Charles Amrhein, PsyD, is the clinical director of the Bronx TASC Mental Health Court Program, the service provider for the operations of the Bronx Mental Health Court. He trained in clinical psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the treatment of severe mental illness, with a major forensic focus, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Bronx Psy-chiatric Center. He is active in teaching doctoral students in clinical psychology at the John Jay College of Crimi-nal Justice and forensic psychiatry fellows at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Amrhein is on the Na-tional TASC Board of Directors and a consultant for the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments.
Lawrence C. Anaya, M.D., has been the Medical Director for Crossroads’ Turning Points, Inc. since 2007. Since 1990 he has been part of the Medical staff at Parkview Episcopal Hospital, and St. Mary-Corwin Hospital, both in Pueblo, CO. He earned a Bachelor of Science from New Mexico State University in 1980 and Doctor of Medicine from the University Of New Mexico School Of Medicine in 1985. His Post-Graduate Education includes an Intern-ship at the Southern Colorado Family Medicine from 1985 – 1986, and he completed his residency at the Southern Colorado Family Medicine from 1986 – 1988. His professional experience includes from 1986-1989 Southern Col-orado Urgent Care, Arkansas Valley Medical Center, Emergicare and Colorado State Hospital, Department of Sur-gery. From 1988-1989 he served as Assistant Director, Southern Colorado Family Medicine.
Virginia Barber-Rioja, Ph.D. received a PhD in clinical-forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and completed her pre-doctoral training in forensic psychology at New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center. She is currently the clinical director of Queens TASC Mental Health Diversion Program. Dr. Barber Ri-oja’s dissertation focused on predictive variables of success and risk assessment in the context of diversion pro-grams and Mental Health Courts. She has presented workshops and papers on diversion issues in numerous confer-ences nationally and internationally. Dr. Barber Rioja has also published in peer-reviewed journals, has been a con-tributing author to the SAGE Glossary of the Social & Behavioral Sciences and has co-authored a chapter on jail diversion in New Directions in Human Services Delivery, recently published by Springer.
Marrya Briggs, BA, is currently the Program Coordinator for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office / TASC Adult Deferred Prosecution Program in Phoenix, Arizona. The Program Coordinator is responsible for day to day operations and quality control for the TASC Diversion program. Marrya acts as the liaison between TASC and the EDC and SEF courts, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Public Defenders Office, and Legal Defenders Office. Marrya is the TASC spokesperson for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Upon special request in February 2011 Marrya presented TASC Diversion program information to the Working Group of the City of New Orleans in New Orleans, LA. She has also conducted presentations annually at the National TASC Conference since 2007.
Jeffrey A. Buck, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the Senior Advisor for Behavioral Health in the Center for Strategic Planning in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Previously, he was Chief of the Survey, Analysis, and Financing Branch in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. His publica-tions have addressed behavioral health issues in the financing and utilization of services, insurance coverage and parity, Medicaid, and administrative data systems.
Brian Case, M.A. - Mr. Case is a project associate in PRA’s criminal justice division. Since joining PRA in 2005, he has served as the technical assistance coordinator for two of SAMHSA’s criminal justice service grant initiatives, written and edited numerous publications, and served as a data analyst and manager for several studies. He is the author of two guides for judges, the Judges’ Guide to Mental Health Jargon (2007) and the Judges’ Guide to Mental Health Di-version (2010), and of peer-reviewed articles published in the journals Behavioral Sciences & the Law and Psychi-atric Services. Mr. Case is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, QC, and the School of Criminal Justice of the University at Albany in Albany, NY.
Jean Denious, Ph.D., is a Research Director at OMNI Institute, overseeing a number of evaluation projects in the areas of criminal and juvenile justice, health, and youth development. Dr. Denious led the formative evaluation of the Colorado TASC program, and oversaw the evaluation of the Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP) previ-ously implemented with TASC clients. Dr. Denious obtained her PhD in Social Psychology from Arizona State University, where she also taught courses in gender studies and psychology.
