Faculty Affiliate Members

Dr. Almirall is a statistician and intervention scientist who develops methods to form evidence-based adaptive interventions, including just-in-time adaptive interventions. Adaptive interventions are used to guide individualized intervention decisions for the on-going management of chronic illnesses or disorders such as drug abuse, depression, anxiety, autism, obesity, or HIV/AIDS. More recently, Danny has been developing methods to inform the construction of optimized multilevel adaptive implementation strategies (MAISYs) using a variety of trial designs, including Multilevel Implementation, Sequential, Multiple-Assignment, Randomized Trials (MI-SMARTs).

Dr. Jess Anand, PhD is Research Faculty in the department of Pharmacology. As a medicinal
chemist, Dr. Anand’s research focuses on exploring the structure-activity relationships of opioids
to elucidate the interactions between opioid receptors and their ligands. This knowledge is then
applied to rationally design novel molecules for therapeutic use such as opioid overdose
reversal agents, medication assisted therapies, and potential analgesics with limited abuse
liability.

Sawsan As-Sanie, MD MPH is the Ferguson Endowed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Co-Chief of Gynecology, Director of the Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery Program, and Director of the Endometriosis and Chronic Pelvic Pain Program at the University of Michigan. Dr. As-Sanie is an NIH-funded clinician scientist committed to improving the healthcare of women with chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis. Her research focuses on the epidemiology, neurobiology, and mechanism-based treatment of endometriosis and other pelvic pain disorders, including evidence-based strategies to improve pain, function, and reduce opioid use. She is an elected member of the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society (AGOS) and the Society for Gynecologic Surgeons (SGS) and is a Past-President of the International Pelvic Pain Society (IPPS). She is currently a board member of the World Endometriosis Society (WES), Past Chair of the ASRM Endometriosis Special Interest Group, and member of the Society of Women’s Health Research Network on Female Pelvic Health.

Dr. Becker received a M.A. in Human Development from the University of Kansas and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After doing a post-doc at University of Michigan with Terry E. Robinson, she joined the UM faculty in 1987. Dr. Becker is the Patricia Y. Gurin Collegiate Professor of Psychology, Research Professor in Psychiatry and the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, and is a Senior Neuroscience Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Becker is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biology of Sex Differences and the author of over 160 articles or chapters and has had numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Becker’s research of the last 30 years investigates the developmental and neural mechanisms underlying sex differences in release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, and how this is important for motivated behaviors in the laboratory rat. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan, the Bernice Grafstein Award for Mentoring from the Society for Neuroscience and the Health Education Visionary Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research.

Mark C. Bicket, MD, PhD, is the Co-Director of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (OPEN) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Dr. Bicket has served on committees for the National Academy of Medicine, state public health agencies, and numerous professional organizations. He holds board certifications in anesthesiology and pain medicine and received an M.D. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University. His research spans clinical trials, health services, and policy analysis related to opioid prescribing, opioid alternatives, and risky opioid use.

Dr. Birdsong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Birdsong’s research is focused on understanding the cellular and circuit-level adaptations that drive the development of tolerance to opioids. The Birdsong Lab uses electrophysiology, pharmacology, optogenetics and imaging to study how and where opioids act in brain circuits important for pain and reward. Our aim is to understand how chronic pain and chronic opioid use drive adaptations in brain circuit function with the goal of preventing or reversing these adaptations and improve strategies for treating pain and substance use disorders.

Kevin Boehnke is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center. Kevin received his doctorate from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences in 2017. He is also a yoga instructor. His current research focuses on therapeutic applications of cannabis and psychedelics. His goal is to rigorously assess appropriate use of these substances and to help address the public health harms caused by their criminalization.

