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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Lynda Martin
Lynda Martin
RN, BSN, MPA, Senior Director Clinical Operations, Government Services
Premier, Inc.
Lynda Martin is a registered nurse with more than 25 years of senior leadership and management experience in the healthcare quality, patient safety, performance improvement, infection prevention, pay-for-performance, federal contracting, regulatory and accreditation arenas. She has experience with developing innovative quality, patient safety and performance improvement programs to drive advances across the care continuum, as well as directing large-scale initiatives and engaging cross-functional teams to achieve safe, quality, cost-effective outcomes. She is skilled at establishing strategic relationships. At Premier, Martin is the director of clinical operations and the director of Premier’s Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN), a prime contractor HIIN for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Partnership for Patients program. She has responsibilities for leadership, development and execution of the clinical assessment and quality improvement strategy for the Premier HIIN program. This includes oversight of the clinical and technical assistance provided to hospitals for improving clinical processes, culture, patient safety and infection prevention and for the engaging of senior leaders, patients and families to reduce preventable harm and readmissions and improve the patient experience across the care continuum.
Hospitals in Action: Creating Safer Post-Operative Management to Reduce Opioid-Related Harm


David Martin
David Martin
PhD, Science Team Director
JMJ Technologies
Dr. David Martin is a pioneer in the drug testing industry. Over the past 40 years, he has built several drug testing laboratories, including one of the first laboratories specifically to monitor impaired professionals and certified to test federal employees. He is the former Chairman of the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association, Drug Testing Administrator for the International Tennis Federation, member of the IOC Medical Commission, professor at University of Florida Department of Psychiatry, Lead Scientist on the U.S. State Department Afghanistan National Drug Survey, and is currently the Science Team Director of the Colombo Plan's Global Study on Toxic Adulterants in Street Drugs.
America's Hidden Drug Epidemic: It's More than Opioids


Christine Mattson
Christine Mattson
PhD, MS, Health Scientist
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Christine Mattson works at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Overdose Epidemiology and Surveillance Team as a Health Scientist. Dr. Mattson has a doctorate in epidemiology and joined CDC in 2007 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer working in the Global AIDS Program. She has worked in the field of HIV prevention and surveillance domestically and internationally for over 15 years. She has a strong interest in epidemiology methods and surveillance and most of her previous publications focused on behavioral and clinical outcomes of people living with HIV. Since joining the Overdose Epidemiology and Surveillance Team, she has co-authored the first annual "Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes — United States, 2017," and she serves as a science officer on the Enhanced State Opioid Surveillance program.
Opioid and Fentanyl Overdoses: Rapid Surveillance and Regional Patterns


Diana Maurer
Diana Maurer
Director, Homeland Security and Justice
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Diana Maurer has been a Director in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Homeland Security and Justice team since 2009, where she currently leads GAO’s work reviewing justice and law enforcement issues. Her recent work includes reports and testimonies on the federal prison system, the Secret Service, combating violent extremism, the FBI’s use of facial recognition technology and audio-video policies at the Supreme Court. She has testified more than two dozen times before Congressional committees on several issues, including national drug control policy, FBI whistleblower protection, U.S. Department of Justice oversight and nuclear smuggling. From 2008-9, Maurer worked as an Acting Director in GAO’s Natural Resource and Environment team, where she managed work assessing U.S. global nuclear detection programs and enforcement of federal environmental law. From 1993-2007, she managed and led work in GAO’s International Affairs and Trade team, where she reviewed U.S. efforts to combat international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, U.S. assistance to the former Soviet Union, peacekeeping in the Balkans, and several other international issues. Maurer began her GAO career in 1990 in GAO’s Detroit Regional Office, where she worked on military and environmental issues.
Federal Efforts to Combat Synthetic Opioids


Kathleen Maurer
Kathleen Maurer
MD, MPH, MBA, Medical Director and Director of Health Services
Connecticut Department of Correction
Dr. Kathleen Maurer is the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) Director of Health and Addiction Services and Medical Director. Before assuming her current post in 2011, she was Assistant Medical Director at Correctional Managed Health Care, a division of the University of Connecticut Health Center, which contracts with the state corrections department for offender medical care. During her career, Maurer has provided hands-on clinical care and medical program management in the private sector. In the realm of correctional care, she is particularly interested in the role of correctional healthcare in the broader scope of public health, such as in the treatment of Hepatitis C Virus in offender-patients. Her recent initiatives include working to expand Medicaid access to halfway house residents and integrate Medicaid utilization management with the correctional system. She is developing a system-wide medication assisted treatment program for the Connecticut DOC. Maurer earned her medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine. She earned an master's in public health degree from Yale. She holds an master's in business administration degree from the University of Connecticut and is board-certified in internal medicine, occupational and environmental medicine, and addiction medicine. She recently was awarded the Coalition of Correctional Health Authorities national award for Leadership in Correctional Healthcare.
Best Treatment Practices in Correctional Settings: From Pre-Diversion to Parole