Jean Denious, Ph.D., is a Research Director at OMNI Institute, overseeing a number of evaluation projects in the areas of criminal and juvenile justice, health, and youth development. Dr. Denious led the formative evaluation of the Colorado TASC program, and oversaw the evaluation of the Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP) previ-ously implemented with TASC clients. Dr. Denious obtained her PhD in Social Psychology from Arizona State University, where she also taught courses in gender studies and psychology.
Frank Domurad, VP is Vice-President of The Carey Group and a nationally recognized expert in Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) for adults and juveniles. He has worked with numerous community and institutional correc-tional agencies at the Federal, state and local levels across the country to implement Evidence-Based Policy and Practices, including strategic planning, assessment, human resource development, program implementation and training. He has written extensively on evidence-based policy and practice, evidence-based management, cognitive-behavioral interventions, organizational development and change management, organizational culture, team building and collaboration, professional assessment/DACUM, strategic planning, e-learning, technology and pub-lic safety, and the role of corrections in fighting terrorism and protecting homeland security. Prior to joining The Carey Group, he served as Director of Staff and Organizational Development and Deputy Commissioner for Plan-ning, Administration and Technology in the New York City Department of Probation.
Alexa Eggleston, J.D., is the Substance Abuse and Addiction Project Director for the Council of State Govern-ments Justice Center. Her work with the Justice Reinvestment project and the National Reentry Resource Center focuses on expanding treatment access for justice-involved individuals with substance use and mental health disor-ders. Previously, Ms. Eggleston was Director of Public Policy at the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. She also served as Director of National Policy at the Legal Action Center, advocating for people with addiction, HIV/AIDS and criminal histories. Ms. Eggleston received her law degree from University of Maryland and her undergraduate degree from John Carroll University.
Eric Ennis, LCSW, CAC III is the Director of Adult Outpatient Services and Senior Instructor of Psychiatry for Addiction Research and Treatment Services, University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine. Eric Ennis has been with ARTS for 26 years, and was the first Chairperson of the Colorado Organization for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence. For the last 7 years has been a Member of the Board of Directors for the American Associa-tion for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD). Eric began his career during his senior year at the Uni-versity of Vermont, working as a ―University Year for Action‖ intern at a community mental health center provid-ing both alcohol detox and mental health crisis services. Mr. Ennis obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Vermont in 1979, and his Master’s Degree in Social Work form the University of Connecti-cut in 1983. Mr. Ennis began his post-graduate career working in the mental health field. Since 1985 he has worked for the Addiction Research and Treatment Services (ARTS), first as a substance abuse counselor, then as Clinic Supervisor, and for the last 16 years as Director of Adult Outpatient Services.
Rashaun Esposito is a Research Associate with OMNI Institute. Mr. Esposito works across a range of evaluation projects addressing the needs of at-risk populations, including the evaluation of the Holistic Health Recovery Pro-gram (HHRP) implemented with Colorado TASC clients, and the current evaluation of Colorado TASC. Mr. Es-posito has particular expertise in qualitative research, including the conduct and analysis of focus groups and inter-views, and provision of evaluation-related technical assistance and training to service providers across the state. Mr. Esposito is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Sociology at the University of Colorado at Denver, where he's anticipated to graduate Magna Cum Laude.
José Esquibel is Director of the Interagency Prevention Systems Program in the Prevention Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment/Prevention Services Division where he is primarily responsible for oversight of the coordination of prevention, intervention and treatment programs for children and youth across multiple state departments. He also serves as the State Project Director of SBIRT Colorado, provid-ing strategic leadership in promoting and implementing screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment ser-vices as part of a federal grant to the Office of the Governor. Initially trained as a clinician with mentors from the fields of child and family psychiatry and psychology at the University of New Mexico, José worked with adoles-cents and families in outpatient and inpatient substance abuse treatment settings from 1983-1996. His work branched into the field of substance abuse prevention, including work in schools as well as in community settings between 1986 and 1996. He then spent eight years with the New Mexico Department of Health/Behavioral Health Services Division working with service providers on improving the state substance abuse prevention system in New Mexico before coming into service with the State of Colorado in 2004. Since 2005, José has served as Vice Chair for Prevention of the Colorado State Methamphetamine Task Force, which is chaired by the State of Colora-do Attorney General. In 2010 he was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., as a member of the Colorado Behav-ioral Health Transformation Council.
