This document summarizes an upcoming public forum on the opioid crisis hosted by William James College. The forum will feature thought leaders discussing innovative harm reduction strategies, approaches to disparities in access to treatment, and prevention programs. Speakers include experts from various fields and government officials such as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The goal is to gather experts to discuss combating the public health crisis of the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts.

1. A public forum
Opioid Crisis:
Thinking Outside
the Box
Presented by William James College
A Convener of Thought Leaders
Tuesday, April 5, 2016

2. ABOUT WILLIAM
JAMES COLLEGE
William James College, founded in
1974, is the largest graduate psychology
program in New England, offering
unique training programs for mental
health professionals at the doctoral,
master’s and certificate levels from its
campus in Newton, Massachusetts. Its
graduates are highly skilled professionals
who care for diverse populations in a
variety of settings, including the schools,
the courts, the community, and the
workplace. The college is named for an
educator, innovator, and advocate who
championed diversity and promoted the
value of experiential education. Today,
William James College students carry on
the legacy of William James by applying
the lessons they learn in the classroom to
their work in the community, where they
are committed to meeting the needs of
the most vulnerable populations locally,
nationally, and internationally. For
more information about William James
College, visit www.williamjames.edu.
CONVENER OF
THOUGHT LEADERS
Opioid abuse has risen to epidemic
proportions in Massachusetts and across
the nation. There are evidence-based
interventions and new federal and state
policies aimed at ameliorating the crisis,
yet the mortality rate remains extraor-
dinarily high. This Forum will focus on
innovative harm reduction strategies,
approaches to racial and ethnic dispari-
ties in access to treatment, and state-of-
the-art prevention and early intervention
programs. After the great success of our
Gubernatorial Forum on Mental Health
in 2014, William James College looks
forward to gathering thought leaders to
discuss a critical health issue of our day.
The opioid epidemic is killing
nearly four people a day in
Massachusetts. We must use
every tool in the toolbox to
effectively combat this public
health crisis. Together, we need
to increase access to prevention,
intervention, treatment and
recovery services and end the
stigma associated with this
deadly disease.”
—Marylou Sudders, Secretary,
Executive Office of Health and
Human Services
By 2020, mental and sub-
stance use disorders will surpass
all physical diseases as a major
cause of disability worldwide.
People with a mental health is-
sue are more likely to experience
an alcohol or substance use
disorder than those not affected
by a mental illness.

3. Program
Opioid Crisis:
Thinking Outside the Box
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
1,000+
OPIOID DEATHS
In Massachusetts
in 2014.
OPENING REMARKS
David Herzog, MD
Marylou Sudders
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Carl Hart, PhD
Andrew Kolodny, MD
MODERATOR
Martha Bebinger
PANELISTS
Leonard Campanello
Jessie M. Gaeta, MD
Haner Hernández, PhD
Mary McGeown
Joanne Peterson
CLOSING REMARKS
Charles D. Baker
A. Kathryn Power, MEd
Between 2000-2013,
the rate of heroin
overdose deaths in the
U.S. quadrupled.
More Americans die
annually from drug
overdoses than in
motor vehicle crashes.

4. CHARLES D. BAKER
Governor of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
Since taking office in January, 2015,
Governor Charlie Baker has been making
Massachusetts a great place to live, work,
start a business and raise a family—while
delivering a customer-service orient-
ed state government that is as thrifty,
creative and hard working as the people
of Massachusetts. Governor Baker called
on an expert, bipartisan team to lead his
cabinet who are together fulfilling his
commitment to building stronger and
safer communities for our children and
families; keeping our roads and bridges
safe and reliable; protecting our natural
resources; and ensuring our schools and
students are successful and safe.
MARTHA BEBINGER
WBUR reporter and expert in
communications on the opioid crisis
Martha Bebinger covers health care and
other topics at WBUR, the NPR affiliate
in Boston. She has won dozens of region-
al and national awards in 17 years as a re-
porter, including the Nieman Fellowship
for Journalism at Harvard University.
Bebinger has a BA in Art and Semiotics
from Brown University and is working
on a MA in English at Boston University.
She is the mother of three adventurous
teenagers.
LEONARD CAMPANELLO
Chief of Police, Gloucester,
Massachusetts
Leonard Campanello was selected in
2012 as the Chief of Police for the City of
Gloucester. Previously, he worked for the
Saugus Police Department for 23 years,
serving as Assistant Chief of Police in
Saugus since 2009. In 2015, Chief Cam-
panello launched the Gloucester Angel
Initiative as a model to reduce addiction
in communities. Shortly thereafter, he
co-founded the Police Assisted Addiction
Recovery Initiative to support the Angel
Initiative and to assist law enforcement
Speakers
Charles D. Baker Martha Bebinger Leonard Campanello Jessie M. Gaeta Carl Hart
Haner Hernández Andrew Kolodny Mary McGeown Joanne Peterson A. Kathryn Power Marylou Sudders

