Lisa Asare is the Deputy Commissioner of Health Services, overseeing the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services that administers NJ FamilyCare and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and leading the Department’s work on First Lady Murphy’s Nurture NJ maternal health initiative. Asare also supports the Catastrophic Illness in Children’s Relief Fund.
Asare previously worked as the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Family Health Services at the New Jersey Department of Health, where she worked for more than 20 years. At Health, Asare oversaw units that provided extensive public health programs and services, including Maternal and Child Health, Special Child Health, Early Intervention Services, WIC Nutrition Services and the SNAP-ED Program. She retooled the Division’s approach to addressing black infant mortality and maternal mortality, contributed to the NurtureNJ strategic plan, addressed the social determinants of health by collaborating with sister state agencies and non-traditional partners, and leveraged additional state, federal, and philanthropic funding to address emerging issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her accomplishments included establishing the Colette Lamothe-Galette Community Health Worker Institute, the Doula Learning Collaborative, and transitioning to eWIC.
Asare also serves as the President-Elect on the Board of Directors of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), where she also serves as Chair of the Health Equity Committee.
She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in Public Health from the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Rutgers School of Public Health and the President’s Award from the NJ Public Health Association.
Diane Litterer, MPA, CPS, has been in the field of public health for over 30 years working to reduce the harmful consequences of alcohol, tobacco and other drug misuse. Diane, as the CEO of NJPN, manages a comprehensive workforce development program covering the continuum of addiction professionals and leads community prevention initiatives across the state. Diane builds capacity among professionals to increase the use of evidenced-based programs and practices and to implement effective strategies that create healthier communities.
Dr. Sabrina N’Diaye began her career as a Social Worker in the New York City foster care system, where she served as a therapist in a residential treatment/educational facility. Over the years, she has served underserved populations in public schools, community mental health, and addictions programs. She is currently an integrative psychotherapist and founder of the Heart Nest Center for Peace and Healing in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she lovingly serves women, couples, other healers, and small groups. Her approach to healing is a blend of wisdom, science, and ancient spiritual practices. Sabrina received her PhD in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University, where she studied the use of complementary and alternative interventions for physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Her dissertation study focused on the use of guided imagery as a healing tool for African-American women with chronic STIs. Since completing her doctorate, she has developed curriculum and served as adjunct faculty for the Maryland University of Integrative Health and Saybrook University. She is a proud senior faculty member of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, where she teaches the art of self-care to healthcare professionals and community leaders around the globe. As Center faculty, she has responded to community trauma in Las Vegas, Houston, the Pine Ridge Reservation, New York City, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. She is currently serving the Center as a teacher and guide for healthcare professionals in Indianapolis, Central Asia, East Africa, and the US Capitol Police. She, along with two of her colleagues from the Center, recently launched, Embracing Buffalo, a project specifically designed to address the aftermath of the May 14th massacre in East Buffalo.In 2012, she became a student of Sidi Muhammad al-Jamal, a healer and peacebuilder from Jerusalem. Sabrina has committed her live to continuing the sacred Sufi teachings of peace, love, justice, mercy, and freedom. Dr. Sabrina is a highly-respected member of the treatment community, and frequently lectures on oppression, spirituality, stress management, self-care for healers, addictions, and the “magic” of connection. Her many audiences include police departments (including Baltimore City, MPD, and NYPD), flight attendants, healing artists, peacebuilders, and aspiring writers. She is currently mentoring mental health professional across the country in their desire to make a living while serving humanity. She is currently completing her first book, Big Mama Speaks: Love Lessons from a Harlem River Swan, based on her maternal grandmother’s ability to transcend multiple traumas and chronic illness. Dr. Sabrina is a devoted wife, mother, daughter, and life-long learner, who remains humbled by the healing power of compassion, love and forgiveness.
Curtis Mark is a recent graduate of Franklin and Marshall college where he majored in Public Health and Biology on the pre-medicine track. He has been actively involved in substance misuse prevention for 9 years and has a vision to uplift youth voices and reduce youth substance misuse globally. He believes that youth are transformative in their thoughts and actions and works diligently to ensure their prevention strategies are brought to fruition. Curtis works for a chronic pain doctor conducting clinical research and ensuring patient care; upon graduating, Curtis will pursue his dream of becoming an anesthesiologist. When Curtis is not working with youth, you can find him on a volleyball court, making new music playlists, and trying cooking different cultural dishes with his friends.
Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is Director of Addiction Research and the Founding Center Director of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC) at Cambridge Health Alliance. He is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, a NIDA-funded center of excellence at Dartmouth. He also directs the Mindful Mental Health Service at CHA. He previously served as Medical Director for Outpatient Addiction Services and Director of Addiction Psychiatry Residency Education at CHA for 5 years. He has been involved in research and clinical care of patients with chronic pain, substance use and mental health disorders both in mental health, primary care, and community recovery settings. He has received funding through more than ten federal research grants (with support from NCCIH, NIDA, HEAL, NIMH, NCI, CDC, as well as the NIH Science of Behavior Change Initiative and NIH Behavioral Research to Improve Medication-Based Treatment [BRIM] program) to study the effects of mindfulness and compassion-based interventions on behavior change, substance use, mental health, and chronic pain. In addition, he is the Director of the Clinical Core for the NCCIH Program Project grant focused on integrating mindfulness and transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation for chronic pain.
Nicole Gastala, MD. is board certified in Family and Addiction Medicine. She graduated from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and completed her Family Medicine residency at University of Iowa. She has developed and expanded MAR by mentoring prescribers, precepting residents, and training clinicians Illinois. She has also focused on the development of a walk-in integrated behavioral health, addiction, and primary care programs within her FQHC system at UI Health Mile Square Health Centers. In January 2021, Dr Gastala joined the Substance Use Prevention and Recovery Division of IDHS as the medical director.
Our featured workshop presenter –Sam Quinones— is a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist, a reporter for 35 years, and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction. He is a veteran reporter on immigration, gangs, drug trafficking, and the border. Formerly, Sam was a reporter with the L.A. Times, for 10 years and prior worked as a freelance writer residing in Mexico for a decade.
Sam’s landmark book title: Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic ignited awareness of the epidemic that has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of lives and become deadliest drug scourge in the nation’s history.
In his latest book, titled: The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the time of Fentanyl and Meth, Sam chronicles the emergence of a drug-trafficking world producing massive supplies of synthetic drugs cheaper and deadlier than ever, marketing to a vulnerable population created by the nation’s opioid epidemic, as the backdrop to tales of Americans’ quiet attempts to recover community through simple acts of help and kindness.
Sam Quinones (pronounced Kin-YOH-Ness) is a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist, a reporter for 35 years, and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction. He is a veteran reporter on immigration, gangs, drug trafficking, and the border.
Sam is formerly a reporter with the L.A. Times, where he worked for 10
Delmonte Jefferson is the Executive Director of The Center for Black Health & Equity (formerly known as NAATPN,
Inc.), a national organization that facilitates public health programs to benefit communities and people of African
descent. He has worked more than 20 years in public health program administration managing and directing public health programs nationally and in states such as North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. He has worked with national, state, and local legislators to help shape policies in support of smoke-free establishments and restrictions on the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products. Mr. Jefferson is chair of the Georgia Smoke-Free Tobacco Coalition and an officer on the board of directors with the North American Quitline Consortium. He has collaborated with a cross section of public, government, and private sector entities to create programs and services that promote health justice for marginalized communities and disenfranchised populations.
PGP is led by CEO Dr. Joe Smyser who holds a PhD and masters in global public health, and has worked at the intersection of public health, media, and technology throughout his career. He has designed the core strategies for several of the United States’ largest social and behavior change programs; for the US CDC and FDA, Kaiser Permanente, Rockefeller Foundation and CDC Foundation, among others. During Dr. Smyser’s tenure, PGP has served as the primary health communications partner for Facebook (Meta), Tumblr, Twitter, and Tik Tok. PGP has, dutifully and often behind the scenes, been among those chiefly responsible for serving the global public accurate and timely health information. Dr. Smyser conducted his postdoctoral training at the US CDC. He is a member of the Education Advisory Board of Rutger’s University, and the Forbes Nonprofit Council. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed studies and white papers regarding various aspects of health communications. Dr. Smyser is a highly sought after speaker, participating in forums such as Aspen Ideas, SXSW, World Vaccine Congress, and American Public Health Association. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served in the Kingdom of Eswatini.