Bennet W. Fletcher, PhD., is a Senior Research Psychologist. He has been with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) since 1987. In 1989 he established DATOS, a major longitudinal treatment outcomes study. From 1996 to 2004, as chief of the Services Research Branch, Dr. Fletcher established a comprehensive program of health services research on drug abuse treatment. In 2002 Dr. Fletcher helped establish the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS), a multicenter research program to improve the integration of drug treatment with the criminal justice system. As the CJ-DATS Science Officer, he is currently supporting research on the im-plementation of evidence-based practices to treat drug-involved offenders.
Jay Ford, Ph.D., is trained as a health systems engineer with over 25 years of healthcare experience. He currently works in the behavioral health field teaching states and providers how to use process improvement coach to im-prove access to and retention in treatment. His research focuses on the application of health systems engineering principals and techniques to improve health care delivery systems, study the implementation and sustainability of organization change and its impact on employee commitment to change; examine how health information technol-ogy impacts process workflow and explore how quality improvement impacts proximal and distal client outcomes.
Dee Funkhouser, M.A., LPC has more than 20 years of experience in human services delivery within the Pikes Peak region, including work in for-profit, non-profit, and government service sectors. She holds a Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Dee is a Licensed Professional Counse-lor in the State of Colorado.. Her career background is varied, including work as a Certified Vocational Rehabilita-tion Counselor, a Qualified Vocational Expert, director of the Pikes Peak Community College Career Center, and private practice in career counseling and development. In addition, Dee established her own consulting business in 1983, working in the development, delivery, and evaluation of education and training programs for business and industry, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities. She is especially skilled in group facilitation and building collaboration. Dee currently works for the Colorado Department of Labor and Em-ployment, Labor Market Information, in outreach and training. She has served on the Boards of Directors of the Pikes Peak Workforce Center, the Pikes Peak Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Women Partnering, and the Manitou Springs Education Foundation. She is a certified Myers-Briggs instructor, is certified in the use of Cul-turetek™ by Corporate Development Group, Inc., and has been recognized in several Who’s Who volumes. Her most recent book, Interview Answers in a Flash, co-authored with Pat Criscito, is now available in bookstores
Patrick Gillies has passionately assisted underserved communities and has helped forge a brighter future for those in need of critical health-care services since 1997. As the current Regional Administrator for the Health Services and Resources Administration, (HRSA), Patrick coordinates operations in the Denver Region. HRSA provides leadership and financial support to health care providers in every state and U.S. territory. HRSA grantees provide health care to uninsured people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and pregnant women, mothers and children. Prior to his service at HRSA, Patrick led Community and Behavioral health initiatives for the State of Texas. Patrick graduated from Texas Tech University, receiving a BA in Political Science and an MPA in Health Policy Admin-istration.
Dan Griffin, M.A., has worked in the mental health and addictions field for over sixteen years. His graduate work was centered on the social construction of masculinity in the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous. The recipient of the first fellowship to train as a counselor at Hazelden, Dan most recently worked in the area of drug courts for the past eight years. Griffin lives in Minnesota and has been in recovery for sixteen years. A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps is his first book and is the first book to speak directly to men’s experience in recovery. He is co-author of the groundbreaking curriculum, Helping Men Recover, the first gender-responsive and trauma-informed curriculum specifically for men.
Dianne Hayhurst-Vigil, B.S., CAC III currently serves as the Director of Pueblo Services for Crossroads’ Turn-ing Points, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Denver in 1985, and is a Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) Level III, since 2/15/1997. Since 1993 she has worked for Crossroads’ Turn-ing Points, Inc. in various services, including Men’s and Women’s Residential, Outpatient, Offender STIRRT pro-grams (Short-Term Intensive Residential Remedial Treatment), DUI Level I Education, DUI Level II Therapeutic Education, DUI Level II Therapy, Adolescent Outpatient, Detoxification, and Methadone Programs.
