Presenter(s)
Marcia Spoto,PT, DC, OCS
Marcia Spoto, PT, DC, OCS is a Professor of Physical Therapy at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. She is certified as an Orthopaedic Specialist by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. She is the owner of STAR Physical Therapy in Fairport, NY and has over 30 years of clinical experience, with a practice focus in orthopedic conditions of the spine and chronic pain management.
Tildabeth Doscher,MD, MPH
Tildabeth Doscher, MD received her MD and MPH from UCLA. Her residency and Board certification is in Preventive Medicine and she recently completed an Addiction Medicine Fellowship at University of Buffalo. Currently, Dr. Doscher is the Medical Director at Cazenovia Recovery Services, a residential program for stabilizing individuals struggling with substance use.
Arthur Weissman,MD
Arthur Weissman, MD is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo (undergraduate, medical school, and residency) and practiced general surgery in Western New York for a number of years. He is currently an assistant professor on the Addiction Medicine faculty in the Department of Family Medicine, SUNY Buffalo, and a staff physician at the DART methadone program in Buffalo.
Narelle Ellendon,RN
Narelle Ellendon, RN is the Opioid Program Manager within the Division of Drug User Health at the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. In the past, she oversaw and coordinated Harm Reduction Coalition efforts to provide technical assistance and capacity building services to support the establishment of new syringe access programs and the expansion and enhancement of existing programs throughout the US. In her previous role as Director of the Hepatitis C Harm Reduction Project, she worked closely with New York City syringe access programs, training staff and participants and advocating for policies and resources to facilitate improved access to Hepatitis C related health services. A native of Australia, Ms. Ellendon brought extensive experience as an outreach community health nurse with the homeless, drug-using populations and as a registered nurse within correctional facilities.
Gale Burstein,MD, MPH
Gale Burstein, MD is the Erie County Commissioner of Health and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the State University of New York’s School Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. As Commissioner of Health, her current focus is on developing strategies to change healthcare providers’ narcotics prescribing practices to prevent opioid addiction in Erie County. Dr. Burstein is an active member of New York State’s “Ending the AIDS Epidemic Task Force” that developed a strategic blueprint plan that will make New York State a national model for ending the HIV epidemic. Dr. Burstein has coauthored American Academy of Pediatrics and Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine position papers on adolescent sexual health; has been published in peer review medical journals; and trains health care providers across the country to “routinize” adolescent sexual health care services in primary care.
Emma Fabian,MSW
Emma Fabian, MSW is the Associate Vice President of Harm Reduction at Evergreen Health in Western New York. Evergreen Health (formerly AIDS Community Services) was founded over 40 years ago during the height of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and now provides a range of medical, behavioral, and supportive services to individuals and families in the region. In her position at Evergreen Health, Emma oversees harm reduction and drug user health services, including syringe exchange, low-threshold buprenorphine, drop-in services, wound care, and more. She participates in several local and statewide workgroups that are addressing issues that impact people who use drugs.
Emma holds a Bachelor of Arts from Canisius University and Master of Social Work degree from SUNY University at Buffalo where she also currently serves as a part-time instructor. She enjoys talking to all types of audiences about harm reduction, drug use, and related topics.
David Herzberg,PhD
David Herzberg, PhD is Associate Professor of History at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). A historian of drugs and addictive medicines in the U.S., he is particularly interested in the governance of pharmaceutical sedatives, stimulants, and narcotics in the 20th century's consumer culture. Among other places, his work has appeared in American Quarterly, the American Journal of Public Health, the Washington Post, and in a book, Happy Pills in America: From Miltown to Prozac (Johns Hopkins, 2009). He is co-Editor of the Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, and is finishing a book tentatively titled The Other Drug War: Pharmaceuticals and Addiction in American History.