Elinore F.  McCance-Katz
Elinore F. McCance-Katz MD, PhD
MD, PhD, Assistant Secretary
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Elinore McCance-Katz, MD, PhD, is the first Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. She obtained her PhD from Yale University with a specialty in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and in Addiction Psychiatry. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry with more than 25 years as a clinician, teacher, and clinical researcher. Most recently she served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and as the Chief Medical Officer for the Eleanor Slater Hospital system which is Rhode Island's state resource for patients with the most serious mental illnesses and medical illnesses requiring long term, inpatient care. She was also Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Previously, she served as the first Chief Medical Officer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Prior to coming to SAMHSA, she served at the University of California, San Francisco as a Professor of Psychiatry, as the Medical Director for the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, and as the Medical Director of SAMHSA's Clinical Support Systems for Buprenorphine (PCSS-B) and Opioids (PCSS-O).

Dr. McCance-Katz has published extensively in the areas of clinical pharmacology, medications development for substance use disorders, drug-drug interactions, addiction psychiatry, and treatment of HIV infection in drug users. She served on the World Health Organization (WHO) committee that developed guidelines on the treatment of drug users living with HIV/AIDS. She has been a national leader in addressing the overprescribing of opioid analgesics and in providing consultation on management of patients with chronic pain and opioid overuse. She was a participant in the development of SAMHSA TIP 40 which provided the initial guidance to physicians utilizing buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid use disorder, contributed to the development and maintenance of the legislatively required 8 hours of physician training for prescribing buprenorphine products and has continued to be actively involved in the development and delivery of physician training on office-based treatment of opioid use disorders. She has been one of the architects of Rhode Island's plan for addressing the opioid epidemic including new approaches to treatment in the form of a statewide system of Centers of Excellence in the treatment of opioid use disorder, new approaches to training in the utilization of DATA 2000 (Drug Abuse Treatment Act of 2000) to bring DATA waiver training to medical students, and going forward, nurse practitioner and physician assistant students, and legislative/regulatory work addressing safe use of opioids in acute pain.
Plenary Session: Agency Update Part 2


Cheryl McClatchey
Cheryl McClatchey
MS, LSPE, Vice President, Behavioral Health Programs
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee
Cheryl McClatchey is the Vice President of Behavioral Health for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. She is responsible for management and oversight of the behavioral health product line for all lines of business including the BlueCare Tennessee state government business and the BCBST commercial business. Additionally, she is responsible for developing medical-behavioral integration strategies and appropriate coordination between behavioral health and medical products. McClatchey led BlueCare’s efforts to address the issues of substance use disorders and opioid misuse. Efforts included collaboration with community health providers to bring the Mothers and Infants Sober Together program to a rural Appalachian community, where a large percentage of babies have been born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. This program provided integrated substance abuse services at the rural health clinic. This effort led to the plans for a regional detox center for women addicted to Rx drugs housed at the local hospital. Prior to joining BlueCare Tennessee in 2009, McClatchey spent 23 years in behavioral health positions with various organizations as a clinician, executive and entrepreneur. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Buena Vista College in Iowa and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Tackling the Opioid Epidemic in Tennessee: Third-Party Payer and Provider Perspectives


Douglas McDonald
Douglas McDonald
PhD, Principal Associate
Abt Associates
Douglas McDonald, PhD, a Principal Associate at Abt Associates, has been conducting research and evaluation projects on prevention, treatment, and control of substance use and abuse (including both illegal and Rx drugs), opioid prescribing, healthcare, and criminal justice policies and practices, among other topics. Most of his work in the past decade has focused on the opioid epidemic. This includes National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded epidemiological research on the prevalence of opioid prescribing and of opioid diversion; providing research support to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's development of opioid prescribing guidelines; two other projects for CDC to improve safety of opioid prescribing; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-funded studies of opioid use and high-risk use by Medicare beneficiaries; and studies of prescription drug monitoring programs to identify high-risk opioid patients. He has also conducted many studies of criminal justice processing of persons charged with illegal drug use or distribution, and evaluations of drug treatment programs in prisons and in community-based probation and parole agencies.
CDC Guideline: Implementing Clinical and Practice-Level Strategies