Webster T. Hendricks, B.S., CAC III is the Treatment Field Manager and Intervention Specialist for the Colora-do Division of Behavioral Health. He has more than 30 years’ experience providing substance use prevention, edu-cation, and treatment to children, adults and families, and 20 years’ experience as an addiction counselor trainer and clinical supervisor. He joined the Colorado Division of Behavioral Health in December 2004 as a Treatment Field Manager and Intervention Specialist. His responsibilities include licensing and monitoring treatment agen-cies, addressing complaints; researching and/or distributing information regarding intervention and treatment strat-egies for SUD clients; initiating and fostering inter-agency and intra-agency communications regarding services to the citizens of Colorado. He is also the principle investigator for Colorado’s Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment initiative (SBIRT Colorado).
Matthew Hiller, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. For the past 15 years, his research has focused on drug-involved offenders and has examined a several program mod-els, both community and corrections-based, for intervening in these individuals lives to change drug use and other criminal behavior as well as HIV-risky behaviors. He currently works with Steven Belenko (Principle Investigator) and Wayne Welsh as a part of the Pennsylvania Research Center, a part of a nationwide research infrastructure funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to identify and test organization-level interventions for encourag-ing system-wide adoption and uptake of evidence-based practices by prisons, jails, and community corrections. He also received funding from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to conduct process and outcome evaluations of the Waukesha Alcohol Treatment Court.
Melissa Ippolito, B.A., CAC III, CEAP is the Director of Colorado TASC, a program of Peer Assistance Ser-vices, Inc. She received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Mesa State College in Colorado and has been working in the criminal justice field for more than 18 years. She is a Certified Addictions Counselor Level III, as well as a Certified Employee Assistance Professional. Melissa has been on the Board of Directors for National TASC since 2009, and served as the Conference Chair for the 17th National TASC Conference on Drugs and Crime.
Ross Kimbrel currently serves as the Associate Director for the Division of Education with the Colorado Depart-ment of Corrections. He has been employed by the Department for over 21 years and has held the positions of Division of Education Administrative Officer, Acting Human Resources Manager, Training Manager, Director of Strategic Planning, and Correctional industries Sales Manager. He is a former teacher, coach, and athletic director with experience in both public and private school systems. He graduated from CSU-Pueblo (then the University of Southern Colorado) with a Bachelor's degree in physical education in December of 1978.
Douglas Kramer is currently the Laboratory Technical Supervisor and Database Administrator at Treatment As-sessment Screening Center (TASC, Inc.). He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Microbiology, with extensive post-baccalaureate studies in Biochemistry from Arizona State University. He has worked in the clinical diagnostic arena for over 23 years, with the last 21 years specializing in forensic urine drug testing, and has supervised tech-nical operations at TASC, Inc. in Phoenix for 15 years. In addition to overseeing the technical operations and re-search and development at TASC, Inc., Mr. Kramer has actively served as an expert witness throughout the state of Arizona for Attorneys General and Public Defenders offices for over 15 years, aiding counsel in both prosecution and defense in matters of forensic drug testing. Mr. Kramer has provided, and continues to provide, drugs of abuse training seminars for various criminal justice agencies including, but not limited to, Justices of the Superior Court of Arizona, Arizona Department of Corrections, American Probation and Parole Association, and National TASC Conferences.
Julie Krow, M.A., L.P.C., is currently the Deputy Executive Director for Addiction Research and Treatment Ser-vices at the University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. She has been with Addiction Research and Treatment Services in various executive roles since 2004. She achieved her Master’s De-gree in Psychology at the University of Northern Colorado and her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Illinois State University. Julie was the State Child Welfare Excellence in Practice Award Recipient in 2004. She graduat-ed from the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training in 2005. Julie is currently a member of the Colorado Asso-ciation of Drug and Alcohol Service providers and serves as the Chair of the Health Care Committee. In 2011, Julie served on the Governors Transition Team for the Department of Public Safety and currently serves on the Governor’s Behavioral Health Transformation Council. Julie attends Signal Board meetings. From 2007-2010 she served on the Legislative Task Force for the Treatment of the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System. In 2005-2007 Julie was the Secretary for the Colorado Community Corrections Coalition. From 2004-2007 she served on the Board for the Friends of Kids in Crisis. Julie previously served as the Acting Director for the Family Crisis Center. She has also worked at Denver Human Services; Arapahoe Douglas Mental Health Network; Develop-mental Disabilities Consultants; Developmental Pathways; Adams Community Mental Health Center; Bucking-hamshire Department of Social Services in England; Oxfordshire Department of Social Services in England; Illi-nois State University; the Institute for Human Resources in Illinois; and Mulberry House in Illinois.
