Biographical Sketches
, is a Co-Investigator with the Center for Technology and Health. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Delaware, and completed a predoctoral internship in Pediatric Psychology at the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Addiction Psychology at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Acosta’s research activities have focused on novel adaptations of evidence-based substance abuse interventions in non-traditional settings (e.g., psychiatric, medical, remote/telephone, computer/web-based, mobile) that may improve the reach and acceptability of these treatments for vulnerable populations. She has served as Project Manager, Co-Investigator, and Principal Investigator on several federally-funded. She has conducted research focused on developing and evaluating substance abuse interventions for medically ill patients (i.e., patients with chronic pain, patients requiring organ transplant) and youth, including adolescent and young adult smokers and teens with substance use disorders. Currently, Dr. Acosta serves as Project Manager and/or Co-Investigator on several projects examining the impact of computerized behavior therapy for methadone maintenance clients, adolescents with substance use disorders, and recent Veterans. She also served as Project Manager and Co-Investigator on a study examining a novel mobile intervention for clients in methadone maintenance treatment.
, is a Principal Investigator in the Center for Technology and Health. His work examines how methodologies and evidence-based findings from the learning sciences can be applied to technology-based health interventions. His current research, funded by NIDA, examines how the content of educational video segments, delivered on affordable handheld computers, can be optimized for greatest effectiveness. As part of this research, Dr. Aronson is creating a set of original videos about HIV testing and prevention based on differing theories of education and multimedia learning. He will also create an application to integrate delivery of the videos with pre- and post-intervention data collection instruments, and then implement a clinical trial to determine which videos produce the best results. The trial will be conducted in an exceptionally high volume, urban emergency department that serves a diverse population of patients, including many who are at high risk.
Dr. Aronson earned a Ph.D. in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University, and an M.A. in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University. He was also a postdoctoral research fellow in the Behavioral Sciences Training Program in Drug Abuse Research at Public Health Solutions/NDRI. Before starting his doctorate, he was Assistant Professor of Digital Media at Ramapo College.
is a Principal Investigator with NDRI’s Institute for Special Populations Research (ISPR) where he is currently examining initiation and escalation of drug and alcohol use among recent veterans of OEF/OIF, funded by the Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust. Dr. Bennett is also a Project Director with ISPR on a study examining mental health, substance abuse and reintegration among OIF/OEF veterans in NYC. His other research focuses on overdose and prevention, historical and contemporary perspectives on drug use and drug policy, and drug markets. Dr. Bennett earned a Ph.D. in History and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and an M.P.A. in Public Policy from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Behavioral Sciences Training Program in Drug Abuse Research at Public Health Solutions/NDRI.
Selected Publications
, is a principal investigator in the Institute for Special Populations Research and the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research. Her current NIDA-funded study investigates the feasibility of conducting ethnographic research on HIV risk among drug-using Black men who have sex with men and women (MSM/W) but do not identify as gay or homosexual and do not disclose their same-sex activity to their female partners. The study has collected preliminary data on how Black MSM/W decide whether and what they will disclose about their drug use and sexual practices.
Dr. Benoit is also a project director in ISPR, for a study of multiple sexual partnering and HIV risk among low-income heterosexual black men. (PI: Eloise Dunlap, Ph.D.) This study, funded by NICHD, investigates sexual norms and scripts learned in the family and from peers, and documents the role of drug use/sales and various sexual scripts associated with multiple sexual partners among marginalized heterosexual black males. It also examines how these men understand and selectively practice safer sex with multiple and main partners.
Before joining the staff of NDRI, Dr. Benoit taught sociology at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. She was also a postdoctoral research fellow in the Behavioral Sciences Training Program in Drug Abuse Research at MHRA/NDRI from 2001 to 2003.
joined the Center for the Integration of Research and Practice in 2004 , bringing his combined skills, of administration, negotiation, strategic planning and program design to advance the training and technical assistance capabilities of the organization. As NDRI’s Director of Technical Assistance for the Center of Excellence in Integrated Care (CEIC), John provides technical assistance to a target audience of 1200 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Outpatient Treatment Programs across New York State. Prior to CEIC, John was the State Porject Director at NDRI for SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring Center for Excellence, in that role John was coordinating technical assistance and training to those States that were implementing service improvements for their co-occurring disorders population. In his 16 years as the General Manager of Odyssey House New Zealand, John Challis led the agency through a massive expansion to its current status as the premiere provider of residential treatment in the country. Odyssey House New Zealand is an excellent example of how technology transfer can move a service, with a long history of treatment, to extend its core treatment knowledge to specialized populations. Mr. Challis has placed a high priority on workforce development and training, and has presented papers and workshops on treatment for populations with co-occurring disorders at national and international venues. He was the inaugural chair of the New Zealand Accreditation Board for Alcohol & Drug Services, which was instrumental in developing sector standards. From 1998 to 2003 , he chaired both the National Treatment Forum, an elected body for the alcohol and drug sector, and Profile, which is the regional providers’ association. Mr. Challis has shown leadership, administration and negotiation skills both as General Manager of Odyssey House and in his alcohol and drug sector leadership roles, interfacing with key leaders, including Government Ministers and the Prime Minister. He has developed strategic alliances with key researchers that have contributed to the literature on co-occurring disorders. Before joining Odyssey House New Zealand, John Challis was the Youth Services Director for Odyssey House Melbourne, was the Deputy Director of a residential service for behaviorally disturbed youth, and has worked as a senior teacher in secondary schools. As a recent transplant, John spends his spare time exploring the cultural diversity abundantly evident in New York City.
, is a quantitative social psychologist and a graduate of the New School for Social Research. Dr. Cleland is a co-investigator on a study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which examines AIDS clinical trial participation among ethnic minorities and women. He serves as a statistical consultant for the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research and the Center for the Integration of Research & Practice.
Selected Publications
, is a Principal Investigator with the Center for Technology and Health. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, and a Licensed Psychologist in the state of Florida. Dr. Dallery received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Emory University in 1999, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Behavioral Pharmacology.
Dr. Dallery’s research involves novel applications of internet-based behavioral interventions for cigarette smoking. He has conducted several studies suggesting that a novel, science-based intervention can promote smoking cessation. The treatment employs breath-based measures of smoking status, which also allows objective verification of treatment effects. In collaboration with colleagues, he is involved in extending the application to high-risk groups such as adolescents, pregnant women, and rural smokers. The intervention eliminates distance as a barrier, which should allow widespread dissemination of an effective behavioral intervention. The results also encourage the application of internet-based technology to other health-related behavior. Accordingly, he is also interested in integrating breath-based diagnostic technology (for medication compliance, blood glucose monitoring, other illicit drugs) with innovations in behavioral treatments. Currently, Dr. Dallery is conducting a randomized trial investigating the short- and long-term efficacy of the internet-based treatment for cigarette smoking.
Selected Publications
is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of substance abuse, and acknowledged as the leading authority on treatment and research in therapeutic communities. He holds a Ph.D. Degree in psychology from Columbia University. He is founder, former Director, and now senior scientist of the Center for Therapeutic Community Research (CTCR) established by a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant to the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI). CTCR has also served as a training site for NIDA Humphrey Fellows. Currently he serves as Science Director of the Behavioral Science Training Program (BST) at NDRI.