Antonio E. Urbina,MD
Antonio E. Urbina, MD is the Medical Director for the Mt. Sinai Institute for Advanced Medicine Downtown clinic in New York City. Dr. Urbina serves as a Medical Director for the Clinical Education Initiative of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute HIV Primary Care and Prevention Center of Excellence as well as a Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since completing his residency in Internal Medicine at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Center-Manhattan in 1995, Dr. Urbina has pioneered innovative educational programming for community-based clinics, hospitals, and public health departments. He has directed more than 10 HIV clinical trials research protocols. From 2007 to 2009, Dr. Urbina served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS as well as Governor Cuomo’s Task Force to end the AIDS epidemic in New York State.
Lisa Keenan,PhD
Lisa Keenan, PhD is a licensed clinical health psychologist coordinating rehab-behavioral health services at ECMC since 2005. She received her Master’s in Psychology and PhD in Behavioral Health/Health Psychology from the University of North Texas. She completed a clinical internship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas and Postdoctoral training at the Transitional Learning Center, a residential rehabilitation center in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Keenan’s expertise includes pain management, adjustment to diagnoses, TBI, spinal cord injury, and PTSD. Her programs include individual/group therapy, adjunct support programs, and palliative care services. She also directs clinical postdoctoral training and provides expert testimony.
Joshua Lynch,DO, EMT-P, FACEP, FAAEM
Joshua Lynch, DO, EMT-P, FACEP, FAAEM a native of Buffalo, NY, Dr. Joshua Lynch (DO, FACEP, FAAEM, FAMPA) is a leader and expert in the areas of emergency medicine and treatment of opioid use disorder. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University at Buffalo, graduating with a BS in psychology. Dr. Lynch then attended the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine as part of the inaugural class at the Bradenton, Florida campus. At LECOM, he played a key role in establishing the brand-new medical school within the community. He completed an emergency medicine residency at the University at Buffalo, where he served as chief resident his final year. Dr. Lynch serves as a Trustee on the Board of Education for Clarence Central Schools and a Board Member of United Way of Buffalo and Erie County.
Liza Pereira
Liza Pereira is the Linkage Specialist at Evergreen Health with the Hep-C program. Liza has been HIV+ for 24 years, she had hepatitis C and was cured four years ago, and she is a former drug user who has been in recovery for the last 19 years. Liza has a BA in marketing from Buffalo State College, she is one of the spokesmodels for the “HIV Stops With ME” campaign through the NYS Department of Health, she is a mentor at the Leadership Training Institute with Cicatelli Associates in New York City, and she is also one of the first three people within all of New York State to be certified as an HIV, Hepatitis C, and Harm Reduction peer.
Serena Roth,MD
Serena Roth, MD is a general internist with a special interest in the management of patients with chronic pain. She completed a medical degree at NYU School of Medicine and a Primary Care/Internal Medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been a clinician-educator in the Montefiore/Einstein Division of General Internal Medicine since 2011, where she is active in medical student and resident education including the development of a specialized resident-run clinic for patients with chronic pain on opioids. Currently Dr. Roth is the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program.
Paul Updike,MD
Paul Updike, MD is an internist in Buffalo, New York and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Sisters of Charity Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center. He received his medical degree from University at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and has been in practice for more than 20 years.
Justine Waldman,MD
Justine Waldman, MD s Board Certified in Addiction Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is the CEO and CMO of Reach (Respectful, Equitable Access to Compassionate Health) Medical in Ithaca, NY which opened in 2018. REACH houses a medical practice offering integrated primary care and low threshold harm reduction services for people who tend to face stigma in the current medical system. Reach Medical offers primary care, MAT, viral screening, vaccination and treatment and on demand behavioral health care. Since the Spring of 2020, REACH has been growing a robust outreach program staffed by individuals with lived experience who offer viral screening, vaccination and treatment, acute primary care and MAT visits via telehealth. In addition, REACH is the administrative home for case management for the Ithaca Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program (LEAD). REACH has an established Peer Advisory Board in which peers are provided stipends through a local foundation grant to advise REACH on various aspects of our organization, e.g., service delivery, and research.
