Course

Aaron Fox, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Fox is a primary care physician at a community health center in the South Bronx and is board certified in addiction medicine. His clinical care and research involves opioid use disorder treatment in primary care and criminal justice settings. Dr. Fox has developed and is studying innovative buprenorphine treatment models in primary care and at syringe exchange programs. Dr. Fox is also the Co-Director of the Bronx Transitions Clinic, which provides a medical home to people who were recently released from jail or prison. He completed residency training at Montefiore in Primary Care/Social Medicine in 2007, and he received a Master’s Degree in Clinical Research from Einstein in 2012.

Fabienne Laraque, MD, MPH is an internist and preventive medicine specialist with training in epidemiology and public health. After a long career at the NYC DOHMH in maternal and infant health, TB, HIV and viral hepatitis, she became the Medical Director of the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS). Under her leadership, DHS became a state-certified opioid overdose prevention program, providing naloxone administration training to shelters and conducting overdose surveillance. In addition, Dr. Laraque and her team are restructuring and standardizing healthcare and behavioral health systems at DHS, creating new innovative and public health programs. Her office was instrumental in supporting DHS in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, from developing guidance to implementing case identification, isolation and quarantine, medical services at isolation hotels, and onsite testing and vaccination services.

Kelly S. Ramsey, MD, MPH, MA, FACP, FASAM is a board certified internal medicine and addiction medicine physician who has treated substance use disorder since 2004. She worked as Medical Director of an academic center-based opioid treatment program (OTP) in the South Bronx before working for nearly a decade for a large federally qualified health center (FQHC) in the Hudson Valley where she created and grew a medication for addiction treatment (MAT) program for opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) to 10 sites and 1500 patients. More recently, Dr. Ramsey worked as the Chief of Medical Services at the NYS Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), in a policy, regulatory, and clinical role.

Dr. Ramsey currently works as an Addiction Medicine and Harm Reduction Consultant as well as providing low threshold clinical care and clinical supervision in addiction medicine in two drug user health hubs in New York. She has provided expert advice to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) AIDS Institute and their Office of Drug User Health (ODUH), serving on numerous committees for about 15 years, providing expertise in addiction medicine, harm reduction, HIV care, and hepatitis C (HCV) care. Dr. Ramsey has provided clinical teaching, technical assistance, and led learning collaboratives and ECHO programs in addiction medicine, harm reduction, pain management, HCV, and HIV.

Dr. Ramsey was the recipient of the New York State Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award for contributions to drug user health in NYS in December 2018. Dr. Ramsey was the Distinguished Contributions to Behavioral Medicine Award Recipient, awarded by the American College of Physicians (ACP) in April 2023. Dr. Ramsey was awarded the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Special Medical Alumni Board Award in October 2023.

Dr. Ramsey is the Immediate Past President for the New York Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (NYSAM) Board of Directors. In addition, she currently serves as Region I Director, representing NYS, on the national American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Board of Directors.

Sara Lorenz Taki, MD serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Greenwich House. She provides medical direction for all healthcare services, including mental health treatment, treatment for substance use disorders, psychiatric services, hepatitis C treatment, overdose prevention, harm reduction, and older adult services.

Dr. Taki obtained her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and completed residency training at Montefiore. She is board-certified in addiction medicine and internal medicine. She currently serves on the Clinical Advisory Panel for OASAS and the Substance Use Guidelines Committee for the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. Dr. Taki trains healthcare providers and students from multiple medical institutions on the treatment of substance use disorders and hepatitis C.

Brianna Norton, DO, MPH is an Infectious Diseases physician, researcher, and public health advocate. Dr. Norton spent the last decade at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY treating patients for HIV, Hepatitis C, and opioid use disorder in community settings such as primary care clinics, methadone treatment programs, and syringe exchange programs. She has been the PI and co-investigator on multiple NIH research grants that aimed at increasing access to quality care for people who use drugs, and also founded of one of the first drug user health clinics that was located onsite at a syringe exchange program. She has recently joined the NYS Department of Health as the Deputy Medical Director of the AIDS Institute.

Seun Falade-Nwulia, MD is an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed internal medicine and Infectious disease fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a critical care fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She previously served as medical director of the Baltimore City Health Department HIV care programs and led the design and implementation of the Baltimore City Health Department HCV testing, linkage to care and treatment programs. She served on the AASLD/IDSA HCV guidance panel from 2015 to 2020 and continues to serve as PI/co-PI on several projects focused on improving viral hepatitis C treatment outcomes. She is an active HIV, HCV and substance use disorder care provider

Sharon Stancliff, MD is Associate Medical Director for Harm Reduction in Health Care at the AIDS Institute, New York State Department of Health and she is a staff physician at Project Renewal where she prescribes buprenorphine an FQHC in a men’s shelter.. She has been the Medical Director of a Community Health Center, an Opioid Treatment Program and the Harm Reduction Coalition. Her current focus is on opioid overdose prevention through expanding access to buprenorphine in primary care and in less traditional settings such as syringe access programs as well as expanding access to naloxone. She has spoken and provided technical assistance these topics nationally and internationally as well as publishing in books and peer reviewed journal. She maintains board certification in Family Medicine, and in Addiction Medicine. 

Sheila P Vakharia is Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Academic Engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance. In that role, she helps DPA staff and others understand a range of drug policy issues while also responding to new studies with critiques and analysis. She plans conferences and convenings on cutting edge issues in the area of drugs, drug research, and harm reduction. Additionally, she is responsible for cultivating relationships with researchers from a wide range of disciplines aligned with DPA’s policy interests and working to mobilize academics in service of DPA policy campaigns.

Hiawatha Collins is the Community and Capacity Building Manager for the national Harm Reduction Coalition, Founder of the Peer Network of New York, Board Chair for Vocal NY and he sits on other Boards and committees that have to do with Drug User Health and rights to inclusion.

Siobhan Rayfield is a peer with lived experience. She is part of the MOUD advisory group that is facilitated under a grant through the national harm reduction coalition.

Christine Fitzsimmons PMHNP is a Nurse and Harm Reduction Specialist, NYHRE/Mt. Sinai.