Grayken Center for Addiction Faculty

Corinne Beaugard is a post-doctoral fellow focused on addiction, recovery, and harm reduction. Their focus is on health equity and increasing the acceptability of addiction treatment and interventions, especially for people with oppressed identities and those without abstinence goals. During the 2023-2024 academic year, Beaugard is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry and the Grayken Center for Addiction.

Aga Bereznicka, MPH is the addiction psychiatry project manager working across the Department of Psychiatry and Grayken Center for Addiction teams at Boston Medical Center. Her work within both teams focuses on quality improvement and educational initiatives related to substance use. She also provides programmatic support to several clinical programs including the Addiction Psychiatry Treatment Program, the WRAP Without Walls Program, Project ASSERT, and the Grayken Women’s Health Initiative. 

Casy Calver is the Editorial Director at the Grayken Center for Addiction and the Clinical Addiction Research & Education (CARE) Unit at Boston Medical Center, where she works on the newsletter Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Health: Current Evidence and the journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. Casy’s doctoral dissertation in editorial studies at Boston University was an annotated edition of the 1937 pamphlet Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War. She also has an MSc in global health policy from the University of Edinburgh, and serves as executive officer of the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors.

Deb Goldfarb, LICSW, is a clinical social worker, educator, and advocate with nearly 15 years of experience. Her work focuses on addressing the compounded needs of patients experiencing psychiatric crises, houselessness, and addiction through direct care, program-development and training. Deb's passionate about behavioral health and criminal-justice. She has worked in the Massachusetts Prison System, as a jail diversion clinician, at Harvard Law’s Criminal Justice Institute, and with public defenders. Deb co-leads NASW-MA’s Criminal Justice Committee and lectures at BUSSW. She supports Grayken on initiatives ending criminalization of addiction and with Population Health on addressing behavioral health needs of high-risk ACO patients.

Daneiris Heredia-Perez, MSPM, is a senior research manager for the Grayken Center of Addiction. As an advocate for wellness and health, she is passionate about lifting the voices of those often sidelined, thus researching ways to develop equitable care for Black patients struggling with substance use and children with parents struggling with substance use. Daneiris takes great interest in working alongside patients, thus has been committed to collaborating with patients on research efforts

Natrina Johnson, PhD, is a health services researcher whose interests include disparities in treatment access and health outcomes for people with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders. Dr. Johnson has prior experience working as a substance use counselor and as a house manager in transitional treatment programs for adults in recovery. Her research integrates qualitative and quantitative research methods to inform policy and practice. She joined the Grayken Center in August 2023 to work with the Substance Use Disorder Antiracism “SUDA” workgroup and will help lead the analysis of qualitative data gathered from multidisciplinary experts in addiction treatment

Raquel Silveira is an accomplished administrative manager at Boston Medical Center (BMC), bringing over 12 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She holds an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University and specializes in optimizing operational efficiency and supporting strategic initiatives within hospital settings. Raquel's expertise lies in streamlining administrative processes, enhancing team collaboration, and contributing to the delivery of high-quality patient care. She is passionate about healthcare innovation and committed to fostering environments that prioritize both patient outcomes and staff development.

Andrea Stone is a senior population health analyst working across the Population Health Analytics and Grayken Center for Addiction teams at Boston Medical Center. She leverages her experience in both clinical data analysis and behavioral health to support the Grayken team through a suite of interactive dashboards, ad hoc analyses that explore hospital-wide and program-specific trends, as well as exploration into both research and clinical questions.

Lead - Information Impacts Action: Debunking Myths About the Family and Recovery

Alicia Ventura is the director of special projects and research for the Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance program and Boston Medical Center's Office Based Addiction Treatment (OBAT) program, overseeing all research and evaluation activities for both programs. She has more than 15 years of experience conducting public health and clinical research. Ventura has spent the last decade focused exclusively on research, evaluation, and program development related to mitigating the harmful consequences of alcohol and drug use, including the impact on affected family members. She is currently principal investigator of a qualitative study investigating the experience of affected family members. She is also co-investigator on a mixed-methods study examining perspectives of addiction treatment providers on working with family members.  

Ventura also directs a harm reduction-focused educational program for family members affected by a loved one's substance use. She provides training and technical assistance to health care organizations on integration of the family into routine addiction care and is a board member of the Addiction and the Family International Network. She has published on various topics, including reproductive health, HIV, substance use, and family members impacted by substance use. Alicia received her master’s in community public health from New York University.

Kristopher Warren joined the Grayken Center for Addiction as a research project manager in January 2023. His chief project is Grayken’s annual addiction-focused conference, which is focused on interdisciplinary and community collaborations that can further facilitate the treatment and prevention of substance use disorders in Boston. Kris also manages the Grayken newsletter, so if you have a resource, publication, or any addiction-related content that you would like to share, please reach out to him.

Dr. Lunze is a board certified physician and clinical health services researcher in the Department of Medicine at Boston Medical Center. His research has focused on improving access to quality care for disadvantaged populations by addressing intersectional stigma and other barriers to prevention and care. Dr Lunze’s global health program has developed and evaluated community-engaged behavioral and pharmacological interventions for people with addictions, HIV, TB and those affected by war and other humanitarian disasters. 
 