He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine where he provides training in therapeutic community practice and research to psychiatric fellows, psychologists, pre- and post-doctoral graduates, nurses and social workers. He was a Vice President and Director of Research and Evaluation at Phoenix House from its inception through 1988, and served as Director of Research and Training at Therapeutic Communities of America (TCA) from 1988 to 1991. He served as coordinator of the TCA subcommittee on Criminal Justice which developed national standards for accreditation of therapeutic community programs in correctional settings
Dr. De Leon has published over 165 scientific papers and chapters, has authored and edited seven books and monographs including The Therapeutic Community: Theory, Model and Method, considered the definitive text in the field. He serves as consulting editor, guest and contributing editor to several national and international journals.
In addition to his research, Dr. De Leon has made notable contributions in the area of professional education and clinical practice. Currently he serves as a senior advisory member of the American Academy of Health Care Providers in the Addictive Disorders; the main national organization certifying addiction specialists from all professional disciplines. He serves on the Expert Advisory Committee on Chemical Dependency of the American Psychological Association College of Professional Psychology. He is a founding member of the New York State Psychological Association's Division on Addictions. A founding member of the American Psychological Association's Division 50 on Addictions, on which he also served as president (1996-97).
Dr. De Leon regularly provides clinical practice and research training to treatment agencies, most recently in correctional settings. Additionally, his textbook is the basis for TC national training curricula available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Some of his own trainings are available on videos from the Addiction Training and Technology Centers (ATTC), Amity Foundation and University of California at San Diego (CCARTA). He has maintained a private clinical practice in New York City for over 40 years
Dr. De Leon is a recipient of several awards including: the Therapeutic Communities of America award for Distinguished Service (1978); the Eugenia Maria De Hostos and Jose Marti award for dedication and contribution to the field of psychology presented by the New York Society of Clinical Psychologists (1984); the award for Distinguished Service to Psychology (1990) presented by the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors (SPAB); the 1993 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Pacesetter Award for Outstanding Leadership in Pioneering Research on the Therapeutic Community Approach to Drug Abuse Treatment; the New York State Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2000); The European Federation of Therapeutic Communities (EFTC) Award for Distinguished Contribution to Science and Practice (2005).
Books and Monographs
Videos
Articles
, is Director of the International Research Core in the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research and a Research Fellow at NDRI. He also serves as the Director of Research for the Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center, and Professor of Epidemiology with the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He
began his research on AIDS in 1982. As a leader in the fields of AIDS and intravenous
drug use, Dr. Des Jarlais has published extensively on these topics. He serves
as a consultant to various institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Academy of
Sciences and the World Health Organization. He is a former commissioner of the
National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Dr. Des Jarlais
is currently working on research studies in 20 different countries, and has
accumulated over three million frequent flier miles doing AIDS research.
Selected Publications
is a sociologist and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She has extensive qualitative experience in research and analysis with African-American families, crack users, crack dealers, drug markets, and with drug-abusing families and households. Her work is rooted in an attempt to understand male-female and family relations and whether and how these relationships contribute to African-American family instability.
Dr. Dunlap has conducted intensive ethnographic studies, including lengthy in-depth interview and detailed observations in many African-American households; drug markets; and drug markets and disasters. Some of her research includes: Co-Investigator of large scale ethnographic study entitled Natural History of Crack Distribution/Abuse; an examination of Sex for Crack in New York City as part of a seven major cities study administered for NIDA by Birch and Davis.
She has been a Principal Investigator on a number of studies for over 20 years. These studies include: an examination of drug dealers family life and violence entitled Violence in Crack User/Seller Households: An Ethnography; a focus upon co-occurring factors entitled Co-Occurring Drugs And Violence In Distressed Households; supplement to focus upon males entitled Males in Distressed Households: Co-occurring Drugs and Violence; an examination of the emerging practice of blunt smoking among youths, use practices, social settings and markets entitled Marijuana/Blunts: Use Subcultures and markets; an examination of household structures and temporary males in female headed households entitled Transient Domesticity and Violence in Distressed Households; and a grant designed to systematically study changes in illicit drug markets (Including users and distributors) due to Hurricane Katrina in Aug 2005 and the subsequent flooding of much of New Orleans entitled Disruption and Reformulation of Illicit Drug Markets Among New Orleans Evacuees.
At the present time, Dr. Eloise Dunlap is Director of the Institute for Special Population Research (ISPR) and Principal Investigator of a study which builds upon findings from the grant entitled Disruption and Reformulation of Illicit Drug Markets among New Orleans Evacuees. Hurricane Gustav (New Orleans) and Ike (Galveston and Houston) is the focus of this examination. Attention is placed upon the processes by which drug markets are reformulated after disasters and practices of risk behaviors for HIV/AIDS; and a project which seeks to understand the underlying dynamics and context of social and cultural determinates of sexual behavior which commonly occurs among inner-city low income heterosexual black males who have multiple sex partners titled Multiple Sexual Partnering & HIV Risk among Low Income Heterosexual Black Men.
Selected Publications
is currently Principal Investigator for a Phase One Small Business Innovations Research Grant funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to develop a computer based HIV/STI Curriculum for deaf high school students. This project will utilize qualitative and quantitative data to develop a prototype of a computer-based HIV curriculum in American Sign Language to meet the cultural, linguistic and specific learning needs of deaf high school students. Adolescents and young adults are at high and continuing risk of HIV infection. Deaf youth are at particular risk due to lack of access to HIV information commonly available to their hearing age peers. This is, in part, due to their generally low reading levels. Deaf youth are also at increased HIV risk due to their sexual risk behaviors, cultural norms, and inadequate school-based HIV prevention programs. Results from an HIV knowledge and risk behavior survey of over 700 deaf students who attend 15 deaf high schools throughout the US recently conducted by our research team, indicate that students at deaf high schools have low levels of HIV knowledge and engage in high-risk sexual behaviors. Learning style and cultural differences as well as linguistic differences (use of American Sign Language) make it necessary to adapt curricula for this group of students. Currently there are no HIV prevention curricula available that meet the specific learning and language needs of deaf high school students. The prototype curriculum will be adapted from an evidence-based HIV curriculum for youth. It will enhance knowledge about HIV transmission, and develop negotiation skills and decision making strategies for risk reduction among deaf high school students. The prototype will be field tested in classes at high schools for deaf students. Preliminary effectiveness of the prototype will be assessed through pre and post tests of student knowledge, skills and attitudes, and assessment of acceptability. The feasibility and acceptability of creating a full-scale computer-based HIV curriculum in American Sign Language will be assessed though analysis results of qualitative and quantitative measures collected during field testing. Such an HIV curriculum will meet the specific learning needs of deaf students. In doing so, it will also meet the needs of teachers of deaf students for a curriculum culturally and linguistically targeted to their students.
Selected Publications
is a Principal Investigator and cultural anthropologist specialized in the subcultures of substance use in the Institute for Special Populations Research (ISPR). His PhD thesis (New York University, 2006) involved a multi-site ethnography of an emergent youth/style culture, Goa Trance, which has served as a major vector for the circulation of "psychedelic" substances and related discourse about the uses and effects of LSD, psilocybin, DMT, etc.
