Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences

Overview

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island in Experimental Psychology, specializing in health psychology. Over the past two decades, I have engaged in research focused on developing and evaluating innovative behavioral and pharmacologic interventions for substance use disorders.  Most recently, my program of research has focused on identifying disparities in evidence-based practice delivery and facilitating treatment access for individuals for whom treatment is not readily available. The emphasis of this work relates to improving the access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), particularly among individuals involved in the criminal justice system who have high risk of overdose death.  I am PI of a SAMHSA grant to expand access to MOUD for criminal justice-involved individuals using law enforcement and multidisciplinary team outreach. I am studying a systems-change approach for increasing use of MOUD in the community supervision setting through a NIDA-funded 5-year U01 (U01 DA050442-01).  I am the Project Director/PI of the SAMHSA-funded Opioid Response Network (ORN) for New England and Project Director/PI of the SAMHSA-funded New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center.  Combined, these two federally funded centers provide training and technical assistance support front-line addiction treatment providers.