2023 Annual Conference

The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA) invites you to join us on

Monday, May 1, 2023, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM for our 4th annual conference!

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The annual conference of the Penn State Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction brings together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, funders, and community leaders to focus on community-engaged solutions to problems of substance use. Sessions on each of these areas are designed to stimulate impactful collaborations between individuals, families, and communities across the Commonwealth and beyond. This year's theme centers around Evidence to Impact.

Please note that the conference is free for all attendees, but registration is required. The conference will be held in the Freeman Auditorium in the HUB-Robeson Center at the University Park campus. Please contact Paul Griffin, CSUA Interim Director, with any questions.

Panel Session 1 Speakers:

• Tricia Christensen has more than a decade of experience working in non-profit and government health settings in positions of direct service, research, public policy, and advocacy. She has demonstrated expertise on the intersecting issues of overdose prevention, HIV, and viral hepatitis, and has dedicated her career to advocating for the health and rights of people who use drugs through broad coalition building, including by establishing a statewide harm reduction advocacy coalition in Maryland. She has worked with stakeholders from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and from rural, urban, and suburban areas, including consulting for national organizations and working with community-based organizations in Maryland and Texas before relocating to Tennessee. Tricia is currently the Director of Policy with Community Education Group where she leads state advocacy initiatives and efforts to track how the 13 states of Appalachia are managing and spending their opioid settlement money. Tricia is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Morocco '11-'13) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Washington State University and a Master of Public Policy from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
• Leo Beletsky is a Professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University, where he directs The Action Lab at the Center for Health Policy and Law. His research focuses on the public health impact of law and its enforcement, with special focus on substance use and overdose, infectious disease, and the role of the criminal justice system as a structural determinant of health.
• Tom VanKirk is a 1967 graduate of Bucknell University and received his juris doctorate degree, cum laude, from Penn State Dickinson School of Law in 1970. He joined Buchanan Ingersoll in 1971 as a trial lawyer specializing in Antitrust and Corporate Take-Over litigation and served as a corporate advisor to many Fortune 1000 companies following a one-year clerkship with the Pennsylvania Superior Court. During his 41 years at Buchanan, the Firm (now known as Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney) grew from 32 lawyers to over 500 lawyers with 18 offices outside of Pittsburgh. In 2012 Tom joined Highmark, Inc. (which became part of Highmark Health in 2013) and served as Chief Legal Officer, Executive Vice President and Secretary of Highmark until his retirement in 2021. Following retirement Tom stays active in Community activities serving on the Executive Committees of the Boards of Trustees/Directors of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust; Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania as well as serving on the Trustee Board of the YMCA and the Boards of Jefferson Regional Hospital and Penn State Health. Most recently he serves as the Governor’s appointee to Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust.

Panel Session 2 Speakers:

• Dr. Tammy Corr is a board-certified neonatologist and has been practicing at Penn State Health Children's Hospital since her graduation from neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship training at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital in 2013. Since then, she has been studying long-term outcomes of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Dr. Corr has received funding from the Penn State Social Science Research Institute, the Children’s Miracle Network, and the National Institutes of Health to study the health and educational outcomes of children with a history of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Dr. Corr is the director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Clinic, where she oversees the evaluation of former NICU graduates at risk for abnormal neurodevelopment. She is involved in several institutional, regional, state, and national collaboratives aimed at improving the assessment, treatment, and support of families affected by substance use disorders, including the Penn State ACT Steering Committee, the Dauphin County Plan of Safe Care Committee, the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s Public Policy Committee. She has served as an academic mentor to numerous Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellows, PhD candidates, and medical students through the years and currently serves as a research mentor to a Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellow. She ultimately hopes to pursue prospective, intervention trials for the improvement of long-term outcomes of infants and children with a history of neonatal abstinence syndrome.
• Dr. Gary Stoner is a board-certified obstetrics and gynecology physician. He earned his medical degree from Marshall University and completed his residency at Geisinger Medical Center. He is also a Diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. After practicing as a general OB/GYN for 20 years, Dr. Stoner shifted his focus to engage in the care of pregnant women with opioid use disorder. In 2014, he obtained his Buprenorphine waiver, and since then, he has served as the director of the Women’s Health OUD Program across the Geisinger Healthcare System. Through this practice, he has learned of the judgment that pregnant women with OUD face both in health care settings and in their wider communities. He now is engaged in educating health care providers, social service practitioners, policymakers, and the general public on the stigma experienced by pregnant women with OUD. He believes stigma is the rate-limiting factor that impedes women’s recovery.
• Dr. Kimberly McLaughlin is the Program Director with the Maternal Addiction Treatment, Education and Resources (MATER) team at Jefferson Health. She began at MATER as a therapist at My Sister’s Place before moving to an outpatient therapist at Family Center. Dr. McLaughlin was the sole therapist for Intensive Outpatient and worked to create, develop, and implement an IOP program at Family Center. As Program Director, she oversees all of the clinical therapeutic services at Family Center and My Sister’s Place. Dr. McLaughlin implemented a trauma responsive transformation at MATER and has worked to shift the view of those in recovery from resistant to resilient. Additionally, she oversees MATER’s compliance, ensuring programmatic licensing and accreditation. Her research interests include pregnancy intendedness, self-compassion, treatment readiness, and the impact of trauma. Kim received a Doctorate degree in Human Sexuality Studies and master’s degrees in Counselor Education and Human Sexuality Education.