Opioid Advisory Task Force Leadership Committee
Gavin Bart, MD, PhD, FACP, DFASAM
Division of Addiction Medicine, Hennepin Healthcare
Department of Medicine, Medical School
Dr. Bart is Director of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare and Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He received his MD from the University of Minnesota and trained in internal medicine at the Hennepin County Medical Center. His PhD is in experimental and clinical pharmacology, also from the University of Minnesota. His areas of expertise include clinical pharmacology and the pharmacological management of opioid use disorders. His current research focuses on the implementation of opioid use disorder treatment in hospital and primary care settings and on interventions for psychostimulant use disorder. He is principal investigator of NorthStar Node of the NIDA National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network and has provided extensive international technical assistance including to the PEPFAR /Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s capacity building HIV and addiction efforts in Vietnam and South East Asia and the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs’ effort to develop international technology transfer centers for addiction prevention and treatment.
Ben Clark, PhD
Division of Addiction Medicine, Hennepin Healthcare
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Medical School
Dr. Clark is the senior program manager for the University of Minnesota’s Medical Discovery Team on Addiction (MDTA). He is a University of Minnesota professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. As senior program manager of the MDTA he works closely with the MDTA Director, Dr. Mark Thomas, to lead and oversee the operational efficiency of the day-to-day research support functions and to provide key strategic direction of the MDTA initiative.
Bobbi Daniels, MD
Office of Academic Clinical Affairs
Dr. Daniels is the Associate Vice President for Clinical Affairs and is responsible for developing innovative solutions to vexing health care problems by bringing together expertise from across the University and by engaging with community partners.
Roni Evans, DC, MS, PhD
Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing, School of Nursing
Dr. Evans is the Director of the Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program which focuses on developing, testing and implementing accessible complementary and integrative health interventions for pain in clinical and community settings. She is Co-PI of two studies funded by NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (HEAL) which aim to advance equitable and safe pain care in communities who have been underserved due to rurality, race/ethnicity and income.
Carolyn Fairbanks, PhD
Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy
Dr. Fairbanks develops non-addictive analgesic medications to treat chronic pain and treatments for opioid addiction. She also uses pre-clinical models of opioid addiction and relapse in the context of chronic pain to understand how the reward centers may be altered under the condition of chronic pain.
James Fricton DDS, MS
University of Minnesota Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, and Public Health
Dr. Fricton is a Professor Emeritus in the University of Minnesota Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, and Public Health. He was trained in Dentistry at the University of Iowa and in Medical Anesthesiology and Pain Management at UCLA School of Medicine and started the Orofacial Pain Program at the University of Minnesota. He has 40 years of experience in patient care, University teaching, and National Institutes of Health-sponsored research on relieving and preventing chronic head and neck pain and use of health information technology in patient care.
Alicia House
Steve Rummler HOPE Network
Alicia has worked with opioid use disorder in High Intensity Residential, Outpatient and sober living settings. For the past 4 years she has worked in non-profit becoming the largest distributor of naloxone and testing strips in Minnesota. Alicia was a voting member for the state Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council for 3 years and currently sits on the opioid advisory council at Washington County.
Ann Ingwalson, PsyD
Cresta Jones, MD, FACOG
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health (OBGYN), Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Medical School
Dr. Jones holds numerous leadership and advisory positions related to her care of women with substance use disorder in pregnancy.
Mamatha Kadiyala MD, MHCDS, FASA
Department of Anesthesiology, Medical School
Dr. Kadiyala is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is a member of the quality team for the Department of Anesthesia and has experience in implementing quality initiatives in the perioperative area. She focuses on interdisciplinary team work for improving perioperative outcomes with emphasis on addressing social determinants of health.
Pinar Karaca-Mandic, PhD
Department of Finance, Carlson School of Management
Dr. Karaca-Mandic teaches economics of healthcare marketplace, health finance and medical technology evaluation, including as related to pharmaceutical use. She has published on issues related to opioid prescribing by physicians and hospitals, and is also the PI on a new grant by American Cancer Society to study the entry and uptake of biosimilar drugs in the U.S. markets.