Wayne E.K. Lehman, Ph.D., received his Ph.D. in general/experimental psychology from Texas Christian Univer-sity (TCU) in 1983 and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Behavioral Research at TCU. His current research efforts focus on the assessment of organizational factors in drug treatment programs in correctional settings, evaluation and implementation of a disease risk reduction program for incarcerated offenders in substance abuse shortly before release to the community, and linkages between correctional and community treatment sys-tems. He has previously served as a member of NIDA's Epidemiology and Prevention and Training and Develop-ment subcommittees and Special Emphasis Panels.
Alicia Lindsay, MSW, LCSW, is currently the Clinical Director at Treatment Assessment Screening Center (TASC, Inc.). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Psychology (with a Minor in Sociology) and Political Science – Pre-Law (with a Minor in Anthropology), as well as a Master of Social Work (with a concentration in Forensic Social Work), with extensive post-graduate studies in various areas of Behavioral Health. She has worked in the behavioral health arena for over 19 years, with the last 12+ years working in a supervisory capacity. She has been the Clinical Director of TASC, Inc. for more than 5 years. In addition to overseeing the clinical operations and state behavioral health licensing at TASC, Inc., Ms. Lindsay, has actively administered the treatment contracts for the agency throughout the state of Arizona. She has also provided, and continues to provide, behavioral health treatment training seminars for various criminal justice agencies including, but not limited to, Justices of the Supe-rior Court of Arizona, Arizona Department of Corrections, United States Federal Probation and Pretrial Officers, the Bureau of Prisons, and now at the National TASC Conference.
David Mancuso, Ph.D., is a health economist and senior research manager with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). Dr. Mancuso manages the DSHS Integrated Client Database and its associ-ated predictive modeling and clinical decision support application (PRISM). The PRISM application identifies medical and behavioral health risk factors that predict high future health care costs. Dr. Mancuso also uses the Inte-grated Client Database to evaluate the impact of program interventions on client health and socioeconomic out-comes. Recent efforts have included evaluation of the impact of substance abuse treatment on Medicaid costs and criminal justice outcomes.
Maureen McDonnell is the Director for Business and Health Care Strategy Development for TASC, Inc. Maureen has 20 years of experience in building behavioral health interventions within the criminal justice system across Illi-nois. Ms. McDonnell leads TASC’s work on health care reform, focusing on strategic and practical integration of criminal justice and behavioral health services to reduce recidivism and build durable recovery in the community. Ms. McDonnell holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and is pursuing graduate studies in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Gerald Melnick, Ph.D., is a Senior Principal Investigator at the Center for the Integration of Research to Practice at National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI). His research activities include the effect of organization-al characteristics on the success of substance abuse treatment programs, motivation for substance abuse treatment, the effect of stigma on recidivism, and the assessment and treatment for co-occurring substance abuse and mental disorder in the criminal justice system. Current studies focus on the effect of open communication on organization-al change in Drug Courts, HIV testing of offenders, and the assessment and conveyance of the needs of offenders re-entering the community.
Roger Peters, Ph.D., serves as Chair and Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI), University of South Florida (USF), where he has been a faculty member since 1986. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Florida State University, follow-ing completion of a pre-doctoral internship at the University of North Carolina, School of Medicine. Dr. Peters has served as Principal Investigator and Director for several grant projects, including the recently established NIDA Research Core Center—USF’s Center on Co-Occurring Disorders, Justice, and Multidisciplinary Research. From 1995–2004 Dr. Peters served as the lead consultant to the National GAINS Center for People with Co-occurring Disorders in the Justice System. He has published frequently in major journals, served on Federal expert panels, grant and document reviews, national advisory boards and committees, and has served as a consultant to Federal and State agencies. Dr. Peters served for 4 years on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and for 8 years on the Treatment-Based Drug Court Steering Committee for the Supreme Court of Florida. He recently served as Chair and Co-Editor of the SAMHSA/CSAT Treatment Improvement Pro-tocol (TIP) #44 on ―Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System.‖ On March 20, 2007, Dr. Peters provided testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the ―Second Chance Act of 2007‖ legis-lation.