Dr. Bohnert is a Professor at the University of Michigan in the Departments of Anesthesiology (primary), Psychiatry, and Epidemiology and co-director of the Opioid Research Institute. She is also co-director of the Michigan Opioid Collaborative within the Michigan Overdose Prevention Engagement Network (OPEN), which seeks to improve access and quality of treatment for opioid use disorders throughout Michigan through community outreach and clinician education. Dr. Bohnert focuses her research on epidemiology and brief interventions regarding chronic pain, opioid misuse, overdose, substance use and related disorders. Learn more about Dr. Bohnert

Carol J. Boyd  is the Deborah J Oakley Emerita Professor of Nursing, Emerita Professor of Women’s Studies and an Emerita Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor. Dr. Boyd is an internationally recognized substance abuse scholar and the and founding director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the University of Michigan. She was the Director of the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center from 1995-2004 and the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women & Gender from 2005-2011. Dr. Boyd has a long-standing interest in substance use, dating back to the late 1970’s. She has been the principal investigator on extramural research with racial/ethnic minority heroin users and crack smokers (1989-1995, NIH), women cigarette smokers (1997-2000, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), prisoners (1999-2004, Michigan Department of Corrections and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), adolescents and college students (2003-2022, NIH), and sexual minorities (2007-2021, NIH). In 1999, she was the first researcher as a principal investigator to develop a web-based survey, Student Life Survey (SLS), examining alcohol, tobacco and prescription drug abuse, this work led to five NIH funded studies from school-based samples. Most recently, Dr. Boyd was principal investigator of an NIH study of e-cigarette use among adolescents and another NIH study to examine substance use disorders among sexual minorities. Dr. Boyd publishes extensively in health and interdisciplinary journals including in Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Addictive Diseases, Journal of Adolescent Health, Pediatrics, and Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine.

Dr. Brummett is the Bert N LaDu Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Opioid Research Institute. Dr. Brummett is also the Co-Director of the Opioid Prevention Engagement Network (OPEN) at the University of Michigan, which aims to apply a preventative approach to the opioid epidemic in the US through appropriate prescribing after surgery, dentistry, and emergency medicine. Dr. Brummett’s research interests include predictors of acute and chronic post-surgical pain and failure to derive benefit for interventions for interventions and surgeries primarily performed to treat pain. Dr. Brummett is specifically interested in the impact of a fibromyalgia-like or nociplastic pain phenotype on outcomes. Learn more about Dr. Brummett

I am a Professor of Neurology who is interested in neuropathy and headache. I was the lead facilitator of the American Academy of Neurology guidelines for the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy, which recommended against opioids in this population. One of my goals is to increasing the evidence for the treatment of neuropathic pain with the goal of reducing opioid use. I am also studying ways to better understand problematic opioid use patterns and predict which patients are likely to have adverse events from opioids.

Dr. Kao-Ping Chua is a primary care pediatrician and health policy researcher in the Department of Pediatrics and the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center at the University of Michigan Medical School. After completing his pediatrics residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, he obtained a Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University with a concentration in evaluative sciences and statistics. Dr. Chua’s research focuses on improving the quality of opioid prescribing and on evaluating the effects of policies on this prescribing. He has published several key studies on pediatric opioid prescribing, including a study describing the prevalence, prescribers, and safety of opioid prescriptions to children and young adults, as well as a national study identifying opioid prescribing patterns associated with opioid overdose among adolescents and young adults. He is funded by multiple R01 grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Chua also serves as the Institute’s Research and Data Domain co-director.

Dr. Cooper practices in the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Michigan Medicine where she cares for children with common head and neck problems who often require surgical intervention. Many of these children and their families face surgery without a clear understanding of what their recovery might involve in terms of pain or how to address their pain outside of an opioid prescription. Her work with the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (OPEN) stems from her desire to prepare kids and their families for their postoperative course in a better and safer way, by offering education on methods to control post-operative pain including over-the counter medications and non-medication strategies, explanation of the risks of opioids, and safe storage and disposal options. Dr. Cooper hopes to help those who care for children following surgery to share a common message about acute postoperative pain, opioid safety and disposal options. Her background is in patient safety and quality improvement, and her research interests are on pain management following surgery and use of prescribed opioids, so prescribing guidelines can be developed for providers based on actual patient use.

Dr. Coughlin’s work focuses on the intersection of behavioral economics, health equity, and substance use, including opioid use. This includes designing and implementing adaptive interventions to enhance the quality, access, and reach of substance use care to reduce health disparities, including improving access to substance use care in rural America. I’m particularly interested in understanding the complex interplay between choice preferences and substance use behaviors, applying behavioral economic frameworks to solve addiction-related challenges. By working closely with diverse communities, this work aims to create impactful solutions that address substance use challenges and improve the overall well-being of all individuals and communities.