After completing his doctoral research, Dr. Elliott was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in the NRSA-funded Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research program (T32DA007233), where he was mentored for 3 years by Drs. Bruce Johnson and Greg Falkin. Dr. Elliott previously collaborated with senior researcher, Eloise Dunlap, Director of ISPR, on NIDA-funded studies of marijuana "blunt" use (R01DA013690) and Hurricane Katrina's evacuees and transformed drug markets (R01DA021783).
Dr. Elliott is currently leading a 3-year study of developmental relationships between video game and substance use, which was designed during his postdoctoral fellowship, with Principal Investigators Drs. Geoffrey Ream and Eloise Dunlap. This innovative NIDA-funded research, (R01DA027761), examines growing claims to video game "addiction" using ethnographic and survey methods and will produce important early indications about the subcultural and behavioral domains in which particular video game use habits predict greater substance-related health risks and resiliencies.
Research Interests: addiction theory, communities of practice, youth subculture, cultural semiotics, ethnomusicology, psychedelic substance use, video games.
(sociology) is Director of the Institute for AIDS Research at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Theoretical Synthesis Core in the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, New York City. (He is also a prior Director of the Research Methods Core in the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research.) He also is associated with the Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, and with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. Friedman is an author of about 400 publications on HIV, STI, and drug use epidemiology and prevention, including pieces in Nature, Science, Scientific American, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, the American Journal of Epidemiology, and the American Journal of Public Health. Recent research projects have included a review paper (AIDS, 2006) on the social research needs of the AIDS field; a study of social factors, social networks and HIV, STI and other blood-borne viruses among youth and drug injectors in a high-risk community; research on the impact of economic and political crises on HIV risk in Buenos Aires; a study of how some long-term drug injectors remain uninfected with HIV and HCV (i.e., how they Stay Safe); a study of socioeconomic and policy predictors of the extent of injection drug use, of HIV epidemics, and of HIV prevention efforts in US metropolitan areas; the development of novel measures to understand how structural interventions or Big Events/Complex Emergencies affect variables related to HIV risk networks and behaviors; and research on why women injectors who have sex with women are at enhanced risk for HIV and other infections. He has engaged in many international collaborative projects with the WHO MultiCentre Study of Drugs and HIV and with researchers in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine and other countries. He has also written on international HIV topics such as war and HIV; sociopolitical transitions and HIV; and drug users’ organizations (user groups) as actors globally against HIV. He is Associate Editor for Social Science of the International Journal of Drug Policy and is or has recently been on the editorial boards of AIDS, JAIDS, AIDScience, a Web venture for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AIDS Education and Prevention, The Drug and Alcohol Professional, and Harm Reduction Journal. Honors include the International Rolleston Award of the International Harm Reduction Association (2009), the first Sociology AIDS Network Award for Career Contributions to the Sociology of HIV/AIDS (2007), and a Lifetime Contribution Award, Association of Black Sociologists (2005). He has published many poems in a variety of publications. He is the author of two poetry chapbooks (Murders most foul: Poems against war by a World Trade Center survivor. Central Jersey Coalition against Endless War. 2005 and Needles, drugs, and defiance: Poems to organize by. North American Syringe Exchange Network. 1999) and a book of poetry (Seeking to make the world anew: Poems of the Living Dialectic. 2008. Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books).
Recent Publications
is a Deputy Director of the Institute for International Research on Youth at Risk (IIRY) at NDRI; a Co-Investigator on a study of young injection drug users in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; a Co-Investigator on a study of sexually active HIV positive men who have sex with men; and a Co-Investigator on a study of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on drug users in New Orleans. Over the past several years, Dr. Goldsamt has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on NIH-funded studies looking at HIV risk among injection drug users, youth, and men who have sex with men. Dr. Goldsamt has also conducted numerous program and training evaluations, and serves as the Evaluator for NDRI’s Training Institute. Dr. Goldsamt is also a licensed clinical psychologist in New York State, and maintains a psychotherapy practice in Great Neck, N.Y.
Selected Publications
is a Principal Investigator in Institute for AIDS Research and the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research at NDRI. She received her MPH in Public Health Education from Johns Hopkins University and her PhD in Epidemiology from Columbia University. Her research for and about deaf individuals has involved computer based surveys in American Sign Language on drug abuse, mental health and HIV. She has also conducted intervention studies of street-recruited drug users including those who are HIV positive, aimed at improving their use of health and medical services. Dr. Goldstein who maintains a public health focus in her research, has published on these and related topics.
, is a Principal Investigator in The Institute for Special Populations Research. He received his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on understanding social problems in context with an aim towards developing appropriate public policy responses. His studies have examined trends in drug use, the larger context of use, causes and consequences of use, and the efficacy of policies and programs as well as associated issues related to violence, crime, policing, poverty, and families. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, Criminology and Public Policy, and Journal of Drug Issues. He is currently preparing a special issue for Substance Use and Misuse on “Drugs, Wars, Soldiers and Veterans.”
Dr. Golub is a leading authority on the analysis of drug use trends. In the course of his work, he has developed a descriptive model for tracking the dynamics of drug epidemics which regularly emerge and for projecting their expected near-term impact. Epidemics like other diffusion phenomena tend to progress from incubation within a limited social context through a period of rapid expansion to a plateau of widespread use and finally into an extended decline phase. Dr. Golub has used this framework to analyze the Heroin Injection Epidemic which peaked in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Crack Epidemic with peaked in the mid to late 1980s, the Marijuana/Blunts Epidemic which emerged in the 1990s, the Methamphetamine Epidemic that may be starting to draw to a close in the 2010s, and the currently prevailing epidemic in prescription opiate use. Dr. Golub has also examined the gateway phenomenon and identified ways in which drug use pathways vary with cultural trends over time and across individual circumstances.
Dr. Golub is currently leading two major public health studies. The Veterans Reintegration Project examines the challenges faced by veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq to New York’s inner-city neighborhoods. The study focuses on the significance of substance abuse and its relationship with other mental health problems, and reintegration into family, work and community life within the complex of problems prevailing in low-income communities. The Coparenting Project examines the structure of daily life within low-income African American households where relationships between men and women often do not endure. The analysis explores the strengths of the contributions of the cohabiting partners to adolescent development as well as the problems associated with the transient nature of these relationships.
Selected Publications
, is Senior Principal Investigator and Director of the Institute for Biobehavioral Health Research at NDRI. He completed the Statistics and Research Design and Behavioral Medicine doctoral programs at the University of Memphis. He also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Health Psychology with the US Air Force (USAF) and in Cardiovascular Disease with the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum. Dr. Haddock is a military veteran, having served both on activity duty and active reserve of the USAF. He has published over 140 scientific papers, addressing tobacco control, obesity, fitness and work capacity, and cardiovascular disease and has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DoD, Department of Homeland Security, American Heart Association, and American Legacy Foundation as a Principal or Co-Investigator. His professional affiliations include the American Statistical Association (Accredited Professional Statistician™), American Public Health Association, National Strength and Conditioning Association, Association of Military Surgeons in the U.S., and the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. He was awarded Fellow status in the Obesity Society for his research on nutrition and weight control. Dr. Haddock has been honored in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Medicine and Health Care, and Who's Who Among America's Teachers. In his leisure time he earned a blackbelt in Busihidokan Karate and has studied Wado-Ryu, American Jiu Jitsu, and Muay Thai and is a certified CrossFit trainer.
