During her tenure as the Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children Director, Ms. Piekalkiewicz has overseen the successful implementation of federal research grants, state contracts, and private foundation projects. Ms. Piekalkiewicz is an experienced expert in non-profit leadership with more than thirty years of experience in public policy, legislative and governmental affairs, and disability rights. She served as the executive director for United Partners for Human Services as well as director of an advisory council to Florida’s governor and legislature. She also consulted for numerous statewide organizations, local nonprofits, and federal agencies. She is the chair of the Florida Higher Education Substance Use Consortium.

During her tenure as the Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children Director, Ms. Piekalkiewicz has overseen the successful implementation of federal research grants, state contracts, and private foundation projects. Ms. Piekalkiewicz is an experienced expert in non-profit leadership with more than thirty years of experience in public policy, legislative and governmental affairs, and disability rights. She served as the executive director for United Partners for Human Services as well as director of an advisory council to Florida’s governor and legislature. She also consulted for numerous statewide organizations, local nonprofits, and federal agencies. She is the chair of the Florida Higher Education Substance Use Consortium.

Dr. Barbara "Basia" Andraka-Christou is an Associate Professor in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics, with a Joint Secondary Appointment in the Department of Internal Medicine, at the University of Central Florida (UCF). She is also a licensed attorney in Florida. She leads the UCF Substance Use Policy & Evaluation Research Team. Dr. Andraka-Christou also collaborates closely with the Florida State University Stoops Center for Communities, Families, & Children.

Her research explores substance use disorder treatment from health services and health policy perspectives. Much of her work focuses on problem-solving courts.

Dr. Andraka-Christou has authored more than 60 peer reviewed articles. She is the author of the book The Opioid Fix: America’s Addiction Crisis and the Solution They Don’t Want You to Have (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020). Dr. Andraka-Christou received her J.D. and Ph.D. from Indiana University and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship there.

Dr. Paul Knoll, is a Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and Florida Certified Addiction Professional. He is very well known in our community and has helped many individuals conquer their addictions to alcohol, opioids, cocaine, meth and other substances for many, many years. He currently is a Behavioral Health Specialist at HCA Florida Capital Hospital, and has been there for almost four years. Prior, he was the Director of the Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare Recovery Center, treating patients from an inpatient and outpatient basis. He routinely is a guest speaker for FSU College of Education, but also other community events such as the Senior Center. Paul has a doctorate degree in Criminology; Masters in Educational Psychology and BA in Psychology. For hobbies, he is a Do-It-Yourselfer, working on his 1978 Corvette, or home projects

Lisa Sherry is the Community Outreach Coordinator with DISC Village. She has lived and worked in the Florida Big Bend region for 52 years and has been involved in the behavioral health field for 35 years with expertise in the areas of juvenile justice and substance use disorders. She has been with DISC Village for 22 years and in her current position as the Outreach Coordinator she is directly involved in getting harm reduction strategies initiated in the Big Bend area.

Dr. Howard’s peer-reviewed publications focus on factors associated with adherence to standard of care and the use of shared decision making with pregnant women presenting with opioid use disorder. These publications emphasize the importance of decreasing stigma for perinatal women who are opioid dependent, and to utilizing interprofessional approaches involving clinicians, social workers, and health educators, focusing primarily on health disparities and public health responses to maternal substance use. She is active in the peer-recovery oriented community in South Florida, and created the trauma-informed care-learning module for the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Initiative. She also collaborated with FAU’s College of Medicine as a co-investigator and shared-decision making trainer for the SAMHSA State Opioid Response Grant Curriculum Development and Implementation Project. Her current research explores supporting the mother-infant dyad, increasing recovery capital for those impacted by substance use, and the intersection of infant removal on recovery.

Perry is a certified chemical dependency counselor from Columbus, Ohio. Formerly incarcerated, and a survivor of daily opioid use, he used his lived experience to co-found This Must Be the Place, an arts-based recovery nonprofit fighting the opioid crisis. Since 2022, they have distributed over 47,000 kits of free naloxone at music festivals across the country.

