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, DFASAM, is an internal medicine physician who has treated substance use disorders since 2004. She is board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, and holds an MPH (Master of Public Health) in epidemiology and an MA (Master of Arts) in bioethics. Dr. Ramsey’s most recent professional role was Chief of Medical Services at the New York State Office for Addiction Services and Supports. She has provided expert advice to the New York State (NYS) Department of Health AIDS Institute for over a decade, serving on numerous committees. She also serves as President for the NYSAM (New York Society of Addiction Medicine) Board of Directors; sits on the ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) National Board of Directors as the Region I Director, representing NYS; and serves as a Council Board Member for NYACP (NY Chapter of the American College of Physicians). Dr. Ramsey is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and a Distinguished Fellow of ASAM. In 2017, Dr. Ramsey was an ACP Laureate Award Recipient, awarded to “members, who have demonstrated by their example and conduct, an abiding commitment of excellence in medical care, education, or research, and in service to their community, their region, and the ACP.” In 2018, she was the recipient of the NYS Department of Health Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award for contributions to drug user health in NYS in 2018. And in 2023, Dr. Ramsey received the ACP's Distinguished Contributions to Behavioral Medicine Award for “distinguished contribution to the integration of behavioral medicine with traditional medicine. This award recognizes an individual who has furthered the care of patients by recognizing the importance of caring for the whole patient, both mind and body.” 

Sara Lorenz Taki, MD is Chief Medical Officer of Greenwich House Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program, an opioid treatment program in New York City that has been providing treatment for people with opioid use disorder for over fifty years. She provides oversight for all health services including medication management, hepatitis c treatment, overdose prevention, psychiatric services, and the Greenwich House COVID-19 vaccination program. Dr. Taki completed her internal medicine residency in the Social Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center. She is board-certified in addiction medicine and internal medicine. Dr. Taki currently serves on the Medical Advisory Panel and the Clinical Advisory Panel for the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). She also serves on the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute’s Substance Use Guidelines Committee. Dr. Taki is a frequent speaker for the Empire Liver Foundation on hepatitis c treatment in people who use drugs. She trains addiction medicine fellows on the treatment of opioid use disorder in the OTP setting. Dr. Taki has special interest in the integration of harm reduction into opioid treatment programs, treatment of hepatitis c, addressing social determinants of health as part of addiction treatment, and creating low threshold treatment for patients with substance use disorders.

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.