Michael Englesbe is the Cyrenus G. Darling Sr., MD and Cyrenus G. Darling Jr., MD Professor and Head of Transplantation Surgery at the University of Michigan. He practices liver and kidney transplantation in children and adults. He is the portfolio director of the BCBSM supported Quality Collaboratives in Michigan. He is the director of the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC) and the co-director of the Opioid Prescribing and Engagement Network (OPEN). His primary research interest is in surgery and population health. He has funding for his work from the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan, and Michigan – Health and Human Services. He serves as a vice chair of the Department of Surgery – leading the surgical resident academic development time. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and 3 children.

At University of Michigan, Dr. Gadepalli completed fellowships in both Surgical Critical Care and Pediatric Surgery and is board certified in General Surgery, Critical Care and Pediatric Surgery. His clinical practice encompasses all aspects of pediatric surgery, including minimally invasive surgery, non-cardiac thoracic surgery, neonatal surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, surgical oncology, abdominal, colorectal and genitourinary abnormalities, trauma and critical care. His unique background allows expertise in the critical care needs of the surgical neonatal and pediatric populations, including the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in children.

Dr. Joshua George is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellow at the University of Michigan. He completed his Bachelors’ degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan followed by his M.D. and Masters in Public Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He then completed an Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University. His clinical interests are in care of high risk pregnancy with a special focus on individuals with substance use disorder and psychiatric co-morbidities in pregnancy. His current research work is centered around optimizing prenatal care for these patients as well as translational work on cortisol regulation in pregnancy.

Calista Harbaugh is a faculty member in the Division of Colorectal Surgery. Dr. Harbaugh graduated with a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She went on to receive her medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. She then completed her internship and residency in General Surgery at the University of Michigan, including 2 years as a Clinician Scholar in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Michigan where she earned her Master’s degree in Health and Healthcare Research and a Research Fellow in the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network. She completed the Colon & Rectal Surgery Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, and returned to the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Surgery. Her research has focused on perioperative opioid prescribing and outcomes among adolescents and young adults and quality improvement initiatives focused on minimizing opioid prescribing and improving perioperative pain control among pediatric surgery patients. Her current research focuses on optimizing healthcare delivery, particularly for colorectal cancer patients, across hospital systems.

Dr. Harte is a psychobiologist and an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Internal Medicine with 25 years of experience studying and teaching pain science. His NIH-funded research program leverages preclinical models, psychophysics, inflammatory biomarkers, patient-reported outcomes measures, wearables, and functional brain imaging to investigate mechanisms of chronic pain and analgesic treatments. Specific areas of interest include multisensory neural integration, cannabinoids, environmental influences on pain, pain affect, mechanisms of pain modulation, and analgesic drug development. He is a member of several national pain research collaborations, including the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network, the Symptoms of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Research Network (LURN), the HEAL BACPAC and BEST initiatives, the recently completed AURORA Study on trauma, and the Common Fund Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures Program where he leads the development and implementation of multi-site quantitative sensory testing (QST). Dr. Harte is a faculty affiliate of the U-M Neuroscience Graduate Program, Michigan Neuroscience Institute, and Sensory Science Initiative. He is Director of the Postdoctoral Translational Scholars Program at the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) and Co-Director/Co-PI of the HEAL National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Program. Lastly, he is engaged in the development of novel medical and research devices and e-Health delivery applications, and is Co-Founder/Chief Scientific Officer of Arbor Medical Innovations, LLC. Dr. Harte holds several patents for pain measurement and wearable technology resulting from this work.

Dr. Hughes is an Associate Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, Biomedical Engineering, and Industrial & Operations Engineering. His research interests are in quality improvement and he is also a Senior Advisor to the Michigan Arthroplasty Registry Collaborative Quality Initiative (MARCQI).