This Must Be The Place: This Must Be the Place is a charity organization based in Columbus, Ohio that travels to large scale music events nation-wide and brings harm reduction tools and education to infrequent and recreational drug users, as well as bystanders willing to step in and save a life. They specialize in serving folks who have had limited access and societal barriers to live-saving overdose prevention tools like naloxone. This Must Be The Place merges the worlds of the music, arts, entertainment, and harm reduction, sprinkles in some evidence based practice, and brings overdose prevention tools and education to a whole new demographic.

 Ingela is an Emmy Award-winning producer. After working in news and short documentaries for CNN, MTV News Canada, and Huffington Post, Ingela began feeling a pull towards wanting a career that allowed her to better help those who have been traditionally left out. After co-founding the arts-based recovery nonprofit This Must Be The Place in January of 2022, Ingela uses the skills acquired through her many years of producing to help bridge the world of music and harm reduction. 

This Must Be The Place: This Must Be the Place is a charity organization based in Columbus, Ohio that travels to large scale music events nation-wide and brings harm reduction tools and education to infrequent and recreational drug users, as well as bystanders willing to step in and save a life. They specialize in serving folks who have had limited access and societal barriers to live-saving overdose prevention tools like naloxone. This Must Be The Place merges the worlds of the music, arts, entertainment, and harm reduction, sprinkles in some evidence based practice, and brings overdose prevention tools and education to a whole new demographic.

Sam Brown is a Survey Statistician with the Office of Population Surveys (OPS) in the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ) at SAMHSA. She earned a master’s degree in Public Health from George Washington University in 2018, and has several years of experience working with public health research and information dissemination. Sam currently supports CBHSQ’s management of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), including its work producing and disseminating important behavioral health information at national, regional, and state levels.

Presentation Title: Key Substance Use and Mental Health Measures in HHS Region 4: Results from the 2021-2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health

Dr. Macarena García is a Senior Health Scientist on detail to the Office of Rural Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Prior to her detail, Dr. García was on an extended detail for 18 months at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH). She was recruited as the Principal Investigator on several national studies on preventable health among women of color in rural America. Before being recruited by OASH, Dr. García served as the CDC Country Director for the Dominican Republic from 2020-2022. She previously served in the Office of the Director in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services at the CDC Headquarters in Atlanta for five years. She is one of CDC's senior health scientists working across the agency, with other federal partners, and public and private healthcare entities to explore how multiple data sources can be accessed, integrated, and analyzed to answer high-priority public health questions. Dr. García has worked in global health and international development for over 15 years, serving in technical and leadership roles for NGOs, multi-lateral agencies (UNDP), USAID, and CDC. Dr. García has co-chaired the agency's data preparedness work group since 2017 and has served as the Lead Epidemiologist for Zika emergency response missions to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Colombia in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Dr. García also served in the senior role of Chief Data Scientist in the CDC Lung Injury Emergency Response in 2019 and has served in the same capacity in the CDC COVID-19 Response in 2020. She has also served as principal investigator and lead subject matter expert for CDC’s Rural Health initiative, launched in late 2016.

Dr. García has managed teams of senior public health technical advisors across sub-Saharan Africa – Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Lesotho – and worked in numerous other countries, including Australia, Denmark, Spain, and Vietnam. Dr. García is a trained health scientist with advanced skills in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and extensive experience in data utilization, visualization, and translating research findings for programmatic and policymaking purposes. Dr. García has supported the conceptualization, development, implementation, and management of numerous multimillion-dollar U.S.-funded HIV programs in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, most recently serving as the CDC Country Director in the Dominican Republic.

Dr. García is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, teaching courses at the doctoral level. Dr. García has an impressive publication record, with over twenty pieces of research published in international health journals. She is a peer reviewer for high-impact global health and interdisciplinary publications.

Dr. García earned a Doctor of Public Health degree from Flinders University in Australia, a Master of International Studies degree from the University of Sydney, a Master of Professional Studies Degree in Data Analytics and Visualization from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from the California State Polytechnic University.