Janelle Prueter is the TASC Director, Corrections and Community Reentry Services. Janelle Prueter oversees TASC’s services for more than 5,000 individuals in Illinois each year who are incarcerated or are returning to their communities following incarceration. Working in partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) and community-based service providers across the state, Ms. Prueter develops and implements plans and programs that help formerly-incarcerated individuals successfully rein-tegrate into society. MS. Prueter earned her B.A in Psychology and Sociology from Beloit College (Beloit, Wis-consin), and her M.S. in Public Services Administration from DePaul University (Chicago).
Richard Rawson, Ph.D., is an Associate Director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs and Professor-in-Residence at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, in which he has been a member for more than 20 years. He is principal investigator of the California Outcome System Monitoring Program (CalOMS) and provides technical assistance throughout California on healthcare system preparations for health care reform. He has led addiction research and training projects for the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. State Depart-ment, exporting science-based knowledge to many parts of the world. Dr. Rawson has published 2 books, 27 book chapters, and over 175 peer-reviewed articles and has conducted over 1,000 workshops, paper presentations, and training sessions.
Pamela F. Rodriguez is President of TASC, Inc. of Illinois, a statewide, nonprofit case management agency that serves adults and youth with substance use and mental health disorders. Ms. Rodriguez oversees TASC’s service delivery to more than 30,000 individuals each year who are referred to TASC by Illinois courts, corrections, and child welfare systems. In addition, she directs TASC’s new program development, quality assurance, research, and public policy activities. Ms. Rodriguez has more than 25 years’ experience in program development, implementa-tion, clinical service delivery, quality improvement, and administration. An expert in managing effective service delivery within complex service systems, she serves as liaison between TASC, large public systems, treatment and other service providers, and state and federal funding entities. Ms. Rodriguez provides research, training, and con-sulting services for local, state, and national entities.
Kenneth W. Robertson is the Team Leader for the Criminal Justice Programs Grant Portfolio at the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to his federal career, he headed the Na-tional Consortium of Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities (TASC) Programs, was program manager of a Department of Justice drugs and crime technical assistance contract at the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), and held several administrative and institutional corrections program positions with the North Carolina Department of Corrections, Division of Prisons.
Steven Rosenberg has over 35 years of experience in assuring access to health care for our nation’s most vulnera-ble populations. He is currently the President of COCHS (Community Oriented Correctional Health Services). COCHS is non-profit organization established to help communities around the country connect to the health care providers in local correctional centers with continued health care provided in the community upon release. COCHS hopes to help local communities around the country reduce the incidence of chronic disease and the cost of health care.
Heather Salazar is the Associate Director of Offender Programs with the Colorado Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Parole, Community Corrections, & YOS. She developed, implemented, and manages the Pre-Release Program in 19 CDOC facilities and Community Re-Entry services statewide. She also coordinates with various state and local agencies, as well as, faith and community based agencies for grants and special projects. A few of her collaborative efforts include coordination of services with CDHS Fatherhood Initiative, CDOLA Se-cond Chance Act Grant, Interagency Council on Homelessness & Colorado SOAR Initiative, US DOJ Prisoner Reentry Initiative, CDLE LMI Gateway in CDOC, and CDHS Child Support Modification grant. Prior to work-ing for the State, she was the Sr. Case Manager for ComCor, Inc. Non-Residential Services and supervised various programs and contracts both state and county/city. Mrs. Salazar graduated from the University of Colorado – Colo-rado Springs with her bachelors in both Psychology and Sociology with an emphasis on criminology, a Master in Criminal Justice (MCJ), and a Master in Public Administration (MPA). She has conducted research on Communi-ty Corrections Program Evaluation and Multidisciplinary Teams and the Polygraph Process which she presented at the International Conference on Advances in Management (Boston, MA July 2003). She has also completed the National Institute of Corrections Offender Workforce Development Specialist training and hosted trainings statewide. She has conducted various trainings, such as the 2010 Women in Corrections Conference and Mexican Federal Prison System.