, is Director of the North Carolina office of NDRI, the Institute for Community-Based Research (NDRI-NC). The Institute for Community-Based focuses exclusively on drug abuse treatment research. He is the principal investigator on the Clinical Trials Network (CTN); and has been principal investigator on the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS), an ongoing national study of drug abuse treatment and the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS), an earlier study initiated in 1976. From 1989 to 1996 he was project director for the Methadone Quality Assurance Project (MTQAS). Dr. Hubbard has demonstrated a career-long commitment to the advancement of science in the drug abuse treatment research field. He and his colleagues authored the book Drug Abuse Treatment: A National Study of Effectiveness, UNC Press, 1989, as well as numerous other studies of alcohol and drug abuse and research methodology. He served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Substance Abuse Treatment Coverage and on the National Research Council Panel on the Evaluation of AIDS Interventions. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Governor's Institute on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Dr. Hubbard is an acknowledged expert on alcohol and drug abuse survey research methodology, research design, and methods of validating self-reports. He has formal training and considerable experience in psychometric theory, field-based randomized clinical trial designs, survey research design, and multivariate statistical analysis, as well as qualitative case study approaches.
, is a Project Director with the Institute for Biobehavioral Health Research at NDRI. She completed her doctorate in Health Psychology at the University of Missouri – Kansas City and her Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Energy Balance Lab at the University of Kansas. Dr. Hyder serves as the Project Director of two large-scale studies including the health and readiness of the U.S. Fire Service (FEMA) and the tobacco control policy of the U.S. military (NIH). Dr. Hyder has published numerous articles and chapters in the area of obesity, physical activity, and nutrition.
, is a Principal Investigator with the Institute for Biobehavioral Health Research at NDRI. She completed her doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a Health Emphasis at the University of Missouri – Kansas City and the American Heart Associations’ Fellowship on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Jahnke serves as the Principal Investigator of two large-scale studies of the health and readiness of the U.S. Fire Service and has published research on health behaviors of military personnel. Dr. Jahnke has published both qualitative and quantitative articles in the areas of obesity, tobacco, and health behaviors. Dr. Jahnke recently completed the largest qualitative study to date on the culture of health and wellness in the U.S. Fire Service, which was funded by the American Heart Association. She is an active member of the Safety, Health and Survival section of IAFC and is called on regularly to be a consultant on health related topics for that committee. She also was invited to author a white paper for the 3rd Life Safety Summit of the Everyone Goes Home program from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation as well as a book chapter on health and wellness among firefighters for the Everyone Goes Home text book.
, is a sociologist who has worked as Principal Research Associate, Project Director and Principal Investigator on several federally-funded grants during his tenure with National Development and Research Institutes and the Center for the Integration of Research and Practice. Dr. Kressel’s main area of research has been therapeutic community (TC) treatment process, including client motivation and readiness for treatment, and the appropriate match between client and treatment modality. He has conducted cross-training in correctional facilities in several states and has actively participated in the development of the national standards for TC treatment in correctional programs sponsored by the US Office of National Drug Control Policy. His current research focuses on the development of comprehensive measures of client clinical progress in community and correctional-based substance abuse treatment. In a recent project Dr. Kressel evaluated the effectiveness of utilizing the clinical progress in treatment instruments as part of a protocol used by staff and clients at Daytop Village to enhance treatment in both residential and outpatient treatment settings. As Principal Investigator on a current NIDA-funded international research project, Dr. Kressel and colleagues are studying TC programs in China, Malaysia and the United States. The research is designed to enhance our understanding of the therapeutic community model of treatment, as it is adapted to varying cultures. Dr. Kressel has assembled an international network of scientists that, through their collaborative work on this study, will foster research, training and the exchange of scientific information; continued initiatives emanating from this new international research community may ultimately modify, improve and expand global substance abuse treatment services.
Selected Publications
, is a nationally recognized expert in addiction recovery. Her federally funded research in the past 15 years has focused on elucidating what helps people with drugs and/or alcohol problems quit drinking or getting high and how they stay in recovery. A social psychologist, her main goals are to build the science of recovery and to help translate findings into services and policy that create opportunities for long-term recovery and improved quality of life for people with substance problems. She leads the Center for the Study of Addictions and Recovery at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI) and provides training and consultancy to government and community-based agencies on promoting opportunities for sustained recovery. She regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals, presents at national and international conferences, and serves on the editorial board of several scientific publications.
Selected Publications
, is a Senior Principal Investigator in The Institute for Special Populations Research and in Social Science Innovations Corp., the for-profit sister organization to NDRI. He is a licensed psychologist specializing in measurement of drug use by various means and the statistical evaluation of social programs. He received his PhD in 1986 from the City University of New York. He has been a principal investigator on a variety of projects including a study to test a slightly heated sweat collection device called a Fastpatch. This project, "Detecting Crack and Other Cocaine with Fastpatches," was the first study to detect unique crack pyrolysis metabolites in sweat which form when crack is smoked or cocaine is freebased. When this product is marketed, it will allow testers to not only determine if cocaine was used, but also if the mode of consumption was through smoking. He also was Principal Investigator on a meta-analysis grant comparing self-report of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use with biological indicators (e.g. urinalysis) or collateral reports (e.g., spouse, case worker) and will produce an accessible database available from a website. His earlier research evaluated the effectiveness of a specialized therapeutic community (TC) for homeless, substance abusing men operated from a public shelter. His publication from this project "Dynamic Recovery" is one of the more frequently sited (e.g. NIDA Notes) examples of a successful adaptation of the TC model for a special population. Currently, he has several projects to develop online, interactive courses about topics related to substance abuse and HIV including "HIV Confidentiality Training" for New York State service providers and "Using CAI to Enhance Drug Tx Staff HCV Knowledge and Communication Skills," “Web-based Course on Traumatic Brain Injury and Substance Abuse” and “Online Training for Methadone Maintenance Treatment Providers.” Each of these courses, when they go online in 2010 will be self-directed, allowing individuals to proceed at their own pace. They will be highly interactive, with prompts, questions, case studies implemented with audio and video as well as interactive graphics. These courses will be tailored, allowing individuals to match the level and type of detail to their specific job function including examples and case studies that pertain to their particular occupation. As a check on content covered and learned, quizzes will be administered throughout the course and certificates of completion will be given to individuals stating both the modules and specific content areas completed.
Selected Publications
, is a Principal Investigator with the Center for Technology and Health. A clinical-developmental psychologist, Dr. Lord received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and completed an internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Dr. Lord’s research activities focus on the development, evaluation and dissemination of technology-based prevention and assessment tools for adolescent, young adult, and parent populations, primarily in the areas of substance abuse and HIV prevention. Current interests include use of mobile technologies to promote HIV health service utilization and preventive behaviors among high-risk adolescents and young adults, development of youth-driven online drug use prevention programs, and computer-delivered programs for parents of adolescents to promote parent-youth communication about drug use prevention. Dr. Lord has served as Principal Investigator 12 NIH-funded projects in the areas of adolescent HIV/STI, tobacco, alcohol, and drug use prevention. While in the private sector, Dr. Lord also worked extensively with community leaders, health educators, college health professionals and marketing staff to develop strategies for sustainable dissemination and implementation of computer-delivered prevention initiatives targeted toward adolescents and young adults. Dr. Lord is currently PI on a NIDA-supported project to examine the feasibility and acceptance of an online training program for parents to promote parent-youth communication about drug use (1R21DA026545-01.)