Sean Wyman has undergone a remarkable transition from a career as an Airborne Ranger Light Infantryman for 8 years to dedicating 24 years to law enforcement with the Tallahassee Police Department, showcasing an unwavering commitment to public service. His service in the Tallahassee Emergency Assessment Mobile Unit, particularly in addressing mental health and substance abuse issues, reflects a profound dedication to the well-being of the community.

In addition to his law enforcement career, Sean Wyman is a two-time best-selling author and speaker, adding another dimension to his list of accomplishments. His recognition as the recipient of the Back the Blue Award from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in 2020 serves as a testament to his efforts in addressing the social and emotional challenges that law enforcement officers face daily. Sean Wyman's multifaceted career exemplifies a strong sense of duty and a commitment to making a positive impact on both individuals and the community at large.

Humberto Carvalho, MPH - Humberto Carvalho is a Public Health Advisor under the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory (Policy Lab) from SAMHSA, with more than 25 years of experience in the public health field. He has worked domestically and internationally in several projects funded by the US government. Humberto holds a Master’s in Public Health with concentration in Epidemiology from UNC Chapel Hill and he has been with SAMHSA for over 11 years. He also serves as the Grant Project Officer for the Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Reginal Centers (ROTA-R) Program.

Machelle Madsen Thompson is a research and teaching faculty member at Florida State University with expertise in trauma, resilience, and child welfare. She is a Licensed Clinical Social worker and Qualified Supervisor for CSW and MFT. She has 12 years of non-accidental trauma intervention experience at Primary Childrens Hospital affiliated with the University of Utah serving the intermountain region. She earned her Ph.D. from FSU from the College of Social Work with an Educational Psychology Statistics & Measurement certification. She became a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in 2018, collaborating with faculty at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and medical & social work professionals at Shanghai Children's Medical Center. Dr. Madsen Thompson runs trauma resilience intervention, measurement, and outcome research with underserved communities and individuals. She presents nationally and internationally on resilience implementation following severe childhood trauma. She is a lifetime member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and a board member of the international Academy of Violence and Abuse.

Savannah Collier joined the Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children in 2019 to assist with providing mental and behavioral health services for children and families impacted by Hurricane Michael in the Panhandle. She received her master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Florida State University in the summer of 2019. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with expertise in trauma, resilience, and protective factor implementation. As Assistant Director, she oversees the ROTA-RC project, the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) project, a Florida Institute for Child Welfare project on the Intersection of Substance Use, Child Welfare, and Family Preservation, and multiple National Science Foundation disaster recovery and resilience projects. She assisted in developing the curriculums within Rebound & Recovery for upper elementary, middle, and high school-aged youth.

Jody McIntosh, MPH is a dynamic public health leader with an extensive history working with underserved and stigmatized populations. As the Director of Community Engagement for the National Stigma Initiative at Shatterproof, she provides oversight and strategic execution of statewide community engagement efforts in Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Oneida County (NY) and Pennsylvania; to amplify campaign messaging and ultimately, generate measurable shifts in addiction stigma reduction.

Prior to joining Shatterproof, Jody served as a FUSE Executive Fellow within Travis County Health and Human Services. In this role, Jody focused on equitable COVID-19 vaccine delivery concentrating on black and brown residents. She partnered with other FUSE Executive Fellows, community members, activists, faith-based and non-profit leaders to develop and implement several culturally appropriate programs.

Jody is a Jersey girl currently residing outside of Austin, TX. She has a Masters in Public Health from Drexel University and completed her undergraduate studies in Public Health at Rutgers University. She serves on the board of the George & Enid Brooks Foundation and Walking By Faith Prison Ministry. She is also a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Impact Austin, and relishes her "cool auntie" title. 

Blake Fagan is a family physician and the Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorder Initiatives, at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, and a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventative Medicine, Board-Certified in Addiction Medicine. He trains healthcare providers and medical residency programs across the state in medication for opioid use disorder treatment, safe pain management, and safe opioid prescribing practices.