5. entities that want to become part of the
solution to this epidemic. He has also
promoted “Alternative Policing” which
combines ideas from traditional policing
and community policing into a collab-
orative effort to reduce crime. Chief
Campanello holds a Masters in Criminal
Justice Administration from Boston
University.
JESSIE M. GAETA, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Boston Health Care
for the Homeless Program and Assistant
Professor of Medicine, Boston University
School of Medicine
Jessie Gaeta is the Chief Medical Officer
of Boston Health Care for the Homeless
Program, where she has practiced In-
ternal Medicine since 2002. She over-
sees the clinical practice of this unique
community health center that serves
12,500 people annually across dozens of
clinical sites including homeless shelters,
the street, and one of the first medical
respite programs in the country. Dually
board certified in Internal Medicine and
Addiction Medicine, Dr. Gaeta is current-
ly focused on interventions to mitigate
opioid overdose, including harm reduc-
tion approaches and expanded access to
medication-assisted treatment.
CARL HART, PHD
Associate Professor of Psychology in
the Departments of Psychiatry and
Psychology at Columbia University
and Director of the Residential Studies
and Methamphetamine Research
Laboratories at the New York State
Psychiatric Institute
Carl Hart, PhD is a Professor in the De-
partments of Psychology and Psychiatry
at Columbia University. He has published
nearly 100 scientific articles in the area
of neuropsychopharmacology and is
co-author of the textbook Drugs, Soci-
ety and Human Behavior (with Charles
Ksir). His most recent book, High Price:
A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discov-
ery That Challenges Everything You Know
About Drugs and Society, was the 2014
winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary
Science Writing Award. Recently, the city
of Miami issued a proclamation declaring
February 1, 2016 Dr. Carl Hart Day.
HANER HERNÁNDEZ, PHD,
CADAC II, LADC I
Brown University’s Center for
Alcohol and Addiction Studies
Haner Hernández, PhD, CADAC II,
LADC , is in long-term recovery from ad-
diction. Dr. Hernández is an Instructor at
the Brown University Center for Alcohol
and Addiction Studies and Director of
the Latino Behavioral Health Workforce
Training Program at Adcare Educational
Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts.
He is a Senior Consultant to the Massa-
chusetts Department of Public Health
Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. In
addition, Dr. Hernández serves on the
Board of Directors of the Massachusetts
Board for Voluntary Certification of Drug
and Alcohol Counselors and the Mas-
sachusetts Organization for Addiction
recovery (MOAR). He has a PhD in Public
Health from the School of Public Health
and Health Sciences at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst.
ANDREW KOLODNY, MD
Senior scientist at the Heller School
for Social Policy and Management at
Brandeis University; Chief Medical
Officer, Phoenix House Foundation;
Executive Director of Physicians for
Responsible Opioid Prescribing
Dr. Kolodny was previously the Chair
of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical
Center in New York City. He has a long
standing interest in Public Health. Prior
to his position at Maimonides, he was
the Medical Director for Special Projects
in the Office of the Executive Deputy
Commissioner for the New York City De-
partment of Health and Mental Hygiene.
For New York City, he helped develop and
implement multiple programs to improve
the health of New Yorkers and save lives,