James V. McDonald
James V. McDonald
MD, MPH, Chief Administrative Officer of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline
Rhode Island Department of Health
Dr. James V. McDonald has served at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) since 2012 as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and the Center for Customer Services Medical Director. He is also a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Preventing Overdose Deaths and leads the Prevention Strategy Work Group. McDonald is also the Medical Director of the overdose prevention program, as well as Medical Director for the Center for Health Systems and Policy at RIDOH. McDonald earned his medical degree from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, his pediatric residency in the U.S. Navy, and his preventive medicine residency from the State University of New York. He earned is master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. McDonald is board certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine. His diverse career includes officership in the U.S. Navy, as well as private practice in rural areas and in the Navajo Nation. McDonald lives in North Kingstown with his wife and three children.
Problematic Patterns: Overlapping Opioid/Benzodiazepine Prescriptions


Erin Meehan Richmond
Erin Meehan Richmond
JD, Trial Attorney, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Erin Meehan Richmond is a Trial Attorney in the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Prior to joining the Disability Rights Section in 2013, she served as a Trial Attorney in the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division at DOJ for 12 years. At DOJ, she has worked on a range of disability-rights related issues, including physical accessibility in housing, and enforcement of the rights of students with mental health related disabilities. She holds a bachelor's degree from Boston University and a juris doctorate from New England School of Law.
Opioid Use Disorders and the ADA: Eliminating Discriminatory Barriers to Treatment and Recovery


Sarah Melton
Sarah Melton
PharmD, BCPP, BCACP, FASCP, Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University
Dr. Sarah T. Melton is Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the Gatton College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She is the Clinical Pharmacist at the Johnson City Community Health Center, the ETSU Center of Excellence for HIV/AIDS, and Highpower, PC. Melton received her bachelor's degree in pharmacy (1991) and doctorate in pharmacy (1994) from Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia School of Pharmacy (VCU). She completed a Fellowship in Psychiatric Pharmacy at VCU in 1996. She has been a board-certified psychiatric pharmacist (Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties) since 1997 and a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist since 2011. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. She performs comprehensive medication management in the areas of psychiatric and neurologic pharmacy, addiction, and other primary care disorders.
Interprofessional Excellence: Integrating Pharmacists into the MAT Team


M.J. Menendez
M.J. Menendez
JD, National Opioid Coordinator
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, U.S. Department of Justice
M.J. Menendez is the National Opioid, Heroin and Fentanyl Efforts Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). She has been on detail to the OCDETF Executive Office since May 2015, on loan from the District of Colorado where she serves an Assistant United States Attorney in the Department of Justice. Menendez has been a prosecutor for 19 years, and she also served as a District Court Judge in Jefferson County, Colorado, for three years. Her passion for advocacy caused her to step down from the bench and return to a leadership role in whole-of-government, public health and public safety collaborations in the fight against the opioid epidemic.
Fentanyl Analogues Causing the Convergence of Science and Law: The Truth of the Evolving Fentanyl Analogue Epidemic
Fentanyl Analogues: Investigation and Prosecution in the New World


Kaitlin Merchen
Kaitlin Merchen
MSW, Director of Programs
Georgia Prevention Project
Kaitlin Merchen is the Director of Programs for the Georgia Prevention Project. She provides oversight of the Georgia Meth Project, Georgia Rx Abuse Project and all community outreach programs. The Teen Advisory Council program and the College Prevention Partnership program are two such programs, both focusing on peer-to-peer education. Before joining the Georgia Prevention Project, Merchen was a Peace Corps Volunteer. She spent two years in Mozambique, Africa, working on education and community development projects that emphasized sustainability and community empowerment. She has many years of experience working with teens and young adults. Merchen earned her master's degree in social work from Georgia State University at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Georgia.
Prevention for Youth, by Youth


Jason Merrick
Jason Merrick
MSW, CADC, Director of Addiction Services
Kenton County (Kentucky) Detention Center
Jason Merrick is the Director of Addiction Services with Kenton County Detention Center in Covington, Kentucky. He and his team developed, implemented and manage a 125-bed residential treatment program for men and women who are involved with the criminal justice system. A Northern Kentucky University graduate with a master's degree in social work and a Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor, Merrick is at the forefront of the heroin crisis and addiction-related issues in the Northern Kentucky region. He is a co-author of "Northern Kentucky’s Collective Response to the Heroin Epidemic." He and Kenton County Jailer Terry Carl are committed to changing the way we respond to addiction-related issues in Northern Kentucky and beyond.
Correctional-Based Interventions: Treating Criminal Justice Involved Populations