Jeff Foote, PhD, is Co-Founder of the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) in Manhattan, as well as CMC:Berkshires and CMC:Foundation for Change. Dr. Foote is a nationally recognized clinical research scientist who has received federal grant funding for his work on motivational treatment approaches and substance abuse treatment research, focused on the implementation of evidence-based treatments. Dr. Foote was also Psychologist for the NY Mets for 11 years, and continues in sports psychology as an independent performance consultant to professional athletes. Before co-founding CMC in 2003, Dr. Foote was the Deputy Director of the Division of Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC, as well as Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) in NYC. Dr. Foote also served as Chief of the Smithers Addiction Treatment and Research Center as well as Director of Evaluation and Research between 1994 and 2001. He is co-author of the award-winning book Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, a practical guide for families dealing with addiction and substance problems in a loved one, based on principles of Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). He is also a contributor to two workbooks combining strategies from CRAFT and Motivational Interviewing: The Parent’s 20 Minute Guide and The Partner’s 20 Minute Guide, which offer specific tools and practice in evidence-based strategies for helping a loved one change
Carlton Hall is the President and CEO of Carlton Hall Consulting LLC, a multi-faceted, full-service consulting firm designed to provide customized solutions and enable measurable change for communities, organizations, families, and individuals. Carlton spent twelve years with the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) serving in several leadership positions and including most recently, Acting Vice President, Training Operations, and Acting Director for CADCA's National Coalition Institute, responsible for the day to day operational oversight, design, and implementation of its premiere national training delivery system. Carlton also supported CADCA's International Programs in partnership with the US State Department's International Narcotics Law Enforcement division (INL), managing training programs in Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana. Carlton is one of the primary architects of CADCA's National Coalition Academy. The Academy, a year-long coalition development program, is designed to increase the effectiveness of communities in drug demand reduction producing population-level outcomes.With more than 25 years of experience in the fields of government relations, social services, and prevention science, Carlton first gained national prominence as a Communities That Care® Project Manager, for the Channing Bete Company. He was a Communities That Care® trainer/senior consultant with Channing Bete Company for four years. He received his Master's in Human Services from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He was appointed as the Project Director for the Communities That Care® process in Philadelphia as well as the Crime and Public Safety manager for the Philadelphia Empowerment Zone, a division of the Mayor's Office of Community Services. During that time he managed a small planning grant to over three million dollars for science-based prevention programming in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia.Carlton's responsibilities, unique set of skills and experience has made him one of the most highly sought after instructors and guides for community problem-solving in every state and territory in the nation as well as internationally, with successful achievements in South Africa, Ghana, Bermuda, Kenya, and others.
Mr. Nash currently serves as Director of Legal Education/LEGAL ONE (Law, Ethics, Governance for All Leaders, including an Overview of New and Emerging issues) and National Outreach at the Foundation for Educational Administration. LEGAL ONE is an innovative program that provides school law professional development for school leaders and other educators. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Nash served as legal counsel for the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. In that role, Mr. Nash provided legal assistance to NJPSA members for legal issues arising out of the performance of their duties.
Mr. Nash also served as Assistant Director of Government Relations for NJPSA from 1994 to 2003. He currently teaches graduate level school law courses at Ramapo College and has previously taught at Rutgers University and New Jersey City University. Mr. Nash received his B.A. from Rutgers University and graduated with High Honors from Rutgers Law School in 2003. While at Rutgers Law School he served as an editor for the Rutgers Law Review. His prior civic involvement includes six years’ service as a member of the Old Bridge Board of Education, including two years as board president, and service on the Board of Trustees for both Healing the Children New Jersey and Advocates for Children of New Jersey.
Marianela Medrano, PhD, LPC, CPT is the Owner at Palabra Counseling & Training Center and a bilingual (English/Spanish) psychotherapist providing counseling for individual, family, and group treatment. Dr. Medrano specializes in integral psychotherapy including transpersonal therapy, mindfulness, and acceptance and commitment therapy to achieve positive results. In addition, Dr. Medrano offers comprehensive Poetry Therapy training that leads to certification with the National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy as well as personal development for professional individuals and groups.
