John P. McGovern Award for Excellence in Medical Education
Gail D’Onofrio, MD, MS
Gail D’Onofrio, MD, MS is the Albert E. Kent Professor of Emergency Medicine and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. She has extensive experience as a leader, researcher, mentor, and educator, internationally known for her work in substance use disorders. As a physician-scientist she has had continual NIH-funding for over two decades, designing and conducting clinical trials that have changed clinical practice. In addition, she was one of the founding members of the Board of Addiction Medicine, that became recognized as a ABMS approved subspecialty in 2016, sponsored by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Dr. D’Onofrio is the MPI of the New England Consortium Node for the NIDA Clinical Trials Network and is the PI of a NIDA-funded K12 training program. She is committed to preparing young faculty to become independent investigators advancing the science of Emergency and Addiction Medicine.
Betty Ford Award
Sean Esteban McCabe, PhD
Dr. Sean Esteban McCabe is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of epidemiology of substance use disorder, prescription medication use, sexuality, and survey methodology. He has clinical experience treating adolescents, young adults, and adults with substance use disorders. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health (DASH Center) at the University of Michigan (U-M) in the School of Nursing. Additionally, Dr. McCabe holds U-M appointments as Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences at the School of Nursing and Research Professor at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and Institute for Social Research, among others. He is a faculty mentor on five NIH-funded training grants focusing on substance use research and enjoys mentoring the next generation of substance use scholars.
Dr. McCabe has been the Principal Investigator of 14 FDA- or NIH-funded grants and authored over 275 peer-reviewed articles, many on alcohol and other drug use during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. His research continues to influence clinical practice and shape federal policy as reflected in the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids and the FDA Drug Safety Communication to improve safe use of prescription stimulants for ADHD. He disseminates research findings widely such as the Lancet Psychiatry podcast and appearing live on CNN. One of his current projects, HopeHQ™, unites a multidisciplinary team from the DASH Center, Wayne State University, and over 30 community, academic, and health care partners to develop an evidence-based bereavement program for children and their families who have experienced a parental drug overdose death. Dr. McCabe is committed to expanding the field to reach populations who are underrepresented in addiction research including women, sexual minorities, and children impacted by addiction and overdose.
W. Anderson Spickard, Jr. Excellence in Mentorship Award
Phillip O. Coffin, MD, MIA, FACP, FIDSA
Dr. Coffin is a board-certified and practicing internist, infectious disease specialist, and addiction medicine specialist. He attended or trained at Brown University, Columbia University, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Washington. He directs the Center on Substance Use and Health at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where he oversees clinical trials assessing medications for substance use disorders and interventions addressing the toxicities of substance use and prevention or treatment of related infectious diseases. Dr. Coffin is a committed mentor to junior faculty and trainees at the University of California San Francisco, where he holds a faculty appointment, and other institutions.
New Investigator Award
Leslie W. Suen, MD, MAS
Dr. Leslie W. Suen, MD, MAS (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where she works as a primary care and addiction medicine physician and health services/policy researcher. She completed medical school, Primary Care Internal Medicine (UCPC) residency training, and the National Clinician Scholars Program research fellowship at UCSF. Before medical school, she worked at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Tom Waddell Urban Health Center, where she helped develop quality improvement programs to improve care for patients experiencing homelessness. Her research focuses on using mixed methods research and implementation science to improve health systems, policies, and outcomes for people who use drugs.
David C. Lewis, MD Service to AMERSA Award
Patrick O’Connor, MD, MPH
Dr. O’Connor is the Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and Chief of General Internal Medicine (GIM) at Yale University School of Medicine. In this role, he has recruited many leading physician scientists and clinician educators to Yale and has built a nationally recognized research program which focuses on critical topics in health outcomes and health services research including addiction medicine.
Dr. O’Connor’s own research has focused on the interface between general medical care and addiction medicine. He has written over 200 scientific papers on these topics and his work has been published in leading medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA. Among these publications is the first randomized trial of buprenorphine for treating opioid use disorder in primary care. He also served as an author on the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health in 2016 and has collaborated with federal agencies such as the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). He is Co-PI on two NIDA-funded career development programs: The Yale Drug use, Addiction, and HIV Research Scholars (DAHRS), and The Research in Addiction Medicine Scholars (RAMS).
Dr. O’Connor is Past-President of the Association for Multidisciplinary Research and Education in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) and of the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). He is also a member of the Addiction Medicine Examination Committee for the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He has been honored previously by AMERSA with the Excellence in Mentorship Award (2005) and McGovern Award (2017). He was also recognized by the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) with his receipt of the 1 st annual Chief’s Recognition Award (2007) and the Robert J. Glaser Award (2019). He was elected to Mastership in the American College of Physicians in 2000 and he currently serves as the Chair of the Board of the National Clinician Scholars Program.
Marianne Marcus Nursing Award
Sarah A. Stoddard, PhD, RN, CNP, FSAHM, FAAN
Dr. Sarah Stoddard is an Associate Professor of Nursing and Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Stoddard is recognized nationally for her leadership in adolescent health and her interdisciplinary research to prevent substance use and violence among vulnerable populations of youth. Her research aims to improve our understanding of youth development within adverse contexts, particularly the interaction of individual and environmental influences (e.g., school, neighborhood) on youth outcomes including, and to guide school and community prevention efforts focused on substance use and youth violence. Through research, leadership in community-based partnerships, and linkages with schools, she has advanced the frontier of substance use prevention through interventions that enhance future expectations and school connectedness among vulnerable youth. Her research has significantly broadened the knowledge base and importance of future expectations as a key internal asset for the preventing substance use and violence.