Evan Mobley
Evan Mobley
MS, Research Analyst
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Evan Mobley is the Project Manager for the Enhanced Surveillance of Opioid-Involved Morbidity and Mortality grant for the state of Missouri. In this position, he oversees data abstraction into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database, writes grant reports and responds to opioid-related data requests. He has worked as a research analyst at Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services since 2013 analyzing birth, death, hospital and home visiting data. He received a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Missouri in 2013.
I’ve Got 99 Problems and a Centralized Medical Examiner System Isn’t One: Partnering with C/MEs


Troy A. Moore
Troy A. Moore
PharmD, MS, BCPP, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist- Psychiatry
South Texas Veterans Health Care System
Troy A. Moore received his doctorate of pharmacy degree from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy in 2003. He subsequently attended the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy, receiving his master's degree in pharmacy in 2005 while completing a two-year Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency at the San Antonio State Hospital and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS). He joined the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Department of Psychiatry, Division of Schizophrenia and Related Disorders in 2005 and became Assistant Professor in 2007. He joined the STVHCS as Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Psychiatry in 2010, where he serves the Substance Abuse and Domiciliary Programs. He is the author of numerous publications, including the Texas Medication Algorithm Project antipsychotic algorithm for schizophrenia: 2006 update. He is a reviewer for multiple psychiatric and pharmacy journals. He is the Director of the ASHP accredited PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency at STVHCS, serves as the Chair of the STVHCS Pharmacy Professional Standards Board, and serves as one of the handling editors for the Mental Health Clinician. Moore previously served as Co-Director of the Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at STVHCS, Chair of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties Specialty Council on Psychiatric Pharmacy, and the Member-at-Large on the Board of Director for the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic.
Interprofessional Excellence: Integrating Pharmacists into the MAT Team


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Johnny Paul "J.P." Moseley
Resident Agent in Charge
Homeland Security Investigations - Texarkana
Johnny Paul “J.P.” Moseley has been the Resident Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Institutions (HSI) in Texarkana, Arkansas, since November 2017. Previously, he was the Resident in Charge at HIS in Memphis. Moseley began his career with HSI as an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent in El Paso in 2002. His positions over the years have included Section Chief, Operations Manager and Supervisory Special Agent. In 2011, he received the Meritorious Honor Award from U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry in Kabul, Afghanistan. Moseley earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.
Fentanyl Analogues: Investigation and Prosecution in the New World


Kimberly Moser
Kimberly Moser
RN, BSN, State Representative
Kentucky, 64th District
Rep. Kim Moser is a Registered Nurse, with many years of experience in Neonatal Intensive Care Units and flight nursing on the University of Kentucky Neonatal Transport Team. She has dedicated her professional career to advocating for positive healthcare legislation and public health issues. Moser chaired the Kentucky Physician’s PAC, and worked with the Kentucky Medical Association Alliance on medical legislative issues. She is a past-president of the Kentucky Medical Association Alliance and is the current President of the AMA Alliance. She serves as Director of Drug Control Policy in northern Kentucky. In 2016, she was elected to the Kentucky legislature, where she serves on the Health and Family Services, Education, Licensing and Occupation, and Judiciary Committees and chairs the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee. In her first legislative session, Moser successfully passed important legislation to limit opioid prescribing. She works to stem the tide of addiction through furthering best-practice policies in education and prevention, expanding addiction treatment, criminal justice reform and building model continuums.
Knowledge and Agility: Pivoting in Response to Federal and State Health Policy Changes


Stanley Murzynski
Stanley Murzynski
MS, Clinical Website Administrator
Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program
Stanley Murzynski is the Clinical Website Administrator for the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from the University of Illinois, Springfield. He currently is pursuing a master's degree in healthcare informatics at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He has been with the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program for six years and has held various I.T. positions during that time.
Advancing Science Into Action: Enhancing PDMPs and EHRs


Rebecca Naumann
Rebecca Naumann
PhD, MSPH, Epidemiologist
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Becky Naumann, PhD, is an Injury Epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a bachelor's degree in environmental health (University of Georgia) and a master's degree in public health (Emory University). Prior to beginning her doctoral training in injury epidemiology, she worked as an epidemiologist in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Naumann has engaged in injury prevention research for more than 10 years. She has published 25 articles in the field of injury prevention and co-authored four book chapters. She works as an Epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina's Injury Prevention Research Center, where she is involved in a variety of research projects related to opioid overdose prevention.
The Lock-In Loophole: Intended and Unintended Effects of Patient Review and Restriction Programs