Nicole Gastala, MD is a member of the National Health Service Corp and has practiced full spectrum outpatient family medicine in both rural and urban settings. As the opioid epidemic began to hit Iowa, it became acutely necessary to expand and develop a team-based community program to address substance use disorder. Through a HRSA grant funded Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) program at Primary Health Care, Inc, their team developed an effective integrated treatment model. Dr. Gastala was awarded the Certificate of Public Health Recognition for Addressing the Opioid Crisis in Iowa by the Iowa Department of Public Health in 2018.  As she has transitioned to her position as Director of Behavioral Health and Addiction at University of Illinois Chicago/UI Health Mile Square Health Centers, Dr. Gastala has continued to work to develop an integrated MOUD program by mentoring new prescribers, precepting residents, and training clinicians within the Chicago community and increasing access to MOUD nationally as a mentor and trainer. She is currently a hub panel expert of a bimonthly ECHO webinar focused on MAT in primary care for Iowa and Illinois as well as the Implementation Subcommittee Chair of the Illinois Opioid Crisis Advisory Council. Dr. Gastala is currently a Co-Investigator on an Arnold Venture-funded project that aims to develop and test a syringe service-based approach for linking clients to MOUD.

Jane Carlisle Maxwell, PhD is a Research Professor with the Addiction Research Institute at the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin. She has been a member of the SAMHSA National Advisory Council, a consultant to the the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control, a Fulbright Senior Specialist, and along with Jim Hall, a member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Community Epidemiology Work Group and NIDA’s National Drug Early Warning System. She has over 50 years experience monitoring changes in drug use patterns in Texas, in the U.S., and Internationally. She is a member of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and serves on the board of the Pacific Institute on Research and Evaluation.

Jim Hall, PhD has recently retired as Senior Epidemiologist with the Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities at Nova Southeastern University. For the past 35 years, he has tracked patterns and trends of drug use in Florida for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Hall has testified before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary about fentanyl analogues and other Novel Psychoactive Substances. Jim serves on the Scientific Advisory Panel of the National Institutes of Health’s National Drug Early Warning System and the US Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association in 2017.

Loreen Rugle, PhD, ICGC-II/BACC brings 35 years of experience in the field of problem and responsible gambling including treatment, prevention, research and responsible gambling to her current positions. She has managed problem gambling programs within the Veterans Administration, in the private sector and within state systems. She has participated in research on brief screening for gambling problems, as well as a broad range of other problem gambling related research projects. She has provided consultation and training on gambling disorder throughout the United States, for the military and internationally. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland and Special Projects Consultant with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. She is also currently Responsible Gambling Specialist with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.

DISCLOSURES

Relevant to the content of this educational activity, the following individual(s) have no conflict(s) with commercial interest companies to disclose.

• Katie Bee, CPS, Planning Committee Member

• Jane Carlisle Maxwell, PhD, Speaker

• Jim Hall, PhD, Speaker

• Jennifer Robertson-Hill, LMHC, Planning Committee Member

• Loreen Rugle, PhD, ICGC-II/BACC, Speaker

• Michele Tilotta, MPA, BSN, RN, Planning Committee Member

• Cara Weis, MPA, Activity Director and Planning Committee Member

• Monica Wilke-Brown, LMHC, Planning Committee Member

Relevant to the content of this educational activity, the following individual(s) have a conflict(s) with commercial interest companies to disclose.

• Nicole Gastala, MD, Speaker - No financial relationships to disclose but does intend to discuss off-label uses of commercial products/devices.