Dr. Isom is the Maurice H. Seevers Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and Professor of
Neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. She serves as co-chair of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation Scientific Advisory Board and served as a Board member of the AES. She has received awards for research and mentoring, including a NINDS Javits R37 MERIT award and the University of Michigan Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award. She is co-PI of the NINDS-funded EpiMVP Center Without Walls. Her research program focuses on voltage-gated sodium channel function and the roles of sodium channel gene variants in developmental and epileptic encephalopathy. Her lab investigates SCN1A, SCN1B, and SCN8A variants in mouse models and in human induced pluripotent stem cell neurons and cardiac myocytes. Most recently, she collaborated with Stoke Therapeutics to develop the first antisense oligonucleotide precision therapeutic agent for Dravet syndrome, which is now in clinical trials. Dr. Isom is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society, and a Fellow of the American Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.

Lisa Kane Low is Senior Associate Dean of Professional Graduate Studies and Professional Relations in the School of Nursing and holds appointments as Professor in Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and as the Carolyn M. Sampselle Collegiate Professor in the School of Nursing at University of Michigan. She is in full scope midwifery clinical practice at University of Michigan Health. Lisa has held leadership positions on a national and state level participating in development of national standard setting documents for the American College of Nurse-Midwives and as a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists obstetrics practice committee as well as a member of the National Alliance for Maternal Innovation or AIM program participating as an author of the Post Partum Hemorrhage and Promoting Safe Vaginal Delivery Safety Bundles and has participated research related to standards for opioid prescribing related to pregnancy and childbirth. Her research focuses on promoting healthy birth practices including leading initiatives focused on safely reducing primary cesarean births, prevention of hemorrhage and the role of Doulas in improving health outcomes. She is a past President of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Chelsea Kaplan is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Director of Neuroimaging in the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center (CPFRC). She completed her undergraduate degree in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science and received her doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2018. Her graduate and postdoctoral training was completed at the CPFRC where she focused on examining the neurobiology of chronic pain using multimodal imaging techniques. Dr. Kaplan’s research includes investigating the central nervous system contributions to nociplastic pain across many conditions, identifying biomarkers that predict treatment outcomes, and examining the neural correlates of inflammation in rheumatic disease and nociplastic pain conditions. Her most recent work is focused on investigating behavioral and neurobiological factors associated with the development and trajectory of chronic pain in children. Understanding the neural vulnerability to pain may provide new insights about pain mechanisms, with the hope that identifying at-risk youth will enable early interventions that may alter the lifelong course of chronic pain.

Dr. Keith Kocher, MD MPH, is a practicing emergency physician, associate professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan, research investigator at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research, and a health services researcher affiliated with the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. He is also the Director of the Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative, a network of hospitals across the state of Michigan dedicated to improving the quality of emergency care for all. His work focuses on optimizing the value of emergency and acute care delivery, performance measurement, quality improvement, and implementation of best practices. He has studied the implementation of harm reduction interventions for opioid use disorder in the emergency department setting, including increasing capacity to prescribe buprenorphine and building naloxone dissemination programs for those at risk of overdose.

Dr. Krein is a Research Health Scientist/Research Career Scientist with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System Center for Clinical Management Research. She is also a Research Professor of Internal Medicine, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Nursing, and the Rensis Likert Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan. She has a clinical background in nursing and a PhD in Health Services Research. During her more than 20 years as a research scientist, Dr. Krein has been involved in research funded by the VA, NIH, AHRQ and CDC, to enhance patient safety as well as studies focusing on the management of complex chronic conditions, such as chronic pain.

Dr. Pooja Lagisetty is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and practicing physician with a focus on addressing access barriers and developing interventions to better treat chronic pain and addiction across medical settings. Dr. Lagisetty received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, completed her internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and received her master’s degree in health services research via the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Michigan. She also holds a joint appointment in the Center for Clinical Management and Research at the Ann Arbor VA and is a contributing member at the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Clinically, she is boarded in both Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine and treats patients across the spectrum of chronic pain and addiction. She has co-led the development of the Michigan Medicine Inpatient and Emergency Department Addiction Consultation Team and the curricula around opioid use disorder for the University of Michigan Medical students. Her research has been influential in understanding stigma and disparities for individuals with pain and addiction. Specifically, her work has highlighted treatment access barriers for individuals with chronic pain following policies aimed at reducing prescription opioid supply and racial disparities in the receipt of medications for opioid use disorder. She has been funded by multiple federal agencies including NIDA, SAMSHA, and the VHA and also by foundations including the Michigan Health Endowment Fund and Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Michigan. Dr. Lagisetty also serves as the Institute’s Research and Data Domain co-director.

