Description

In the fight against the opioid epidemic, strengthening our “communities' support, capacity, and education may help turn the tide and prevent overdose deaths” (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). Novel approaches to address the complex opioid crisis are needed to advance care coordination and accelerate change. To help save more lives and respond to the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose, this webinar will focus on the effective use of Naloxone and the role of health professionals in preventing overdose.

Join to hear about how several institutions and their collaborators are identifying interprofessional opportunities and resources related to overdose reversal. Panelists will describe their interprofessional education for collaborative practice (IPECP) approaches to address how health professional learners can take action to save lives and prevent avoidable deaths related to overdose.

Speakers include:

• Blake Fagan, MD, Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorders, Mountain Area Health Education Center
• Caroline Davidson, MPH, Director, Practice Improvement and Consulting, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
• Amy Blue, PhD, Associate Vice President for Interprofessional Education, University of Florida; Clinical Professor, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida
• Kodilichi Echeozo, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCACP, Lieutenant commander, U.S. Public Health Service; Reviewer, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Moderator)
• Ruby Tiwari, PharmD, Lieutenant commander, U.S. Public Health Service; Consumer Safety Officer, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Moderator)

• Explain strategies to address the nationwide overdose and death epidemic, including increased training on and access to life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications
• Describe interprofessional approaches and lessons learned in preparing learners to address the opioid crisis

To register

Speakers

Blake Fagan, MD

Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorders, Mountain Area Health Education Center

Professor, Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Blake Fagan, MD, is family physician at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville and a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as the Clinical Director of Substance Use Disorder Initiatives, and trains healthcare providers and medical residency programs across the state in medication-assisted treatment, safe pain management, and safe opioid prescribing practices. He has also been vetted by the Opioid Response Network as a subject-matter expert in the diagnosis and treatment of stimulant use disorders.

Dr. Fagan completed his undergraduate education at the University of Missouri–Columbia, medical school at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and his family medicine residency at MAHEC in Asheville. In 2019, Dr. Fagan served as the clinical consultant for the opioid crisis at the CDC Foundation in North Carolina. As of February 2021, Dr. Fagan is a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine, Board-Certified in Addiction Medicine.

Caroline Davidson, MPH

Director, Practice Improvement and Consulting, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

Caroline Davidson is a Director with the Practice Improvement and Consulting team of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. In this role, Caroline oversees several different projects largely focused on harm reduction and substance use.

Caroline brings a history of working in behavioral health, and both academic and grassroots knowledge of harm reduction, substance use disorder, and treatment. Prior to coming to the National Council, Caroline worked for the national nonprofit Shatterproof, steering the organization’s Treatment Atlas platform for locating high-quality substance use disorder treatment. Caroline also previously provided risk reduction training to young adults injecting opioids, and worked in communications and data analysis at the Viral Hepatitis Program of the NYC Health Department. She is an experienced HIV/hepatitis C test counselor, and has conducted sessions with participants in substance use treatment centers and at street-based outreach alike.

Caroline has a B.A. degree in Public Health and French from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.P.H. degree from the Mailman School of Public Health. She resides in New York City, and is 7 years sober from alcohol.

Amy Blue, PhD

Associate Vice President for Interprofessional Education, University of Florida

Clinical Professor, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida

Amy Blue, PhD is the Associate Vice President for Interprofessional Education – UF Health, and Clinical Professor in Environmental and Global Health in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida (UF). She earned her doctorate in Anthropology (Medical) from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Blue has been engaged in interprofessional education (IPE) since 2007, having founded the IPE program at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Blue has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the medical and health professions education literature, including the IPE literature, and is a Senior Editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Care, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. She was a member of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Expert Panel that wrote the original Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice.  She was a co-founder of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC) and served as Chair from 2022- 2023 for the organization.

Kodilichi Echeozo, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCACP

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR), U.S. Public Health Service

Reviewer, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Moderator)

LCDR Kodilichi (Kodi) Echeozo is a Labeling Reviewer in the Office of Generic Drugs, FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She plays a critical role in advancing FDA’s public health mission by mitigating errors on medication labeling to promote the safe and effective use of generic drugs. She facilitates bringing highly needed and cost-effective generic drug products to the American Public.

LCDR Echeozo joined the USPHS Commissioned Corps in November 2016 and currently serves as the Pharmacist Professional Advisory Committee Policy Workgroup Lead. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Trinity University with a B.S. degree in Biology and received her Pharm.D. and M.B.A degree from Roseman University of Health Sciences. She is also a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) and Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP).

Ruby Tiwari, PharmD

Lieutenant commander, U.S. Public Health Service

Consumer Safety Officer, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Moderator)

LCDR Ruby Tiwari is a Consumer Safety Officer in the Office of Drug Security, Integrity, and Response in the Office of Compliance, FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She is one of the lead incident coordinators, where she is responds to incidents that threaten the safety and quality of the nation’s drug supply involving counterfeits, unapproved drugs, and manufacturing quality issues, and collaborates closely with other Agency resources to resolve these public health threats.

LCDR Tiwari joined the USPHS Commissioned Corps in November 2012 and is involved in several PHS workgroups. She joined the FDA in 2010. She received her Pharm.D. from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in Boston, Massachusetts.