2025 Speaker Presentations
Day 1: Tuesday – May 13, 2025
9:45 – 10:45 AM
Main Stage
Improving Access to Medication Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder: Changing A System of Care
Speaker: Adam Gordon, MD, MPH
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Clinical Conundrums: Vexing Patients and Innovative Solutions in Substance Use Disorder Care
Speaker: Adam Gordon, MD, MPH
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Harm Reduction
Drug User Health and Social Determinants: A Framework for Working with PWUDs use and Sex Workers
Speakers: Tanagra Melgarejo, MSW, Melissa Matheney
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Connections to Care
Transforming Bite-Sized Research Into Action: Promoting Community Conversations to Prevent and Reduce Harm From At-Risk Substance Use
Speakers: Lisa Wexler, PhD, Lara Coughlin, PhD, Chelsea Wilkins, LMSW, Tara Schmidt, MPH
1:30 – 2:30 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Shifting Tides: The Continued Evolution of “The Fourth Wave”
Speaker: Kelly Olson, PhD
1:30 – 2:00 PM
Harm Reduction
What is a Recovery Doula?
Speakers: Michelle Kavouras, CDCS, NCRS, NCAC I, CPRS, RCPF, CADC, Avi Asher
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Harm Reduction
Drug Overdose and Substance Use Data Sources – What Data Are Out There?
Speaker: Jessica Filley
1:30 – 2:30 PM
Connections to Care
Partnering with Primary Care and the Community for Withdrawal Management
Speakers: Jazz Fajardo, MSN, RN, Shannon Smith, CMA, Dan Hartman, MD, MPH
2:45 – 3:45 PM
Main Stage
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: A Community Approach to Recovery
Speaker: Tiffany Hall, MPA
3:45 – 4:30 PM
Main Stage
The Transformation of the Crisis Behavioral Response System in Alaska
Speaker: Eric Boyer, MPH
Day 2: Wednesday - May 14, 2025
10:15 – 11:15 AM
Main Stage
Changing Stigmatizing Beliefs to Support Healthy and Safe Behaviors
Speaker: Kari Finley, PhD
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Increasing Access to MOUD in Rural Alaska through Mobile Delivery of Extended-Release Buprenorphine Injections
Speaker: Sarah Spencer, DO, FASAM
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Harm Reduction
Meaningful Involvement of People Who Use Drugs
Speakers: Tanagra Melgarejo, MSW, Melissa Matheney
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Connections to Care
12:00 – 12:30 PM
Connections to Care
Crisis Teams as Connectors: Bridging Emergency Response, Community Resources, and Addiction Treatment in Alaska
Speaker: Morgan Yaskus, Psy.M.
2:00 – 4:30 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Alaska Blanket Exercise: Healing Through Indigenous Storytelling
Speakers: Rebecca Ervin, BA, Kelsey Hernández
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Harm Reduction
Hepatitis C Prevention and Treatment: Opportunities for Harm Reduction, Recovery, and Cross-Sector Partnerships
Speaker: Kira England, PhD
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Connections to Care
3:30 – 4:00 PM
Harm Reduction
4:00 – 4:30 PM
Harm Reduction
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Connections to Care
The Role of Social Determinants in Sustained Recovery: Lived Experience and Evidence Base Practice for Obtaining and Maintaining Recovery
Speakers: Esme Imgrund, BSW, CDC I, Christine Hundley
Day 3: Thursday - May 15, 2025
9:15 – 10:15 AM
Main Stage
Overdose Safety Planning and Facilitating Pathways to Care
Speaker: Jussara Little, MPH, RD, LD
10:15 – 11:15 AM
Main Stage
The Fury, the Folly & The Failure. Why Our Current Approach to the Opioid Crisis Is Flawed — and How We Can Reclaim A Better Future with Evidence, Empathy, and Urgency.
Speaker: Donald Stader, MD, FACEP, FASAM
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Building and Supporting Recovery Ready Communities on the Southern Kenai Peninsula
Speakers: Willy Dunne, BS, Jaclyn Rainwater
12:00 – 12:30 PM
Harm Reduction
Foundations of Harm Reduction
Speakers: Tanagra Melgarejo, MSW, Melissa Matheney
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Connections to Care
12:00 – 12:30 PM
Connections to Care
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Integrating Tobacco Treatment Into Behavioral Health Settings
Speakers: Lori Price, MPH, BS, AS, TTS, Jennifer Chikoyak
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Treatment and Recovery
Combatting Substance Use Disorders with Academic Detailing
Speakers: Katy Wright, MPA, Gloria Burnett, MS
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Harm Reduction
Voices from the Frontline: Insights from People Engaged in Low-Threshold Clinics
Speakers: Annette Hubbard, Emily DiPaolo, Adam Mahoney
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Harm Reduction
The National Guard’s Response to Alaska’s Opioid Epidemic: The Counterdrug Support Program
Speaker: Kimberly Westfall
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Connections to Care
Unlocking the Power of Collaboration: Integrated Care Within Schools
Speakers: Haylee Donovan, B.Ed., M.Ed.L., Marc Lantz, Brendan Wilson