Dr. Erica Levitt’s research interests are in understanding the mechanisms underlying opioid-induced respiratory depression. We use a variety of cellular and systems neuroscience approaches in rodent models to understand how opioids alter the neurons in the brainstem that control breathing, including brain slice electrophysiology, circuit tracing, optogenetics, single unit and whole nerve recordings from a unique preparation with an intact respiratory network and in vivo-like respiratory cycle, and breathing measurements in awake animals. Dr. Levitt also serves as the Institute’s Research and Data Domain associate director.

Dr. Sean Esteban McCabe is a Professor (Tenured) and the Director of the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health (DASH Center) in the Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences in the School of Nursing. He has a broad background in education, epidemiology, psychology, and social work. Dr. McCabe has clinical experience working with adolescents and adults on issues related to ADHD, prescription drug use and misuse, and substance use disorders in a wide range of settings (eg, community, corrections, healthcare, schools). He has extensive experience conducting survey research and secondary data analyses related to prescription drug use and misuse, polysubstance use, and substance use disorders using longitudinal designs. He served as an expert consultant for the substance use survey modules for the Monitoring the Future study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Dr. McCabe has successfully led 13 FDA- and NIH-funded projects as Principal Investigator. He has served as the Associate Editor and Editor for substance use journals and produced over 265 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. McCabe’s research has had direct implications for policy and clinical practice as reflected in the CDC Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids and the FDA Drug Safety Communication to improve safe use of prescription stimulants for ADHD. Dr. McCabe has teamed up with Dr. Luisa Kcomt at Wayne State University and over 30 community, academic, and health care partners on developing a new trauma-Informed program for children aged 5-17 years and their families who have experienced the death of a parent or significant person from an opioid/other drug overdose within the past 10 years. Hope HQ is currently focused on children and families in southeast Michigan where the majority of drug overdose deaths in the state occur. Our multidisciplinary team is currently building the program and fundraising to expand year-round services for families throughout the state and beyond.

Dr. Moniz is an Associate Professor and physician-investigator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan and Director of the Obstetrics Initiative, a statewide quality initiative with over 70 hospitals working to improve maternity care quality, outcomes, and inequities in Michigan. She is a board-certified generalist obstetrician gynecologist with over 15 years in clinical practice. She completed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program and a Master of Science at the University of Michigan. Dr. Moniz’s long-term career goal is to design and evaluate health policies and clinical strategies that improve all people’s access to high-value reproductive healthcare and address inequities in reproductive health outcomes. Dr. Moniz is a nationally recognized expert in obstetric health services research and implementation research, and she has published over 90 manuscripts to date. Her research has appeared in high-impact journals such as Implementation Science, JAMA, BMJ Quality and Safety, and Health Affairs, and has garnered attention in The Atlantic, NPR, and other major media outlets. She is currently the Primary Investigator of a U01 investigation to develop, disseminate, and evaluate guidelines for pain management after childbirth in the United States.

Dr. Nalliah is the Associate Dean for Patient Services at the School of Dentistry and oversees all patient care. Dr. Nalliah’s expertise is in process evaluation, and his research represents evaluations of healthcare processes, hospital processes and educational processes. Dr. Nalliah’s goal is to improve healthcare delivery systems by optimizing processes, minimizing inefficiencies, reducing healthcare bottlenecks, and increasing quality, with the aim of developing a more patient-centered, coherent healthcare system. Dr. Nalliah has focused on safe opioid prescribing by dentists and has identified various trends and patterns in prescribing that were previously unknown.

Dr. Nguyen is a health services researcher and health economist with doctoral training in development economics and post-doctoral training in health economics. She is interested in health services research of pharmaceutical related policy to address the US opioid epidemic. Her research has focused on treatment access for opioid use disorder, prescribing behavior, incentive issues of medical providers, and using novel data to address pressing knowledge gaps.