Ryan Kelly , MD, MS
Department of Medicine, Medical School
University of Minnesota Medical Center
Dr. Kelly is a University of Minnesota Assistant Professor of Medicine, and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Addiction Medicine. He practices as a general medicine hospitalist at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and as an internal medicine and pediatrics primary care physician at the Community and University Health Care Center. He created and co-directs the Harm Reduction Addiction Consult Team at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and is a board member and medical director for Southside Harm Reduction, a non-profit mobile syringe service program in Minneapolis. His primary interests include improving access to care for people who use drugs, both in and out of the hospital. He also has a focus on mentorship and coaching graduate and undergraduate medical education. Finally, he also is interested in improving disparities locally and globally.
Robert Levy, MD
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Medical School,
North Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program
Dr. Levy practices full-spectrum family medicine, including obstetrics. He is treasurer of the Minnesota Society of Addiction Medicine and was elected to a repeat term on the American Society of Addiction Medicine Public Policy Committee in 2018. He recently received a grant from SAMHSA to help Minnesota address the opioid epidemic. His interests are in healthcare professionals who have substance use disorder, chronic pain management, the integration of addiction treatment into primary care, hospital medicine, rural ER, and addiction in pregnancy and the neonatal period. He is also treasurer at the Minnesota Society of Addiction Medicine.
Kerry Michael, PhD
U of M-Morris, Psychology
Dr. Michael is a professor of psychology at UMN Morris. She is the co-PI on a grant to evaluate drug court program in MN Eighth Judicial District.
Laura Palombi, PharmD, MPH, MAT, AE-C
College of Pharmacy, Duluth, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Palombi is a professor and community-based participatory action researcher focused on preventing and addressing substance abuse. She has been involved in a variety of projects and collaborations in Northeastern Minnesota, including memberships on numerous rural coalitions and partnerships with public health departments. She has affiliate appointments in the School of Public Health and Center for Bioethics.
Colin Planalp, MPA
Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health
Colin Planalp studies the evolution of the opioid crisis, from its early days driven by prescription painkillers, followed by the ascent of heroin, fentanyl and other non-opioid substances that often mingle in the illicit drug trade.
Charles Reznikoff, MD
Department of Medicine, Medical School
Dr. Reznikoff participates in the Minnesota Department of Human Service Opioid Provider Work Group. He collaborates with the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement to improve consistency of opioid prescribing and addiction treatment statewide. He also works with the Minnesota Medical Association and the Steve Rummler Hope Network to develop curriculum for medical students and providers to better prescribe opioids and treat opioid addiction.
Clarence Shannon IV, MD
Department of Anesthesiology, Medical School
Dr. Shannon has demonstrated excellence as a clinician, teacher, mentor, and researcher. His leadership as Academic and Medical Director for Chronic Pain Management has resulted in a comprehensive care model that is transforming treatment for patients seeking relief from chronic pain while dramatically reducing the reliance on opioids.
Daniel Skaar, DDS, MS, MBA
Division of Periodontology, School of Dentistry
Diplomate, American Board of Periodontology
Dr. Skaar’s research interests and publications focus on clinical medical and pharmacology issues affecting oral health care. Recent research interests include antibiotic prophylaxis and stewardship, and pharmacogenomic applications in acute pain management. He has directed and presented numerous continuing education programs on a variety of pharmacology topics.
M. Kumi Smith, PhD, MPIA
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health
Dr. Smith is an associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health in the UMN School of Public Health. She leads research on ways to improve equitable access to addiction treatment, particularly for communities of color, people experiencing homelessness, and people who inject drugs. She also teaches a graduate course called "The Drug Overdose Crisis in America." She engages in regular outreach activities as a volunteer at Southside Harm Reduction Services in Minneapolis.
Mark Thomas, PhD
Department of Neuroscience, Medical School
Dr. Thomas studies brain pathways and stimulation to prevent drug addiction relapse. These studies will provide insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of an important form of experience-dependent plasticity that may hold some of the clues to drug addiction.
George Wilcox, PhD
Department of Neuroscience, Medical School
Dr. Wilcox’s research is focused on neural mechanisms of opioid analgesia and analgesic synergy in spinal cord and peripheral tissues. He and his team have developed a non-addictive combination opioid treatment that lacks the CNS side effects like respiratory depression and addiction liability.