6. including city-wide buprenorphine
programs, naloxone overdose prevention
programs and emergency room-based
screening, brief intervention and referral
to treatment (SBIRT) programs for drug
and alcohol misuse.
MARY MCGEOWN
President and CEO, Massachusetts
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children
Mary McGeown has served as President
and CEO of MSPCC since 2012. Founded
in 1878, MSPCC has a proud history of
protecting and promoting the rights and
wellbeing of children and families and
provides services to more than 20,000
children and adults. Previously, Ms.
McGeown was
MSPCC’s Vice President for Programs
and has held key leadership positions for
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
She served as Chief of Staff to the Secre-
tary of Health and Human Services, the
Deputy Commissioner and the Chief of
Staff at the Department of Youth Services
as well as the Director of Public Affairs
for the Department of Mental Health.
JOANNE PETERSON
Founder, Executive Director,
Learn to Cope Inc.
Joanne Peterson is the Founder and Exec-
utive Director of Learn to Cope (LTC),
a non-profit peer-led support network
established in 2004. Ms.
Peterson’s journey started as a young
girl with siblings experiencing issues
with mental illness and addiction. Years
later, when she discovered that her own
son’s experimentation with prescription
drugs led to an opioid addiction, she felt
empowered to create change. Ms. Peter-
son designed LTC to spread messages of
prevention, education and advocacy to
individuals and their families. Today her
son is in long-term recovery and LTC has
22 chapters throughout Massachusetts
and an additional chapter in Florida.
A. KATHRYN POWER, MED
Regional Administrator, Region One for
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA)
A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed., is the Regional
Administrator, Region One for the Sub-
stance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), an operat-
ing division of the U. S. Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS). In
that role, she represents the Administra-
tor at the regional level in fulfilling the
agency’s mission of reducing the impact
of mental illness and substance abuse on
America’s communities. She provides
authoritative advice and assistance on
behavioral health policies and innova-
tions for use in the delivery and financing
of prevention, treatment and recovery
services, develops regional perspectives
on SAMHSA initiatives, and is a visible
advocate for individuals with mental
illnesses and substance use disorders
within the federal government and across
the region.
MARYLOU SUDDERS
Secretary, Executive Office of Health and
Human Services
Appointed as Secretary of the Executive
Office of Health and Human Services
(EOHHS) by Governor Charlie Baker in
January 2015, Marylou Sudders leads the
largest executive agency in state gov-
ernment, a $21 billion state budget with
22-thousand dedicated public servants,
and oversees critical services that touch
almost one in four residents of the Com-
monwealth. Professionally trained as a
social worker, Sudders has dedicated her
life to public service and to some of our
most vulnerable citizens. She has been a
public official, provider executive, advo-
cate and college professor.

7. Co-sponsors
Planning Committee Members
Association for Behavioral Healthcare
Richard and Samantha Bendetson
John Hailer
Nancy Harris
Health Resources Services
Administration
Alissa and Steven Korn
Family Charitable Fund
Leerink Family Foundation
Massachusetts Public
Health Association
The Phil Rosenfield Family
Polar Beverages
Santander Bank
Richard Slifka
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration
US Department of He alth and
Human Services, Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Health,
Region I (New England)
The Village Bank
David Herzog, MD–Chair, Special Assistant
to the President, William James College
Dean Abby, MEd, Director of Continuing
and Community Education, William
James College
Christopher J. Bersani, PsyD, ABPP,
Deputy Regional Administrator, Health
Resources Services Administration
Vic DiGravio, MPA, President/CEO of
Association for Behavioral Healthcare
Rebekah Gewirtz, MPA, Executive Director,
Massachusetts Public Health Association
Dan Jacobs, PsyD, Faculty, William
James College
Kim Mohan, MEd, Executive Director, New
England Rural Health RoundTable
Constance Peters, MPA, Vice President
for Addiction Services, Association for
Behavioral Health
Kathryn Power, MEd, Regional
Administrator, Region One for SAMHSA
Richard Reilly, PhD, Faculty, William
James College
Gary Rose, PhD, Faculty, William
James College
Betsy F. Rosenfeld, JD, Region I (New
England), US Department of Health and
Human Services, OASH

8. One Wells Avenue
Newton, Massachusetts 02459
617.327.6777
wwww.williamjames.edu
Website: www.williamjames.edu
Phone: 617-327-6777
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Twitter: @williamjamesedu