Selected Publications
is Director of the Training Institute at NDRI. He has over 20 years experience in training, curriculum writing, program development and management specializing in the public health fields of substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. Mr. Lunievicz has lead training initiatives and curriculum writing teams on HIV and Drug Treatment Curriculum including the following regional and national training initiatives: Cultural Prificiency Issues, Care Coordination for Adherence to HIV, and Consensus and Evidence Based Practices for Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders. In addition to managing both regional and national projects he has worked extensively with local and national drug court initiatives specializing in Cultural Proficiency Issues, Treatment Modalities, Teambuilding, Presentation Skills, and Understanding and Coping with Participant Relapse. He has presented at the National Association of Drug Court Professionals annual conference and at state conferences across the country. Mr. Lunievicz is also co-investigator on a number of NIDA funded projects to develop computer assisted training on subjects such as: The New York State HIV Confidentiality Law, Methamphetamine Treatment for Drug Court Practitioners, Hepatitis C Knowledge and Communication Skills for Drug Treatment Workers, Traumatic Brain Injury and Substance Abuse, and Methadone Maintenance Treatment Practitioner Knowledge and Values. In addition Mr. Lunievicz has been a curriculum collaborator and trainer on a number of other research and intervention projects. Mr. Lunievicz has also spent years overseas in the United States Peace Corp in Central American where he conducted cross cultural projects with small businesses and health promotion programs and speaks Spanish as a second language.
is the Director of the Center for Technology and Health (CTH) at NDRI. Dr. Marsch received her Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology and Behavioral Pharmacology at the University of Vermont. Dr. Marsch has extensive research experience in the areas of substance abuse treatment with both adults and adolescents, substance abuse prevention with youth, and HIV prevention with various drug-using populations.
She has conducted numerous research studies focused on examining how technology can be used to enhance the reach of science-based prevention and treatment interventions. She has directed several projects focused on developing and evaluating interactive, computer-based systems that deliver evidence-based interventions using effective learning and informational technologies, including computer-based behavioral therapy for adult substance abusers, HIV prevention for injection drug users, HIV and STI prevention for young drug users, and substance abuse prevention for children and adolescents. This research has provided novel empirical information regarding the role that technology may play in improving substance abuse prevention and treatment in a manner that is cost-effective, ensures fidelity and enables the rapid diffusion and widespread adoption of science-based interventions.
Dr. Marsch’s research activities have also included the development and evaluation of novel behavioral and pharmacological treatments for the growing and under-studied cohort of opioid-dependent adolescents. She published the first systematic, clinical research evaluating treatments for opioid-dependent adolescents. This ongoing research continues to generate new empirical information that can be used to inform evidence-based treatment for this group of youth. She have given numerous talks about this research around the world and served as a consultant to the World Health Organization on issues related to the development of international treatment guidelines for opioid-dependent adolescents.
Dr. Marsch is a recipient of an Early Career Investigator Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. She serves as a scientific reviewer for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Mental Health. Dr. Marsch is also on the editorial boards for the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, Substance Use and Misuse, and Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Selected Publications
is a sociologist specializing in urban ethnography with over fifteen years experience in qualitative research both in New York City and internationally. He is first author/co-author of numerous peer reviewed publications and reports. His doctoral dissertation was a comparative study titled Street Ethos: Surviving High School that explored the impact of violence and crime on the academic experience of immigrants and American-born students. At the Vera Institute of Justice, mentored by Dr. Mercer Sullivan, Dr. Mateu-Gelabert was the principal investigator of a National Institute of Justice grant (1999-IJ-CX-0024) that focused on race theory as it relates to adolescent violence, gangs, and immigration. In collaboration with criminologist Rob Davis, he explored the relationship between police and the community and its effect on civilian complaints. Dr. Mateu-Gelabert’s research on race, ethnicity and delinquency, published in City and Community, moves away from cultural explanations of violence, while focusing on how racial and ethnic groups adopt different strategies to survive, avoid and cope with the violence they encounter in schools and neighborhoods. In 2000, Dr. Mateu-Gelabert joined NDRI as a principal research associate for two NIH projects led by Samuel R. Friedman, PhD: Networks, Norms and HIV Risk among Youth (R01DA013128), Social Factors and HIV Risk (R01DA006723). Both projects explored interactions among drug users, dealers, police and other community actors and how they relate to various health and crime outcomes.
Dr. Mateu-Gelabert is currently Co-Investigator on a NIDA-funded project, also led by Dr. Friedman, Staying Safe: Long-term IDUs who have avoided HIV & HIV (R01 DA019383) and Principal Investigator of a NIDA developmental project aimed at training injector drug users in strategies to avoid HIV and HCV infections, Staying Safe: Training IDUs in Strategies to avoid HIV and HCV, (R21DA026328). A consortium of researchers in London, Sydney, Valencia, and Vancouver are collaborating in parallel Staying Safe studies.
Selected Publications
is the Program Manager at the Training Institute at NDRI. Her responsibilities include training and managing on and off-site contract trainings. She worked on the COCE (Co-Occurring Center for Excellence) where she developed a training matrix to assess training curricula on co-occurring disorders and developed trainings on evidence-based and consensus-based practices for persons with COD. She trained trainers and providers on TIP #42 nationally. Mary is a training consultant on substance abuse, mental illness, HIV, and vocational rehabilitation. She has worked for a number of agencies nationwide: Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), National Association for Drug Abuse Problems (NADAP) and the National Drug Court Initiative (NDCI). Mary has worked with several government agencies such as Probation, Social Services and the Peace Corps. She worked at Gracie Square Hospital on their substance abuse unit “Breakthrough” and the “Dual Focus” unit. She is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and has worked as a rehabilitation counselor in hospitals and agencies in New York. Mary was a Peace Corps volunteer in Oman and a Peace Corps trainer in Yemen, Oman, and Morocco.