His undergraduate education was at the University of Missouri–Columbia, medical school at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the family medicine residency at MAHEC in Asheville. In 2019, he served as the clinical consultant for the opioid crisis at the CDC Foundation in North Carolina.

Carriedelle Wilson Fusco, RN, MSN, FNP-BC, holds a Master’s in Nursing from Vanderbilt University and is board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Carriedelle is a Faculty provider at the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency program in Asheville where she has worked since 2012. There she works with an interdisciplinary team to care for patients with chronic pain on chronic opioid therapy and patients struggling with opioid addiction and other substance use disorders. She also teaches medical, nursing, and pharmacy students; medical residents; other learners; and community providers in the management of chronic pain and substance use disorders. Carriedelle is the Co-Medical Director for OBOT Services at MAHEC Family Medicine and is Faculty for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship.

Zach White, LSCW, LCAS, CCS has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist since 2010. He is currently serving as the Program Manager for Office-Based Opioid Treatment at MAHEC Family Medicine in Asheville.

Nicole Dempsey is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the Department of Veteran Affairs with North Florida South Georgia. Her role is a Community Engagement and Partnership Coordinator with the VA’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Nicole attended Florida State University as an undergraduate student and received a Bachelors in Psychology. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with her Masters in Social Work in 2011. Since graduation, Nicole has worked in a variety of different settings and populations, including homeless prevention programs, private practice, substance abuse treatment, and community in -home services. Her current role allows her the opportunity to work directly with the communities to implement up-stream approaches to address the issue of suicide. She lives in Bainbridge, GA with her family of six, which includes her dog, Buddy.

Kristen earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She later served as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. During her professorship at Cal Poly, she taught Organic Chemistry, Neurochemistry, and the Chemistry of Drugs and Poisons.  After Kristen’s son was diagnosed with cannabis-induced schizophrenia at the age of 17, Kristen joined the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery at Vanderbilt University (2018) to research new treatments for schizophrenia.  Kristen delivered a TEDx presentation titled Rewiring Revolution: Neuroplasticity’s Impact on Wellbeing in 2018, as well. Tragically, Kristen lost her son to an accidental overdose in 2019 after his mental health severely declined and he became addicted to opioids and stimulants. Kristen then changed the trajectory of her life to utilize her scientific teaching, presentation, and research skills to educate adolescent-aged children, young adults, and their parents on mental health challenges and how it can lead to substance use and/or substance use disorder. As the Director of Outreach and Advocacy Programs for the Warren Center, Kristen presents to middle schools, high schools, community centers, and recovery programs across Middle Tennessee. In addition, she has developed an award-winning educational documentary aimed for adolescent-aged children titled Speaking Through Me which was released in August of 2023. The documentary and Kristen’s presentations focus on the developing teenage brain and neuroplasticity, the structural and functional changes that occur in the brain when under repeated stress and anxiety, the impacts of cannabis on the adolescent brain, the neurobiology of addiction, and the dangers and prevalence of fentanyl. Lastly, the documentary and presentations also include mindful methods to address everyday stressors or adversity along with teaching self-compassion techniques to wire healthy connections in the developing adolescent brain.

Presentation title: A Cinematic Approach to Youth Primary Prevention: An Educational Documentary Created to Educate Adolescents about their Developing Brain and the Impact Substance Use and Stress can have on that Development

Adie Rae Wilson-Poe received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). She studied the interaction between drug abuse and chronic pain during her post-doctoral training at Columbia University. She has committed her career to enhance the medical and personal benefits of cannabis while minimizing its risks.

Savannah Collier joined the Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children in 2019 to assist with providing mental and behavioral health services for children and families impacted by Hurricane Michael in the Panhandle. She received her master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Florida State University in the summer of 2019. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with expertise in trauma, resilience, and protective factor implementation. As Assistant Director, she oversees the ROTA-RC project, the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) project, a Florida Institute for Child Welfare project on the Intersection of Substance Use, Child Welfare, and Family Preservation, and multiple National Science Foundation disaster recovery and resilience projects. She assisted in developing the curriculums within Rebound & Recovery for upper elementary, middle, and high school-aged youth.