Departments: General Internal Medicine, CARE Unit 

Contact: 617.414.0000

Primary Location: 801 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA 02118
 

Lead - Information Impacts Action: Debunking Myths About the Family and Recovery

Alicia Ventura is the director of special projects and research for the Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance program and Boston Medical Center's Office Based Addiction Treatment (OBAT) program, overseeing all research and evaluation activities for both programs. She has more than 15 years of experience conducting public health and clinical research. Ventura has spent the last decade focused exclusively on research, evaluation, and program development related to mitigating the harmful consequences of alcohol and drug use, including the impact on affected family members. She is currently principal investigator of a qualitative study investigating the experience of affected family members. She is also co-investigator on a mixed-methods study examining perspectives of addiction treatment providers on working with family members.  

Ventura also directs a harm reduction-focused educational program for family members affected by a loved one's substance use. She provides training and technical assistance to health care organizations on integration of the family into routine addiction care and is a board member of the Addiction and the Family International Network. She has published on various topics, including reproductive health, HIV, substance use, and family members impacted by substance use. Alicia received her master’s in community public health from New York University.

Christina S. Lee, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Boston University (BUSSW); addiction faculty at BU’s Grayken Center, Boston Medical Center; and a faculty affiliate at BU’s Center for Antiracist Research. Her research bridges the areas of intervention science, addiction psychology, and health inequities. By focusing on the effects of social and environmental stressors, like the impact of discrimination, stigma, and racism, Dr. Lee has become an influential voice in efforts to reduce risky health behaviors among diverse, understudied groups and in understanding substance use as a social justice issue. She is PI and co-PI on NIAAA-funded addiction treatment research with diverse populations, and is on the training faculty at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. She is also the research director at BUSSW’s Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH), and mentors graduate and postdoctoral scholars from diverse racial-ethnic groups. Dr. Lee is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and the NIAAA journal Alcohol Research: Current Reviews.

Dr. Rachel Sayko Adams is an addiction health services researcher with expertise in at-risk substance use, substance use treatment, and morbidity and mortality in high-risk populations (e.g., military/Veterans, persons with traumatic brain injury or other disabilities). Dr. Adams has led studies from the National Institutes of Health (i.e., NIMH, NIAAA, NIDA, and NCCIH), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), and Uniformed Services University at the Department of Defense. Her research interests include understanding disparities in access to quality substance use and mental health treatment and conducting research to reduce health inequities for vulnerable populations.
 

Department: HLPM

Contact: 617.358.2809

Primary Location: 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118

Speaker - Plenary Talk: Shooting the Messenger: Tales from industry interference in alcohol and drug research 

David Jernigan is a professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management and assistant dean for practice at the Boston University School of Public Health. He is the senior policy advisor to CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente that works on 12 policies addressing social determinants of health in the 75 largest cities in the U.S. Jernigan is a member of the Cannabis Advertising and Social Media (CASM) research group, which has pioneered measurement of the effects of exposure to cannabis marketing on youth use and problems. He co-founded the Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems, a statewide effort involving 18 institutions of higher education committed to reducing alcohol-related problems on campus and in the surrounding communities.

Jernigan is also the scientific chair and serves on the board of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. He has written more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and has contributed chapters to seven books on alcohol issues, as well as two chapters on cannabis policy. He has served as an advisor to the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), and was the principal author of WHO’s first Global Status Report on Alcohol and Global Status Report on Alcohol and Youth, and Cannabis: Moving Forward, Protecting Health, published by the American Public Health Association Press. He also co-authored Alcohol in the Developing World: A Public Health Perspective and Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention.

Noel Vest, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. As a formerly incarcerated scholar, Dr. Vest advocates for social justice issues and public policy concerning substance use disorder recovery and prison reentry. His research interests include mental health, substance use disorders, poverty, social justice, addiction recovery, and pain. He was recently awarded a K01 early investigator award through the National Institute of Drug Abuse to study collegiate recovery programs through an implementation science lens. He received his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in Experimental Psychology from Washington State University. He recently finished a postdoc in the Department of Anesthesia at Stanford Medicine.

Recognized among the top one percent of NIH grant recipients over the past two decades, Dr. Stein has worked at the intersection of behavioral medicine and primary care. His outcomes research has moved between substance use disorders and HIV/AIDS, sleep and pain, mental health disorders, and the determinants of risk-taking. He has published more than 450 scientific journal articles. Dr. Stein graduated from Harvard College and received his medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. After medical residency at New England Medical Center, he completed a National Research Service Award Fellowship at Brown University. He was director of HIV Services at Rhode Island Hospital for two decades. He worked for years as a consultant to tech start-ups. He is also the award-winning author of six novels and eight books of non-fiction, and his writings have been noted in the Best American essay series, and appeared in many magazines and newspapers. Recent books, "Me vs. Us: A Health Divided" and "Accidental Kindness: A Doctor's Notes on Empathy," were published in 2022. HIs newest book, with Sandro Galea, "The Turning Point: Reflections on a Pandemic" was published in 2024. He is Executive Editor of the online magazine Public Health Post.