Mary teaches at New York University in the Department of Applied Psychology. She has a Master's degree from NYU and a Bachelor degree from the State University of New York at Albany.
specializes in the development of instruments which measure the effects of various research activities. His initial work, supported by federal funding, compared motivation and readiness for treatment across several special populations of substance abusers, and resulted in the Circumstance, Motivation and Readiness Scales, which measures motivation in different substance abuse treatment modalities. Subsequent research developed the Client Matching Protocol to characterize client referrals to outpatient and residential substance abuse treatment programs, and the Survey of Essential Elements Questionnaire (long and short forms) that measures the extent to which programs utilize the elements of therapeutic community treatment. At present, Dr. Melnick is engaged in programmatic research to evaluate the effectiveness of prison- and community-based substance abuse treatment programs through the application of the Multi-modality Quality Assurance Instrument, which he developed to generate a better understanding of organizational characteristics, program policies, and treatment goals and elements. Within this effort, he is investigating the role of organizational variables in substance abuse treatment efficacy, and is developing additional instruments to assess the use of therapeutic community treatment elements. Dr. Melnick is also making substantial contributions to two criminal justice studies, one to evaluate the effects of stigma on recidivism among first time nonviolent felons; the other a national initiative to conduct multi-site studies of the correctional system. Dr. Melnick has been with NDRI since 1991 and on staff at the Center for the Integration of Research Practice since its inception.
is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. His research in behavioral science has been funded by NIMH, NIDA, NIAID, HRSA, CDC, NIAAA, and SAMHSA. He has conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies of sexual risk behavior among African American males, male prostitutes, injection drug users, HIV infected men and women, and the children of HIV infected women. He has served as an HIV prevention consultant to the VA and to the Executive Office of Drug Policy. He has published widely in the fields of HIV, HCV, high risk sexual behavior, injection drug use and other substance use. At NDRI's Institute for Special Populations' Research, Dr. Morse is a Co-Investigator on an NICHD-funded project (R01HD059706).
earned a PhD in sociology from Case Western Reserve
University, specializing in medical sociology, and completed three years of post-doctoral
training in psychiatric epidemiology from Columbia University. At NDRI since
1996, he has been Project Director on two large studies of substance abuse and
HIV/STD infection in street-based populations. He is currently the Principal
Investigator of a large cohort study of HIV/STD infection among male-to-female
transgender persons in the New York Metropolitan Area. His research interests
include applications of social psychological identity theory, the inter-relationships
among homelessness, substance use and psychiatric symptomatology, and HIV/STD
infection in high-risk groups.
Selected Publications
, is Senior Advisor to the Training Institute/Director Emeritus. Responsibilities
include disseminating appropriate behavioral science research findings to treatment
and prevention practitioners. He has 20 years of progressive management experience
in curriculum/program design and professional in-service training in the areas
of Public Health and Employment Training. Areas of expertise include: Substance
Abuse Prevention/Intervention/Treatment, Drug Pharmacology, Assessment Interviewing,
Pregnant Substance Abusers, Drug Exposed Children, Children of Substance Abusers,
Cultural Competency, Stages of Behavioral Change, Human Sexuality, Sexually
Transmitted Infections, HIV/AIDS, and Relapse Prevention. Andrew Osborne is
the former Director of Day Treatment, N.Y.C. Department of Probation in addition
to being a consultant for the State Education Department, N.Y.C. Board of Education,
CUNY, Fordham University, Teachers College of Columbia University, the National
Drug Court Training Institute and The American University School of Public Affairs.
Selected Publications
is the Cultural Proficiency Program Manager for the Training Institute of the National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. Ms Padilla manages the ‘Cultural Proficiency for Drug Court Practitioners’ and the Hepatitis C training projects.
Ms Padilla is a Senior Trainer with over 14 years of experience in public health. She has worked in the substance abuse treatment field as well as with community based organizations offering HIV/AIDS services to the Latino and African American communities where she also created and became the agency’s Domestic Violence liaison. Ms Padilla has trained public health workers, treatment specialists, and drug court practitioners on topics of Cultural Competency, Substance Abuse, Women’s Issues, Case Management, Treatment Modalities, Harm Reduction, Stages of Change, Outreach, HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence, and Viral Hepatitis.
Ms Padilla developed the curricula and trains the 'Cultural Proficiency with Latinos in Drug Court Practice,' and is the co-developer of the ‘Integrating a Veteran Treatment Court into an Existing Problem-Solving Court Model.’ She was a part of the development team for the NIAAA funded “Supporting Alcohol Reduction In HIV+ Patients: A Training For HIV Care Providers” and` NIDA funded projects such as, “Online Methamphetamine Abuse Training for Drug Court Professionals,” “Web-based Course on Traumatic Brain Injury and Substance Abuse,” and “Mandated HIV Service Provider Confidentiality Training.”
Ms Padilla presents workshops for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, Addiction Treatment for Providers Association of New York State, and as a training consultant for the National Drug Court Institutes, Family Treatment Courts conferences of Skagit County, Washington, Supreme Court of Virginia, AIDS Related Community Services and AIDS Community Research Initiative of America.
, sociologist, is a Principal Investigator in the Center for the Integration of Research and Practice at NDRI. Most of his work has had a focus on statistical research evaluating the effectiveness of treatment/intervention programs. From 1983 to 1994 he was Associate Research Professor in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University, where he was Co-Principal Investigator or Study Director of several funded research projects in criminology (with Jackson Toby). Since joining NDRI in 1994 as a Project Director, his research work has expanded to include evaluation research on several different treatment programs for a variety of problems other than (or in addition to) criminality. From 1994 through 1998 he was Project Director for a federally funded review and analysis of evaluation studies conducted between 1968 and 1994 of correctional interventions and treatment programs for offenders (Douglas Lipton, PI); the results help provide policy makers and social scientists with answers to the questions “what works? with whom? and under what circumstances?” From 1999 through 2004 he was Project Director and Statistician on an evaluation of a treatment program for homeless families, the Family & Aftercare Model (Joann Sacks, PI). This program is a residential therapeutic community for homeless women who have substance abuse and psychiatric problems, and who are raising dependent children. From 2003 through 2008 Dr. Pearson was Senior Project Director for CIRP projects conducted under the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Research Studies (CJDATS) initiative at the NDRI Colorado Research Center (Harry Wexler & Stan Sacks, PIs), one of nine national sites funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop and apply research on effective drug treatment services and criminal justice practices to improve offender outcomes. From 2004 through 2009 he was Principal Investigator on the Evidence-based Principles of Treatment (EPT) project [see description on this website], which assessed the research evidence base for several recommendations of best ways to structure and deliver treatment for drug abuse. Currently, he is a co-investigator on a new national, multiple research center project, CJDATS2, which is focused on implementation research: studies to test enhanced ways of implementing evidence-based programs and practices in three areas: (1) HIV testing and treatment of HIV positive offenders, (2) needs assessment of offenders, and (3) medication-assisted treatment of offenders; again our research center focuses on the criminal justice system in Colorado (Stan Sacks, PI).
Selected Publications
, is a Senior Principal Investigator at that National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI) and serves as Deputy Director for the Institute for Biobehavioral Health Research at NDRI. He has graduate degrees in the behavioral sciences (University of California, Santa Barbara) and in community health and epidemiology (University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, School of Public Health). Dr. Poston completed postdoctoral fellowships in Behavioral Health Psychology (Wilford Hall Medical Center) and in Cardiovascular Health (American Hospital Association Health Forum). His research focuses primarily in the areas of obesity, tobacco control, and cardiovascular disease prevention with an emphasis on minority populations and military and first-responder health. He has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on grants from the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Legacy Foundation, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Digestive Disorders and Kidney Diseases, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Department of Defense US Army Medical Research and Material Command, and the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA. He also has been the recipient of a Minority Scientist Development award from AHA. Dr. Poston has served as a charter member on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Community Level Health Promotion Study Section and as an ad hoc member on a number of other NIH study section and special emphasis panels. He is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and The Obesity Society: the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. He was a Cardiovascular Health Fellow with the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum (2001-2002). Dr. Poston has published over 170 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has presented at numerous national and international conferences and meetings on the etiology, assessment, and management of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and tobacco use.
is a Principal Investigator and Project Director with the Center for Technology and Health and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake and Westfield State College. Dr. Raiff received her PhD in Psychology, with an emphasis in Behavioral Pharmacology, from the University of Florida in 2008.