Mark Saferite, MA, JD, has been the Director of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office / TASC Adult Deferred Prosecution Program since 2000. He was also the Program Director for Phoenix TASC in the early 1980’s, taking an active role in the early development of TASC pretrial diversion programming in Maricopa County. Mr. Saferite has over 15 years of criminal justice / human services experience in the US and ten years of international legal experience in Southeast Asia. In addition to his work with TASC, Mr. Saferite has worked in juvenile programs with the Arizona Department of Corrections and other public and private organizations. He has also managed pro-grams with the Area Agency on Aging and the International Rescue Committee. He received his Master of Arts from Northern Arizona University and his Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University with international legal studies in Singapore, Thailand, France and Switzerland. Mr. Saferite has been a National TASC Board member since 2004.
Paul N. Samuels, President: Paul Samuels is Director/President of the Legal Action Center. Mr. Samuels has participated in ground-breaking litigation defending the rights of people with alcohol and drug histories, HIV dis-ease and criminal records; worked on and overseen numerous advocacy campaigns to combat discrimination, ex-pand services, reform sentencing laws, and effect other important public policy advances; testified before numer-ous Congressional and state legislative committees; lectured in more than 25 States; and served on numerous na-tional and state advisory groups. He has received a number of awards, including the Robert Wood Johnson Innova-tor Award (2002), The Betty Ford Award, AMERSA (1998), New York City Coalition of Alcoholism and Sub-stance Abuse Organizations (1997), Veritas Villa (1995), New York State Association for Alternative Sentencing Programs (1994), and National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (1992 and 1994). Mr. Sam-uels joined the staff of the Legal Action Center while a law student in 1976, became a staff attorney upon gradua-tion from Columbia Law School in 1979, became Executive Vice President in 1983 and Director/President in 1992. He is a graduate of Harvard College.
Brian Simms, M.D., is a Forensic Psychiatrist from Annapolis, Maryland with nearly 30 years’ experience work-ing in local inpatient, outpatient and Correctional settings. He has worked with Special population groups pro-moting Trauma-informed practices and interactions, teaching respectful and compassionate treatment of all
individuals we serve. A former Director of Behavioral and Mental Health for Conmed Healthcare Management, he now spends his time in proud affiliation with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Direc-tors and NTAC, under the leadership of Dr. Joan Gillece, and has maintained this affiliation for the past 4 years. He has provided multiple consultations and trainings to many sites across the country as well as Guam, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Dr. Sims received his M.D. degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville Ten-nessee, and did his Residency training at the University of Maryland Institute for Psychiatry and Human Behavior. He specializes in the Neurobiological Aspects of Trauma.
Henry J. Steadman, Ph.D., has been president of Policy Research Associates, Inc., since he founded it in 1987. Previously, Dr. Steadman ran a nationally known research bureau for 17 years for the New York State Office of Mental Health. His work has resulted in 8 books, over 130 journal articles in a wide range of professional jour-nals, 20 chapters, and numerous reports. Dr. Steadman’s major current projects include the following: (1) Nation-al GAINS Center for Evidence-Based Practices in the Justice System; (2) John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Mental Health Court Study; (3) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) Transformation Center; and (4) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Technical Assistance and Policy Analysis Center for Jail Diversion. Dr. Steadman received his B.A. and M.A. in sociology from Boston College and his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Steadman has re-ceived various awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2007, Carl A. Taube Award for Outstanding Contributions in Mental Health Services Research from the American Public Health Association in 2005, the Isaac Ray Award from the American Psychiatric Association for his out-standing contributions to the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence in 1999, the Distinguished Contribution to Fo-rensic Psychology from the American Academy of Forensic Psychology in 1998, the Saleem A. Shah Award from the State Mental Health Forensic Directors in 1994, the Philippe Pinel Award from the International Academy of Law and Mental Health in 1988, and the Amicus Award from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law in 1987.