Workshop Winners
2023 Best Workshop Award (awarded to a workshop presented at the 2023 conference)
Each year, AMERSA’s annual conference is enriched by our colleagues who share their work and expertise through workshop presentations. Workshops are designed to be longer than a didactic or research abstract presentation, specifically so that presenters can innovate with teaching methods, and participants have the opportunity to develop and practice new skills to utilize in their workplaces. We feel very fortunate to have so many people each year willing to invest their time and energy in bringing workshop presentations to the program!
The “Best Workshop” award is determined each year based on participant reviews. Congratulations to the winners of AMERSA’s 2023 Best Workshop award:
“I’m So Glad You’re Here:” Harm Reduction Wound Care for Xylazine and Injection-Related Wounds in Low Barrier and Street Based Settings
Raagini Jawa, MD, MPH, FASAM
Raagini Jawa is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator at the Center for Research on Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh who studies harm reduction implementation in health settings. Clinically she is an Infectious Disease, and Addiction Medicine physician and a wound care provider at Prevention Point Pittsburgh.
Rebecca A. Hosey, MSN, MPH, CRNP
Rebecca A. Hosey is a nurse and public health professional from Philadelphia, PA. She recently graduated as a fellow of the inaugural cohort of the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, while working as a nurse researcher in a mobile MOUD clinic, an abortion clinic nurse, and a wound care nurse with Prevention Point Philadelphia. Much of her recent work involves teaching others (patients and professionals) about xylazine associated wounds, as well as harm-reduction based methods to care for people who use drugs. She recently began a new role with Delaware Valley Community Health in Philadelphia working as a Family Nurse Practitioner providing primary care as well as expanding their wound care offerings and supporting the expansion of their MOUD clinic.
Rachel McFadden, MPH, BSN, BA
Rachel McFadden is a nurse in a community-based harm reduction wound care clinic and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Department. As a Bloomberg Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, her work centers on reducing stigma, strengthening the hospital’s capacity to respond to the substance use crisis through the integration of harm reduction, and bridging hospital services to community-based and public health efforts.
Ashish P Thakrar, MD, MS
Ashish Thakrar is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. He is an internist and an addiction medicine specialist. Dr. Thakrar’s research focuses on expanding and adapting evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder in the era of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. He works clinically as a hospital-based addiction consult physician and as an outpatient primary care and addiction treatment physician
Rachel Neuschatz, MSN, RN, CWCN
Rachel Neuschatz is the Harm Reduction Wound Care Field Nurse for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction. They bring experience working in community clinic, hospital, home, and street-based settings to this role, created to respond to the current increase in substance use associated wounds. In addition to providing direct care in the community, they offer harm reduction wound care training and education, and are involved in efforts to strengthen collaboration amongst those providing care for people with wounds in varied settings.
Stephanie Klipp, RN, CARN, CAAP
Stephanie Klipp is a registered nurse with addiction training. She works in community health nursing delivering overdose prevention and street-based wound care. She is guided by her lived experience and remains passionate about meeting patients where they are (literally and figuratively) with compassion and non-judgement. She uses her outreach efforts as a way to improve patients experiences with health care workers and the healthcare system.
Abstract Award Winners
Best Research Abstract Award
Teresa López-Castro, PhD
Teresa López-Castro is a licensed clinical psychologist, Associate Professor in the Psychology Department of The City College of New York (CCNY) and faculty member of the Health Psychology and Clinical Science Doctoral Program at The City University of New York’s Graduate Center. Her research focuses on the substantial overlap between substance use and mental health problems, particularly trauma-related disorders, and the development and dissemination of holistic, evidence-based models of health care for people who use drugs. In partnership with harm reduction organizations, Dr. López-Castro is currently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to expand the health services offered at syringe services programs to include evidence-based PTSD care (R61DA059032; MPIs: Lopez-Castro & Fox).
Best Research Abstract Award – Runner Up
Sharon Reif, PhD
Sharon Reif, PhD, is a Professor at the Institute for Behavioral Health, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Dr. Reif is a health services researcher focused on the substance use treatment system, including medications for treating addiction; systems approaches to improve treatment; access to and quality of care, and outcomes; policies; the intersection of substance use disorders with other disabilities; and recovery from addiction. She co-directs the NIDA-funded Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center on SUD Systems Performance Improvement Research and Engagement.
The John Nelson Chappel Best Curriculum, Quality Improvement and Program Abstract Award
Susan L. Calcaterra, MD, MPH, MS
Susan Calcaterra, MD, MPH, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Colorado. She is the Director of the Addiction Consultation Service at University of Colorado Hospital. Clinically, she practices hospital medicine and addiction medicine. Her research focus includes understanding, developing, and implementing interventions aimed to expand hospital-based addiction treatment by empowering hospitalists to provide this life saving care and improving care linkage from the hospital to community addiction treatment resources. Her research involves the voices of people with lived/living experience with addiction – their experiences inform how substance use treatment is offered, and provided, in the hospital setting.
Yevgeniya (Jenny) Scherbak, PharmD, BCPS
Yevgeniya (Jenny) Scherbak, PharmD, BCPS, is a clinical pharmacy specialist in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. She is passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals. Her professional focuses include addiction medicine and infectious disease. She supports the addiction medicine service line for UCH hospital and the UCHealth system in a variety of process improvement projects to improve patient access to evidence-based care in the hospital and transitions of care.
The John Nelson Chappel Best Curriculum, Quality Improvement and Program Abstract Award – Runner Up
David O. Fakunle, PhD
David Fakunle, PhD is a “mercenary for change,” utilizing skills and occupying spaces to help anyone divested from their truest self, particularly those who are Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color. David serves as Assistant Professor at the Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy and holds faculty positions at the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. David’s interests include stressors within the built environment, manifestations of systemic oppression, and the utilization of arts and culture to cultivate holistic health through humanity, justice, equity and ultimately, liberation.