Panelists
Cyndi Thompson
Executive Director, Turning Point Treatment Center, Pennsylvania
Cyndi Thompson has a BA in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice and a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology from Edinboro University. Cyndi has worked in the field of addictions for 18 years and has assumed positions from a therapist to director and is currently the Executive Director of Turning Point Treatment Center in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
Cyndi has been the director of three different residential inpatient/outpatient drug and alcohol programs from Erie to Venango County; two of these facilities included a detox component and one was a dual diagnosis facility. Cyndi has experience working with the criminal justice/sex offender populations and with gender specific and co-ed treatment components. Cyndi is currently a member of the Heroin Task Force in Erie County and sits on the Advisory Board of the Esper Treatment Center in Erie, Pennsylvania that provides MAT options, counseling and serves as one of the Centers of Excellence across Northwestern Pennsylvania. Cyndi has a passion for working with addicted populations and specifically Medicaid populations in hopes to provide them with quality care and treatment that can start them on their journey to recovery and being productive members of society.
Karen Plavan, Ph.D.
Executive Director, The Oasis Recovery Center
Dr. Plavan is the Executive Director of The Oasis Recovery Center and a Certified Intervention Professional. She serves as Chair, The Coalition for Leadership Education and Advocacy for Recovery (CLEAR) and the Co-Chair of The Pittsburgh Pastoral Care Conference. Dr. Plavan taught in the Graduate Program in Addiction Studies, Penn State University. She served as President of the Allegheny County Alcohol and Drug Planning Council and served on the GOAL Project Board of Directors, teaching addiction studies abroad. Dr. Plavan received her M.Ed. & Ph.D. in Counselor Education from The University of Pittsburgh.
Ken Montrose
Director of Training and Publications, Greenbriar Treament Center
Ken Montrose is the Director of Training and Publications for Greenbriar Treatment Center. He has worked for Greenbriar since 1999. Prior to establishing Greenbriar’s training and publication division, he was the Director of Clinical Services for two years. For eight years he worked as an addiction specialist at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, establishing recovery programs for patients suffering from severe mental illnesses. A Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, he also holds a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology. He has been in recovery from his own addiction since October 2, 1988.
Throughout his career he has had three main focuses:
- To integrate mental health and substance abuse services.
- To make training, treatment, and reading materials as down-to-earth and accessible as possible.
- To help professionals adapt to and deal with the ongoing changes and inherent stress of dual diagnosis treatment.
Frank A. Kunkel, MD
Founder, President and Chief Medical Officer, Accessible Recovery Services
Frank A. Kunkel, MD is the Founder, President and Chief Medical Officer of Accessible Recovery Services, Inc. He is board certified, University of Pittsburgh trained Anesthesiologist. Dr Kunkel is board certified in Anesthesiology and certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and holds the rank of Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. He has over 30 years experience in medication management of the chronic pain patient, and over 15 years'' experience in Addiction Medicine. In addition to being the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Accessible Recovery Services , Inc, he continues to work as an acute detoxification physician in several inpatient and outpatient facilities. He is also Medical Director of Silvermist Recovery and Chief Anesthesiologist at Premier Plastic Surgery Center.
Dr. Kunkel is a frequent local and national speaker in the areas of Risk Mitigation Strategies and other related topics surrounding High Risk Pain and Addiction Patients. Throughout his career, he has held many leadership positions and served on a variety of well-respected medical advisory boards and committees. His research has been published in publications such as Outpatient Surgery Magazine and The Official Journal of World Institute of Pain. Dr. Kunkel has also been published in and is on the editorial boards of The Journal of Opioid Management and Practical Pain Management. He is also an advisor to multiple Health Plans, Toxicology and Pharmacology corporations.
He has served as an expert consultant for the State of Pennsylvania Department of Welfare regarding the treatment of Opioid dependence, for the Office of Medical Assistance Programs in the Division of Pharmacy, for the Drug Utilization Review Board (DURB) and regarding appropriate use /risk of narcotic over-use for the Division of Medical Review. He is a consultant with multiple Health Plans on guidelines surrounding medically assisted treatment of the addiction patient with buprenorphine, and strategies related to opioid use in pain management and have a special interest in Oral Fluid Drug Testing. The use of Oral Fluid Drug Testing in High Risk Patients is one of my special interests and an area in which he is well published.