Dr. Raiff's primary research activities involve studying how drugs of abuse affect behavior and improving methods to assess and treat drug abuse and other problem behavior. Thus far, her research has focused on the behavioral effects of nicotine, in both human and nonhuman laboratories, and in investigating novel behavioral treatments for smoking cessation. With nonhumans, Dr. Raiff has explored whether and to what extent nicotine increases the incentive value of certain non-pharmacological stimuli, such as food, visual stimuli, and conditioned reinforcers. These effects may help us understand a number of important features of smoking acquisition, maintenance, and relapse. Dr. Raiff is also refining and testing an Internet-based abstinence-reinforcement treatment for cigarette smoking, in collaboration with Dr. Jesse Dallery. Dr. Raiff also recently received an NIH grant to extend an Internet-based monitoring system to increase medical regimen adherence in adolescents diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Raiff is the recipient of a National Research Service Award from NIH, is Co-Investigator on two NIH-funded grants R01DA019580 and R01DA023469 , and is Principal Investigator on an NIH grant to study Internet-based glucose monitoring in adolescents.
Selected Publications
, is a Project Director in the Institute for Special Population Research. She is currently working on a project that examines co-parenting among cohabiting low-income black couples with children who live in high poverty areas in New York City (R01HD064723, PI: Andrew Golub, PhD). The study seeks to examine how the family formation paradigm of transient domesticity influences parenting decisions, parental responsibilities, and child development. It employs the mixed-methods approach of a longitudinal panel study and an embedded ethnography over a five year period. Dr. Reid received her PhD in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on social inequalities, family, and social policy. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Journal of Family Issues and Sociology Compass.
is the Director of the Institute for Treatment and Services Research at NDRI. He has served as principal investigator, co-investigator and project director on several research projects on substance use including innovative interventions for the treatment of cocaine dependence, a clinical trial comparing methadone and buprenorphine treatment inmates in jail and at post-release, an evaluation of a treatment linkage model for street-based sex workers, and prevalence and correlates of chronic pain among drug and alcohol users. He currently serves as PI on a project that is evaluating a protocol for the use of sublingual buprenorphine for the treatment of chronic pain and on a nationwide prevalence study of prescription opioid abuse. He is also the co-investigator/project director on an experimental evaluation of self-help groups for consumers with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (Double Trouble in Recovery; DTR) and as a co-investigator on a project to develop and evaluate online training modules for methadone maintenance treatment providers.
Selected Publications
Dr. Sacks has garnered exceptional administrative, managerial, and multi-site research expertise during nearly three decades of clinical, programmatic, and research activities. As Deputy Executive Director of a New York City treatment agency with a staff of over 250, Dr. Sacks led the development and supervised the operation of a continuum of 22 residential and outpatient treatment programs for homeless men and women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. In her role as Deputy Director of the NDRI Center for the Integration of Research and Practice (CIRP) and Principal Investigator at NDRI, she has been actively involved in federally-funded studies of addicted women and men (with and without co-occurring mental disorders) who are also homeless, living with HIV/AIDS, or in the criminal justice system. Her research places special emphasis on the gender-specific issues (such as trauma and abuse) of addicted women in criminal justice and community treatment, and on the effect of the sequela of substance abuse on children and the family unit. During the past decade, she has managed nine research projects conducting multi-site evaluations of treatment programs for substance abusing individuals, many with co-occurring mental illness. Dr. Sacks also has provided leadership to a federally-funded national center of excellence in co-occurring disorders, providing technical assistance and training that assisted 39 states in improving their infra-structure and treatment capacity for serving individuals with COD. She currently provides similar technical assistance leadership for the NYSHealth Foundation “Center of Excellence in Integrated Care” for New York State residents with co-occurring disorders.
, a clinical-research psychologist, is the Director of the Center for the Integration of Research & Practice at National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI), Inc. in New York City. Dr. Sacks and the staff of CIRP specialize in technology transfer that infuses evidence- and consensus-based approaches into clinical practice. He is currently the Principal Investigator on several NIDA and SAMHSA- funded studies and Co-PI on the NDRI Rocky Mountain Research Center of the NIDA-funded Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment System. The author of numerous publications, Dr. Sacks was the Chair and Lead Author for the Treatment Improvement Protocol #42, Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons With Co-Occurring Disorders. He is also Expert Leader on SAMHSA’s Co-occurring Center for Excellence, a national effort to provide training and technical assistance to States and agencies in the area of co-occurring disorders. Dr. Sacks, a baseball aficionado and weather maven, is married and the father of two children. He has four grandchildren.
, is an ethnographer and Principal Investigator who specializes in HIV prevention among poor women and drug users. She has worked extensively with urban, minority drug-using populations in the Northeastern U.S. and been involved in research in the following topic areas: women, poverty and AIDS; drug-using couples; trauma and secondary trauma; intimate partner violence; field-based research ethics; and barriers to drug treatment. Dr. Simmons has worked on a variety of NIDA-funded prevention studies in Hartford, Connecticut and New York City. In Hartford, she was awarded a development grant from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) at Yale University to explore the special characteristics, meaning and behavioral importance of relationships among drug-using couples. From 2005-2007, Dr. Simmons was a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in NDRI’s Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research Program. Since 2008, she has been the PI on several NIH grants, including an HIV prevention study on the interpersonal and structural dynamics which shape HIV risk and drug treatment among injecting, drug-using couples in Harlem and the South Bronx. She has also expanded her advocacy and training interests. Current work includes: “Online Buprenorphine Training for Outreach Workers and Case Managers” and “Online Training on Opioid Overdose Prevention, Recognition and Response.” Dr. Simmons is co-editor and co-author (with Drs. Paul Farmer and Margaret Connors) of Women, Poverty and AIDS: Sex, Drugs and Structural Violence (1996; 2011) which received the Eileen Basker Memorial Prize for outstanding scholarship in gender and health from the Society for Medical Anthropology, American Anthropological Association.
Selected Publications
Dr. Barbara Tempalski, Co-Principal Investigator, Institute for AIDS Research, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc., New York, NY. She broadly identifies as a health and social geographer. Her research interests include infectious disease, women's health, political ecology of health and disease, disease surveillance, health policy and global health. Her research expertise lies in studying the distribution of HIV and identifying the sociopolitical and structural responses to these distributions.
Her current research investigates injection drug use-related HIV, and measuring the need for service provision and availability of services to this highly stigmatized and largely hidden population. This research focuses on the nexus of health, social, and political geography in measuring the geographic distribution of services, response and prevention of HIV among injection drug users.
Dr. Tempalski served as a consultant for USAID evaluating the utility of GPS and GIS as a tool for integrating schistosomiasis control in Egypt. She also worked for UNICEF examining the utility of a GIS in evaluating Dracunculiasis eradication policies in West Africa. She has conducted reproductive health research in Nepal focusing on use of condoms and HIV knowledge among Nepalese women, and how physical landscape bears on this knowledge.