Alex Peahl, MD, MSc is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. She is also the obstetrics lead for the Partnering for the Future Clinic, an interprofessional clinic that cares for birthing people with opioid use disorder and chronic pain. Dr. Peahl’s clinical work and research focus optimizing pain management in pregnancy and the postpartum period through opioid-sparing approaches. She is currently leading development of the COMFORT (Creating Optimal pain Management FOR Tailoring interventions in pregnancy and postpartum) guidelines, an FDA sponsored project to create comprehensive, patient-centered, equitable pain management across the pregnancy episode that minimizes the risks of opioid medications. Her research spans consensus methodology, health services research, and assessment of patients’ experiences through quantative and qualitative approaches.

Dr. Perumalswami is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Michigan, Director of the Liver Clinic and a Staff Gastroenterologist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and Investigator in Center for Clinical Management Research in the VA Health Services Research and Development. Dr. Perumalswami also serves as the Institute’s Community Engagement Domain co-director.

Dr. Piette’s research focuses on developing and evaluating novel strategies for using patient-facing health technology to improve the accessibility and quality of care for patients with chronic pain, medical illnesses such as diabetes, substance abuse disorders, and mental health disorders. Recent work focuses on the use of digital tools to make psychotherapeutic interventions and behavior change support more accessible to the people who need them, including through the use of artificial intelligence to target scarce resources. In addition to work in the US Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system and other safety net systems here in the US, Dr. Piette is actively engaged in collaborative projects in Latin America to improve access to care and improve patient self-management support. Current projects include colleagues in Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, and Colombia, with an emphasis on improving services for people impacted by violence and mental illnesses.

Dr. Ploutz-Snyder is an applied biostatistician, director of the applied biostatistics laboratory, and assistant dean of research and scholarship in the U-M School of Nursing. His research interests include community-based implementation work associated with drug addiction with a harm reduction lens.

As Associate Vice President for Research-Health Sciences, Dr. Prosser supports the research efforts of faculty in the health sciences across multiple schools and units. She also works collaboratively with the OVPR Leadership Team to develop new initiatives to catalyze and support research across the schools and units at U-M. Dr. Prosser is the Marilyn Fisher Blanch Research Professor of Pediatrics. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the School of Public Health. Her research focuses on measuring the value of childhood health interventions using methods of decision sciences and economics. She has worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maternal Child and Health Bureau (HRSA) on research that has informed national vaccine policy and newborn screening recommendations. Dr. Prosser has contributed to faculty development programs at the department, school, and institutional level.

Dr. Shtein received his Baccalaureate at UC Berkeley (1998) and Ph.D. at Princeton University (2004) in Chemical Engineering. During his PhD he co-invented a number of technologies, including methods of manufacturing emerging display technologies (OLEDs). He joined the University of Michigan in 2004, serving as Professor in MSE, Ch.E, Applied Physics, Entrepreneurship, and Art & Design. His awards include: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), College-wide Vulcans Prize for Excellence in Education, MSE Department Achievement Award, Newport Award for Excellence and Leadership in Photonics and Optoelectronics, and Materials Research Society (MRS) graduate student Gold Medal Award. He previously served as Faculty Co-Director of the Undergraduate Program at the UM Center for Entrepreneurship, and is currently serving as co-director for the Michigan Materials Research Institute. He co-founded Arborlight, LLC (a lighting technology company), Sublime, LLC (a biomedical technology company), and co-authored the book Scalable Innovation (published by Taylor & Francis). Some of his current research attempts to address the challenges of drug delivery, patient adherence to medical treatment, health monitoring, medication safety, affordability and scalability of healthcare solutions.

Dr. Silveira is a federally funded researcher, palliative care specialist, and ethicist at the University of Michigan and the Kettles Ann Arbor VAMC. Her research aims to improve the management of pain and other symptoms related to cancer or cancer treatment. She is the recipient of funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Veterans Administration. Her research has been published in JPSM, JAGS, JAMA, and NEJM. She has held several editorial positions, including Associate Editor for the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and UpToDate. In 2014, she was awarded fellow status by the AAHPM and was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. She was on the Committee that created the first set of VA/DoD Evidence Based Guidelines for Long Term Opioid Therapy. She currently serves as the Director for Research for the UM’s Palliative Care Program. She teaches ethics, communication, and symptom management to students and trainees, and mentors fellows, junior faculty, and doctoral candidates in research.