Marianela Medrano was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and has lived in Connecticut, USA since 1990. A poet and a writer of nonfiction and fiction, she holds a PhD in psychology. Her literary work has appeared in anthologies and magazines in Latin America, Europe and the United States. Her poetry has been translated into Italian and French. She is a faculty mentor for the PhD program in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership at SouthWestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Petros Levounis, MD, MA, serves as professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also the chief of service at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, director of the Northern New Jersey Medication Assisted Treatment Center of Excellence, and president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Levounis came to Rutgers from Columbia University where he served as director of the Addiction Institute of New York from 2002 to 2013. Dr. Levounis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he studied chemistry and biophysics before receiving his medical education at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he researched the effects of social class on patient-physician relationships in Oxford, England, and received an MA degree in sociology from Stanford. In 1994, he moved to New York City to train in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia earning the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award and went on to complete his fellowship in addiction psychiatry at New York University. Dr. Levounis has written numerous articles, monographs, and book chapters; has lectured extensively on addiction topics throughout the United States and abroad; and has been interviewed by CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, The Martha Stewart Radio Show, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others. Dr. Levounis has served on the boards of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and from 2005 to 2009 chaired the national Committee on Addiction Treatment of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Dr. Levounis is a Betty Ford Scholar, a recipient of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists’ Distinguished Service Award and the ASAM Educator of the Year Award, and a distinguished fellow of the APA and ASAM. In 2017, he was elected as an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association. Dr. Levounis has published fourteen books including the self-help paperback “Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister—and Not Lose Yourself,” the textbook of “Substance Dependence and CoOccurring Psychiatric Disorders,” “Motivational Interviewing for Clinical Practice,” “The Behavioral Addictions,” “Becoming Mindful,” “LGBTQ Mental Health: The Spectrum of Gender and Sexuality,” “OfficeBased Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder,” now in its second edition, and “Technological Addictions.” Dr. Levounis is currently working on the first textbook of Nature Therapy, which is going to be available in 2023. His books have been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Dr. Levounis is married to actor Lukas Hassel and lives in New York City
Joelle Lester leads the development and implementation of the Center’s programs to deliver legal expertise to support community-led policy change. Building on more than two decades of experience in public policy and law, Joelle is working to expand the Center's reach in climate change, healthy food access, and commercial tobacco control while deepening efforts to center equity and justice.
Joelle joined the Center in 2012 and has become a respected national leader in commercial tobacco control law and policy. Early in her tenure, she spearheaded the Center’s work partnering with Black-led organizations to advocate for a federal ban on menthol cigarettes. After years of advocacy by these organizations, the FDA proposed a regulation to this effect in April 2022.
In June 2022, Lester was given the Velvet Fist Award for steadfast commitment to saving Black lives, awarded by the Center for Black Health and Equity and the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in New Orleans. She has also been recognized by the International Municipal Lawyers Association with its Amicus Service Award in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to joining the Center, Lester worked as a litigation associate at the Minneapolis firm of McGrann Shea Carnival Straughn & Lamb, Chartered. Before attending law school, Lester was a grassroots organizer, organizing director, and executive director of the Oregon Student Association, a nonprofit higher education advocacy group. She also worked as a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, advocating for public K–12 education. Lester earned a B.A. in psychology and women’s studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Danielle Dick, Ph.D. is the Greg Brown Endowed Chair of Neuroscience in the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. She was recently recruited to Rutgers University to lead the university-wide Rutgers Addiction Research Center within the Brain Health Institute. The center spans basic science; epidemiology, etiology and prevention; treatment and recovery; and public policy. Dr. Dick is an internationally recognized and award-winning expert on genetic and environmental influences on substance use and mental health in youth. She has led and contributed to more than 20 grants from the National Institutes of Health, with grant funding totaling >30 million dollars. She has >400 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of child development, addiction, mental health, genetics, and human behavior, and has won numerous national and international awards for her work. She has been named one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. Her new book The Child Code, was published by Penguin Random House, and helps parents tailor their parenting to what will work best for each of their unique children.
Jud Brewer, MD, Ph.D. (“Dr. Jud”) is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large.Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University. Additionally, he is the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their health in one place, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, Dr. Jud held research and teaching positions at Yale University and the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness.
Dr. Brian King was appointed Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) in July 2022. In this position, Dr. King is responsible for assuring that CTP accomplishes its public health goals and for operationalizing the Center’s vision and mission as it implements the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
Dr. King has worked for nearly two decades to provide sound scientific evidence to inform tobacco control policy and to effectively communicate this information to key stakeholders, including decision makers, the media, and the general public. Prior to joining FDA, he served as the Deputy Director for Research Translation in CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, and more recently as the Executive Editor of CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report Series. He has authored more than 200 scientific journal articles related to tobacco prevention and control, served as Senior Associate Editor for multiple U.S. Surgeon General’s Reports on tobacco, and was lead author of CDC’s 2014 evidence-based guide, “Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs.”
Dr. King holds a Ph.D. and M.P.H. in Epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Dr. Kathleen Ethier is a social psychologist and the Director of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health in the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.She has served as a leader at CDC in adolescent health as well as other capacities since 1999. Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Ethier spent six years on the research faculty at Yale University studying HIV, STDs, and unplanned pregnancy prevention among women and adolescents. Her research has primarily focused on psychosocial, behavioral, and environmental factors related to adolescent mental and physical health. Dr. Ethier earned her PhD in social psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
