Day 3: 2021 Virtual National Forum on Overdose Fatality Review

Moderator: Erin Russell, M.P.H.

Chief, Center for Harm Reduction Services
Maryland Department of Health

Ms. Erin Russell serves as the Chief of the Center for Harm Reduction Services at the Maryland Department of Health.  The center envisions a Maryland where health and social service systems meet the needs of people who use drugs in a comprehensive, community-based manner.  Her portfolio includes coordination of statewide naloxone distribution, syringe service programs, a harm reduction grant program, and local capacity building initiatives.  She has been at the forefront of integrating harm reduction into larger behavioral health, opioid response, and infectious disease prevention programming in the department.  Ms. Russell obtained a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and is currently pursuing a doctorate in public health with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow.

Additional Biography Information:  www.linkedin.com/in/erin-russell-850b022b

Kacy Robinson, M.S.

Utah Department of Health/Bureau of Health Promotion/Violence and Injury Prevention Program

Ms. Kacy Robinson coordinates the state fatality review committees.  She coordinates the Opioid Fatality Review Committee, the Child Fatality Review Committee, the Sudden Death in the Young Advanced Clinical Review Team, and the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee.  As coordinator, Ms. Robinson is responsible for identifying cases for review; performing all research and record collection for review; meeting facilitation and collection of recommendations, which identify service gaps and populations vulnerable to violence/injury; and promote health and well-being for all Utahns.

Additional Biography Information:  http://health.utah.gov/vipp/

Lauren Savitskas, M.P.H.

Indiana Department of Health

Ms. Lauren Savitskas has served as the Suicide/Overdose Fatality Review Program Manager for the state of Indiana since 2018. This program was selected as a peer-to-peer technical assistance site by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a mentor site for the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and is a BJA pilot site for data entry.  Ms. Savitskas also chairs the Suicide Learning Collaborative and the Pediatric Suicide Child Fatality Review Team.  She received her master’s of public health with a concentration in social and behavioral sciences from the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.  Her bachelor’s degree is in journalism from Indiana University.

Stephanie Noblit, Esq., MLS(ASCP)CM

Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association

Ms. Stephanie Noblit is a legislative attorney at the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association.  In this position, she conducts legislative and legal research on a variety of topics within the areas of public health, public safety, and criminal justice.

Additional Biography Information:  https://legislativeanalysis.org/

Moderator: Mallory O’Brien, M.S., Ph.D.

Consultant, IPA
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Mallory O’Brien is trained as an epidemiologist and is currently serving as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the overdose fatality review subject-matter expert.  She has extensive experience developing, leading, and training on incident reviews.  Dr. O’Brien developed and piloted the Wisconsin overdose fatality review process and data collection tool.  During her time with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program/Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program, she led the overdose fatality review efforts.

Additional Biography Information:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallory-o-brien-26701a10/

Jonathan Woodruff, Esquire

Senior Legislative Attorney
Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association

Mr. Jonathan Woodruff has considerable experience analyzing state and federal criminal justice and health care issues involving, among other things, the sharing of protected health information.  Mr. Woodruff received a bachelor of arts degree in physics from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Additional Biography Information:  https://legislativeanalysis.org/team/

Lisa Bullard-Cawthorne, M.P.H.

Overdose Data to Action Program Planning and Partnership Coordinator
Wisconsin Division of Public Health

Ms. Lisa Bullard-Cawthorne has more than 35 years’ experience in health promotion and disease and injury prevention, with a focus on program planning, implementation and evaluation, community health assessment, and data analysis.  Previously, she worked in England for ten years in a disease prevention capacity.  In addition, she served for 20 years at Public Health Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin, where she spent much of her time focused on injury prevention, including drug harm prevention and several types of fatality reviews.  Currently, Ms. Bullard-Cawthorne is the Program Planning and Partnership Coordinator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drug overdose grants (Prescription Drug Overdose:  Prevention for States and Overdose Data to Action) at the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  She earned a master’s of public health in community health/epidemiology.

Carina Havenstrite, B.S.

Program Manager
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office

Ms. Carina Havenstrite currently serves as the Program Manager of the Overdose Fatality Review Team at the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney’s Office.  She and her husband also own a working alpaca farm, where they live with their children.

Assistant Chief Theresa C. Tobin

Behavioral Health Division, New York Police Department

Assistant Chief Theresa C. Tobin, also Commanding Officer of the Behavioral Health Division of the New York Police Department (NYPD), joined the NYPD in 1983 and began her career on patrol in South Jamaica, Queens.  She was promoted through the ranks to her current title of Assistant Chief.  As Commanding Officer of the Behavioral Health Division, Assistant Chief Tobin and her colleagues work with components of the criminal justice system, other government agencies in health care, mental health advocates, and community members.  Assistant Chief Tobin earned a Ph.D. and a master of arts degree in criminal justice; a master’s degree in social work; and a bachelor of science degree in sociology/social work.  She has been a New York State certified social worker since 1985.  Assistant Chief Tobin is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Academy; the Police Management Institute; and Harvard University’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program.

Moderator: Paige Presler-Jur

Research Public Policy Analyst
RTI International

Ms. Paige Presler-Jur is a research public policy analyst for RTI International’s Applied Justice Research (AJR) division.  Her research interests include health, social, and justice issues with projects focused on understanding the challenges and barriers that communities encounter while trying to solve problems in criminal justice and public health contexts.  Her present work is focused on building bridges across disciplines to provide improved services and support to victims of sexual assault and to facilitate effective responses to illicit substance use in order to improve access to treatment and recovery services.  The key to this work is developing training and technical assistance (TTA) that will address the unique challenges that jurisdictions face on many criminal justice and public health issues nationwide.  Ms. Presler-Jur serves as part of the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) TTA Team and as the TTA Coordinator for the RTI Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) TTA Team to provide a tailored and consistent response to both SAKI and COSSAP grantee needs.  Ms. Presler-Jur has more than 15 years of laboratory experience.  Before joining AJR, she was a research environmental scientist in the Center for Analytical Sciences.  In this role, she built and worked with diverse agencies for research projects that included air and water quality analysis to understand environmental exposures of underserved populations.  In both roles—public policy analyst and research scientist—she facilitates multidisciplinary teams with diverse operational skills, viewpoints, and professional lexicons to solve complex problems.

Moderator: Kristin Stainbrook, Ph.D.

Senior Research Associate
Institute for Intergovernmental Research

Dr. Kristin Stainbrook is a senior research associate for national policy engagement sharing initiatives at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research.  Currently, Dr. Stainbrook serves as Program Manager for the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program Statewide Expansion and Response project and the Partnerships to Support Data-Driven Responses to Emerging Drug Threats demonstration projects.