Dr. Smith’s research interests include the safe and effective use of analgesics in centralized pain, older adults with and who survive cancer, appropriate use of medications in these vulnerable patients, and the expansion of clinical pharmacist scope of practice. He is a Research Health Scientist within the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center of the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center He is also a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pain and Palliative Care at the University of Michigan Health, where his clinical responsibilities include serving patients with serious or life-limiting illnesses and helping optimize their symptom management.

John (Drew) Sturgeon is a clinical pain psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He completed his PhD in clinical psychology at Arizona State University and his postdoctoral training in pain psychology at the Department of Anesthesiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His areas of research involve individual resilience in chronic pain and brief and telehealth-based treatments for chronic pain. He has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense to study a new behavioral treatments in chronic pain and headache conditions.

Stephan Taylor is the Albert J. Silverman MD CM Research Professor of Psychiatric Disorders, Professor of Psychiatry and adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. He has a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine. His work focuses on psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder) and he uses brain mapping and brain stimulation technologies to understand and treat the pathophysiology of these conditions. He directs the Program for Risk Evaluation and Prevention (PREP), designed to identify youth at risk of serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and conduct research into the early stages of psychosis. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and serves on several journal editorial boards, as well as numerous NIH review panels and advisory boards.

Dr. Shitanshu Uppal, is a gynecologic oncologist, educator, and researcher deeply committed to advancing patient outcomes and improving women’s health. As Division Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Michigan and Director of the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium (MOQC) – Gynecologic Oncology Initiatives, Dr. Uppal has had the privilege of contributing to meaningful advancements in surgical quality and care delivery. A central focus of Dr. Uppal’s work has been on reducing opioid use and enhancing recovery after surgery. Collaborating with colleagues statewide, he helped lead the implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols, which have resulted in decreased opioid prescriptions, shorter hospital stays, and improved same-day discharge rates.

Dr. Veliz is an Associate Research Professor at the School of Nursing’s Applied Biostatistics Laboratory and Associate Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center. Dr. Veliz’s research primarily involves examining large-scale secondary data sets to assess adolescent substance use, health, and participation in organized sports. As a data analyst, Dr. Veliz has published extensively using data sets like the Monitoring the Future, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and Office of Civil Rights Data Collection and continues to work with new and existing secondary data sources that focus on substance use and health. Dr. Veliz is currently co-investigator on several NIH funded projects assessing prescription drug use, cigarette, and e-cigarette use using data from the Monitoring the Future, National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III, and Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health.

Jennifer F. Waljee, MD, MPH is a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (OPEN) and the George D. Zuidema Endowed Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery. She also serves as the Director of the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, and is on the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation Leadership Team. Dr. Waljee is a board-certified general surgeon, plastic surgeon, and hand surgeon, and her research focuses on the optimization of opioid prescribing during surgical care and creating best practices for caring for individuals with substance use disorder during surgical care.

Maureen Walton MPH, PhD, is a community psychologist who conducts community engaged research testing early interventions focusing on opioids, alcohol,  cannabis, and/or violence among adolescents and young adults. She has expertise in working with partners to harness digital technologies to optimize delivery of adaptive interventions. Recent lines of collaborative research include a randomized controlled trial testing telehealth and messaging interventions to prevent opioid misuse. She is particularly interested in innovative designs, such as sequential multiple assignment randomized trials (SMARTs), micro-randomized trials (MRTs), and hybrid experimental designs.

Golfo Tzilos Wernette, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist at the Ypsilanti Health Center where she provides short-term psychological intervention to adults in the community seeking primary care services. Her clinical research interests include technology-delivered approaches for health promotion and the reduction of health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol/drug use, STIs/HIV risk behaviors) among vulnerable populations.

Dr. Zivin is a health services and policy researcher who uses social science and public health tools to improve health and functional outcomes for vulnerable populations with mental health and substance use disorders (behavioral health conditions), including pregnant and postpartum women, Veterans, and older adults. Her current work includes the BIRCH project, which assesses the impact of behavioral health policy changes on opioid prescriptions, diagnosed opioid use disorders, and prescription treatment for those disorders. She also co-leads work on behalf of the state of Michigan for the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) state-university partnership that examines the quality of opioid use disorder treatment for Medicaid Enrollees.