Dr. Tempalski earned a Ph.D. in Geography in 2005 from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. She earned an M.A. in Geography at Hunter College of the City University of New York in 1992, and an M.P.H in Community Health Education at the same institution in 1997. She completed a B.A. degree in Geology from Northeastern University, Boston, Mass in 1984.
She has a growing list of publications in journals like Journal of Urban Health, American Journal of Public Health, and Journal of the American Medical Association and Journal of International Drug Policy.
Selected Publications
has been involved in drug treatment program planning, research, evaluation and outcome studies since the late 1980s. His professional expertise includes interviewer training, coordinating longitudinal follow-up studies, and locating and interviewing hard to reach populations for clinical and research purposes. His award winning doctoral dissertation in Criminal Justice (Reisenbach Foundation Award) investigated the long-term recovery process from heroin use and focused on ex-offenders who maintained abstinence for a period of five or more years. He served as an evaluator of several prison-based therapeutic communities for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and consults for various research organizations on Research Interview Design, Quality Control, and Interviewer Training and Administration. He is a Research Scientist member of the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse (NHSN) and is one of the founders and former Editor of the NHSN Newsletter El Faro: La Voz de la Red. He is Chair Emeritus of the NHSN Early Career Leadership Committee and is an active member of that committee. Dr. Tiburcio is a former Project Director on several federally and privately funded studies in the Institute for Treatment Services Research at NDRI. The NIDA-funded STOP HEP C Project examined the nationwide drug treatment response to the hepatitis C virus. Project STAR, an acronym for “Staff Training on Alcohol Reduction,” was devoted to the development of a state-of-the-art HIV care provider training to encourage the implementation of NIAAA’s screening and brief intervention (NIAAA’s BI) in Designated AIDS Centers (DACs) in New York City. He also served as Co- Investigator of a NIDA funded study designed to systematically study changes in illicit drug markets (including use and distribution) resulting from Hurricane Katrina in Aug 2005. Presently, Dr. Tiburcio is Principal Investigator in NDRI's Institute for Special Populations Research of a NIDA study examining sustained abstinence from opioid use, and the social and structural support mechanisms available to HIV+ respondents in NYC.
Selected Publications
is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Special Populations Research. Since 2004, he collaborated on a number of NIH-funded research studies, e.g., drug abuse treatment effectiveness meta-analysis, study of a modified TC aftercare for triply diagnosed population, and analysis of staying-safe strategies of long-term injection drug users. He trained as a Psychologist and received his Doctoral Degree from the New School for Social Research in 2006. During his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Public Health Solutions/NDRI Behavioral Sciences Training Program (2008–2010), funded by NIDA, he developed international research collaborations to examine inhalant use among the Roma (Gypsy) population, the largest minority of Europe. The results of his pilot data collection project conducted in eastern Slovakia (funded by IREX) were published in a special issue of Substance Use & Misuse. Currently, Dr. Vazan collaborates as a data analyst with Dr. Andrew Golub on two five-year longitudinal panel studies: Veteran Reintegration, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse in the Inner City (funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) and The Impact of Transient Domesticity Coparenting in Poor African American Families (funded by National Institute on Child Health and Human Development).
, created, and is currently the Program Manager for the LGBT Health Aware Project in the Training Institute at the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI). He is also a freelance consultant and has over 19 years experience in education, training facilitation, curriculum development/writing, technical assistance, and program development/management. Mr. Warrens’ current responsibilities in the Training Institute include curriculum development, training facilitation, managing on and off-site contract trainings and technical assistance interventions. Prior to his current responsibilities at NDRI, he created and managed the Technical Assistance Program (TAP). TAP work included the development of HIV/AIDS specific curricula and delivery of trainings targeted to build staff and organizational capacities. Mr. Warren has written curricula on: Stress Management and Vicarious Trauma-1 day and ½ day versions, Team Building, Working with LGBT Clients – Tools for Effective Care, Working with LGBT Clients in Treatment and Recovery, and Homophobia Reducing the Harm and Risk. Additionally, he has reviewed and tailored a wide range of existing curricula to meet specific needs of technical assistance recipients. Areas of content expertise include and are not limited to: HIV/AIDS, HIV Treatment Adherence, HIV Disclosure, Counseling Skills, Group Work, Team Building, and LGBT Competent Practice. Prior clients include and are not limited to: The Centers for Disease Control, Iris House, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Narcotics Rehabilitation Center, The Chinese American Planning Council, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Mr. Warren served on the New York City HIV Prevention Planning Group as a community representative for four-years. He has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work and a Bachelor’s degree from New York University.
, has acquired a national reputation in the areas
of substance abuse policy, treatment and research during the last 35 years.
He is best known for his landmark studies of the effectiveness of the therapeutic
community in the community, prisons and aftercare, which established prison
treatment programs in 20 states. Often credited with contributing to the
acceptance of prison-based drug treatment nationwide, this research demonstrated
the effectiveness of prison treatment particularly when coupled with aftercare,
and has had considerable impact on the field. The California Department
of Corrections presented Dr. Wexler with a Pioneer Award in recognition
of his role in expanding aftercare services for offenders. Dr. Wexler was
the Co-Chair of a recent Treatment Improvement Protocol, Substance Abuse
Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, and is the Principal
Investigator on two current government-funded projects studying elements
of prison treatment, community re-entry, and the effectiveness of sealing
records as a method of reducing recidivism by eliminating stigma. He has
written numerous articles, has co-authored a book on substance abuse treatment
for women, and has served as co-editor of special issues of the Prison
Journal. In June 2007 Dr. Wexler was appointed as a member of the Governor's Strike Team to help guide the process of reforming the California correctional system. Dr. Wexler has been with NDRI since 1977 and a senior staff member of the Center for the Integration of Research Practice since its inception.
Currently, Dr Wexler is retired from his 32 year career at NDRI while serving as an NDRI project consultant. He is also practicing clinical psychology in New York and Laguna Beach, writing a book on later male development, and is a blogger for Psychology Today. He also lectures internationally and serves as an advisor for correctional and rehabilitation policy in the US and other countries.
Selected Publications
, is a Program Manager in NDRI’s Training Institute working on the Care Coordination Protocol Training funded by New York City under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act. Ms. WIlliams has experience as a program director for an AIDS services program that offered case management, prevention education, transitional services and support group services for HIV+ persons with a history of substance use. Over the last 19 years, Ms. Williams has performed curriculum development, grant writing and managed various projects committed to addressing the HIV epidemic in communities of color.
She has conducted trainings throughout New York State and has 15 years of training experience in the field of public health, HIV/AIDS services, substance use and social services. Ms. Williams has worked as a trainer within NDRI’s Training Institute, the Center for Public Health Education at Stony Brook University, the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), and McNamara & Associates training competencies related to organizational development.
Ms. Williams is an expert on cultural issues and has experience working with various audiences delivering topics such as Diversity, Cultural Competence, Leadership Training, Handling Difficult Client Behaviors, Conflict Resolution, and Domestic Violence.
Selected Publications