the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Gatton College of Pharmacy and Research Director of ETSU's Center for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy, master's and doctorate degrees from Purdue University. He has nine years of experience in community pharmacy settings. Hagemeier is Co-Investigator of ETSU’s $2.2 million Diversity-Promoting Institutions Drug Abuse Research Program, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is Principal Investigator for a core project focused on Rx drug abuse-related communication. He is also Director of a Community Pharmacy Practice Research Fellowship. He has obtained over $2.3 million in NIH and state funds to conduct Rx drug abuse research. He has published 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has given multiple invited research presentations. He received the Tennessee Pharmacists Association GenerationRx Champions Award in 2016 for his efforts to engage community pharmacists in Rx drug abuse prevention.
Community Pharmacists and Harm Reduction: Evidence and Opportunities


Nancy Hale
Mrs. Nancy Hale
MA, President and Chief Executive Officer
Operation UNITE, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Following 34 years as a teacher, career counselor and administrative coordinator, Nancy Hale retired from public education in 2012 and joined Operation UNITE (Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education) as Co-Program Director for the UNITE Service Corps (AmeriCorps) Program. In February 2015, she was named UNITE’s third President and CEO. Very involved in her community, Hale has served as an Executive Board Member and volunteer with the Rockcastle County (Ky.) UNITE Coalition for the last 11 years, with the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association for 26 years, as well as a current board member and twice-elected President of the Kentucky Association of Professional Educators. As a member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Pi Chapter, Hale was named Kentucky Volunteer of the Year four times. She received the Golden Apple Achiever Award from Ashland Oil, Inc. in 2000 as one of Kentucky's outstanding educators. In 2001, she was chosen as the Kentucky YMCA Champion and was the first inductee into the Kentucky YMCA Youth Advisor Hall of Fame in 2010. She and her husband, John, also an educator and principal for 43 years, are the parents of two grown sons and have two granddaughters and a grandson. Hale is a member of the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board.
Welcome and Opening Plenary Session


P. Bradley Hall
P. Bradley Hall
MD, FASAM, DABAM, MROCC, AAMRO, President, Federation of State Physician Health Programs
Executive Medical Director, West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program
In 2005, Dr. P. Bradley Hall became involved in the establishment of the West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program, serving as Founding Medical Director. He serves as President/Executive Director of the West Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine. He is a certified Medical Review Officer by the American Association of Medical Review Officers and the Medical Review Officer Certification Council and a Board Registered Interventionist with the Association of Intervention Specialists. Hall is President of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs. He was one of the co-authors of the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s 11 policies on physician health. He served on the Federation of State Medical Board's Impaired Physicians Committee in the updating of the impaired physicians policy. Hall is a member of the West Virginia Governor’s Advisory Council on Substance Abuse. He is a co-author of the Chapter on Physician Health Programs in the soon to be published “Physician Mental Health and Well-Being - Research and Practice.” Hall chairs the Planning Committee of the Appalachian Addiction and Prescription Drug Abuse Conference. He serves as the Executive Medical Director of the West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program, the license board(s) designated Physicians Health Program.
Improving Addiction Outcomes: Lessons from the Physician Health Program Model


Gary Hall
Gary Hall
President and Co-Founder
Hollywood Impact Studios Rehabilitation and Vocational Corp.
Gary Skeen Hall has been a writer and producer in television for more than 20 years, writing and producing for “21 Jump Street,” “The A-Team” and Pensacola: Wings of Gold,” to name only a few. He also wrote and produced the HBO feature, “Stringer.” The son of a U.S. Naval officer, Hall graduated from UCLA with a degree in motion picture/television. He began his career at 20th Century Fox as an assistant director trainee prior to moving to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Warner Bros. He returned to 20th Century Fox in 1998 as a Senior Vice President, heading up post production for 20th Century Fox Television. His department was in charge of an average of 30 television series and pilots per year and had an annual operating budget of over $40 million. Among the series he oversaw were, “24,” “The Simpsons,” “Bones,” “Empire” and “Homeland.” Hall is a current member of the Producer’s Guild of America, Writer’s Guild of America and Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Hall also has worked part time as a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department for over 35 years, with multiple commendations for bravery and service. He has worked such assignments as gangs, narcotics and homicide, as well as several special assignments, including the infamous Night Stalker case. Hall currently is assigned to patrol. Police work, a side of life most of us rarely see, has brought realism to his writing and compassion to his life. In 2009, Hall combined his two passions, law enforcement and television, when he and his wife, Cyndi, founded their prison ministry Hollywood Impact Studios. This vocational program teaches the careers of the television industry to inmates inside the Los Angeles County Jail.
Correctional-Based Interventions: Treating Criminal Justice Involved Populations


John Halpin
John Halpin
MD, MPH, Medical Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
John Halpin MD, MPH, is a board-certified occupational medicine physician who currently serves as the Medical Officer for the Opioid Overdose Epidemiology and Surveillance Team at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this capacity, Halpin's areas of focus have been in the areas of improving prescription drug monitoring programs, or PDMPs, with a focus on the use of PDMP data for public health surveillance purposes, as well as studying and investigating the rise of overdose deaths attributable to illicitly-manufactured fentanyl. Previous to this position, Halpin served as the Medical Officer for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program at CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a program designed to provide medical care to WTC responders who are chronically ill or injured as a result of their efforts in responding to the WTC event. Halpin is a graduate of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, where he began his career at CDC in 2007.

David Hamby
David Hamby
National Coordinator
National Emerging Threats Initiative, A National HIDTA Initiative, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
David Hamby was appointed National Coordinator of the National Emerging Threats Initiative (NETI), a National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Initiative, in January 2017. Before his current appointment, he was the Deputy Coordinator of NETI, previously known as the National Methamphetamine and Pharmaceuticals Initiative (NMPI)/Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA. A member of the National HIDTA program since March 2008, Hamby serves as principle emerging threats advisor to the HIDTA program as well as state and local entities. He oversees specialized training, current trends, analytical support, best practices, innovative programs, and strategic planning for the program’s national approach to combat emerging drug threats. Hamby retired from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in Chattanooga as Captain after a distinguished 30-year career in law enforcement, serving 18 years in the field of narcotics enforcement. Hamby served five years as Director of the SE Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force. He has received numerous awards and citations, including the Appreciation Award as Project Coordinator in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing (CISD) for law enforcement officers in the State of Mississippi. Hamby is a member of the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board.