Flo A. Stein, M.P.H., Community Policy Management, Division of Mental Health Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, Raleigh, North Carolina. Ms. Stein manages the community-based substance abuse, mental health and developmental disabilities programs for the State of North Carolina. The NC MHDDSA system has been utilizing transformation tools to develop a person-centered recovery oriented system supported by State, Federal and Medicaid funding. Previously, Ms. Stein directed, administered and supervised the sub-stance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery program for the State of North Carolina, including three Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Centers. She provides consultation to a number of North Carolina Criminal Justice Initiatives, The North Carolina Institute of Medicine and the NC Focus on Combat Veterans and their Families. She is the current President of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD). Ms. Stein serves as an advisor to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as member the National Advisory Council and the Partners for Recovery Steering Committee.
Joe Stommel, M.S. has been a mental health professional and instructor since 1974 and was Administrator of Colorado DOC Alcohol and Drug Services for 18 years. Now retired, he has done extensive training for offender programs, including mental health and substance abuse treatment and services, assessment procedures, cognitive-behavioral and therapeutic community programs, TASC community case management, quality improvement and strategic planning, and research design and development. He is currently working with NDRI, Inc. as a CJDATS project facilitator.
Carolyn Swenson, MSPH, MSN, FNP is a family nurse practitioner with a Master of Science in Public Health. She is a Senior Project Manager at HealthTeamWorks where she manages projects and does training on motiva-tional interviewing, general prevention, depression, and tobacco/alcohol/drug prevention (SBIRT). In the past she worked on the Navajo Indian Reservation, with migrant farm workers, in a refugee camp in Africa, with survivors
of torture, and coordinating population-based research on diabetes and aging in rural Colorado.
Pallavi Visvanathan, Ph.D., is a Senior Researcher at OMNI Institute and leads the evaluation of several projects related to behavioral health and education that are funded by local, state, and federal agencies. Dr. Visvanathan obtained her PhD from the University of Denver in the area of Clinical Psychology and conducted her clinical in-ternship at the Denver Health and Hospital Authority. Dr. Visvanathan has experience with multi-level longitudinal data collection and analysis as well as qualitative data collection and analysis. Dr. Visvanathan is the lead evaluator of the Colorado TASC Program.
Dave Wanser, Ph.D., is a Fellow at the University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs and Senior Clinical Consultant for Intellica. Previous roles include: Executive Director of the National Data Infrastructure Improve-ment Consortium, Deputy Commissioner for Behavioral and Community Health at the Texas Department of State Health Services, Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Director of Behavioral Health Services at the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation and Director of the NorthSTAR Managed Behavioral Health Program. He serves on several federal committees and consults extensively on behav-ioral health and health information technology.
Joel Warmolts is the Director, Quality Improvement and Staff Development. He has more than 20 years of experi-ence working in the child welfare and addiction fields providing direct service, administration, program develop-ment and implementation, information systems development, consulting, as well as quality improvement and train-ing. As TASC’s Director of Quality Improvement and Staff Development, he is responsible for ensuring that quali-ty processes are in place that support continuous questioning, analyses, and information sharing that lead to im-proved services that in turn lead to successful life outcomes for the persons served. He has led in the planning and standardization of business processes across all Illinois TASC programs, determining automation needs, and ensur-ing compliance with regulations and funding requirements
Harry K. Wexler, Ph.D., has acquired a national reputation in the areas of substance abuse policy, treatment and research during the last 40 years. His many publications have been especially influential in prison drug treatment and policy and he is a recognized leader in the development of evidence-based practices in psychology. Currently, Dr. Wexler is retired from his 32-year career at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., and has recent-ly become Research Director of the Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) where he works closely with Dr. Phil Zim-bardo. In addition, he practices psychology in New York and Laguna Beach, blogs for Psychology Today, lectures internationally and serves as an advisor for correctional and rehabilitation policy while trying to find time to relax on the beautiful beaches of Laguna.
Mark E. Zehner, M.S., is an Assistant Researcher at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Health Enhance-ment Systems Studies (CHESS) and NIATx. Experienced in addiction treatment science and research, Mr. Zehner is active in the development, testing and implementation of materials and programs that promote the adoption of ―process improvement methods‖ in behavioral healthcare treatment settings. He is a Project Director for the NIATx National Program Office, a NIATx Coach, and a faculty presenter for the NIATx Change Leader and Coaching Academies.
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