Curt Beckwith, MD, is the Principal Investigator of the NIH/NIDA-funded Lifespan/Brown Criminal Justice Research Program on Substance Use and HIV since its inception in 2014. He is an Associate Director of the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and Co-Director of the CFAR’s BioBehavioral Sciences Core, as well as the Core Director for the Special Populations Core of the COBRE on Opioids and Overdose. In addition, Dr. Beckwith is the Program Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Brown University and provides comprehensive care to persons infected with HIV, HCV, and other infectious diseases at the Immunology and Infectious Diseases Center of the Miriam Hospital.
Dr. Beckwith has developed an NIH-funded research and mentoring portfolio focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment and longitudinal care of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among underserved and vulnerable populations, particularly substance users and persons involved with the justice system. He has conducted over ten clinical studies among justice populations and his current funding includes a grant from Gilead Sciences to investigate rapid HCV testing and linkage to HCV treatment for persons on probation or parole.
Email: [email protected]
Brad Brockmann, JD, MDiv, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice, is a civil rights attorney whose career emphasis is on raising awareness at the national and state levels about the healthcare issues and challenges facing incarcerated and other justice-involved populations as well as the individuals and institutions who are charged with their custody and care. He has been designing and teaching courses on incarceration, criminal justice, and health at Brown University’s School of Public Health since 2013.
Mr. Brockmann collaborates with justice system stakeholders to identify and support projects that respond to the challenging issues that arise at the intersection of incarceration, recidivism, and public health locally and nationally. His current research with the Maine Department of Corrections is to document and assess the Department’s development and implementation of policies and practices intended to shift the operating culture of the state’s maximum security prison from one of punishment to one of wellness. The ultimate goal is to develop a national model of corrections centered on creating a culture of wellness for all who live and work in carceral environments.
Email: [email protected]
Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, PhD
Email: [email protected]
Mari-Lynn Drainoni, Ph.D.
Mari-Lynn Drainoni, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Section of Infectious Diseases at the Boston University (BU) School of Medicine and the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management at the BU School of Public Health, and is Co-Director of the Evans Center for Implementation and Improvement Sciences (CIIS) at BU. While her primary content areas are substance use and infectious diseases, her primary focus is on implementation science research methods that she applies to a wide range of content areas. Dr. Drainoni trains and mentors faculty, fellows, and students in implementation science and qualitative research methods.
Dr. Drainoni has a great deal of experience working collaboratively in clinical and community-based settings. Her current portfolio includes serving as the research site Implementation Science Core lead on the NIDA-funded HEALing Communities Study, the lead implementation scientist on the Providence-Boston CFAR, and an MPI on a T32 predoctoral training grant. She also is the lead implementation scientist on two NIH-funded hybrid implementation-effectiveness studies, a current AHRQ-funded mixed methods study of implementation strategies for antibiotic stewardship, and three additional studies focused on behavioral model design, implementation of new treatment modalities, and intervention dissemination.
Email: [email protected]
Brandon Marshall, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. He received a PhD in epidemiology from the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. In 2011, he completed postdoctoral training at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Broadly, Dr. Marshall’s research focuses on substance use epidemiology, infectious diseases, and the social, environmental, and structural determinants of health of drug-using populations. He is the Principal Investigator of multiple NIH- and CDC-funded studies that seek to improve the health of people who use drugs. He has published more than 200 scientific publications.
As the Scientific Director of PreventOverdoseRI, Rhode Island’s drug overdose surveillance and information dashboard, Dr. Marshall works closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health to track, measure, and evaluate efforts to address the state’s overdose epidemic. He also serves as an expert advisor to Governor Gina Raimondo’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force. He has received numerous accolades and awards for his research, including the 2016 Early Career Award from the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and the 2019 Early Career Public Health Research Award from the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health.
Email: [email protected]
Amy Nunn, ScD, is a Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health. She holds a secondary appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brown University Medical School. A social scientist by training, she has worked in several countries and conducted domestic and international research on a variety of health topics, including HIV/AIDS, access to reproductive health services, and family planning. Dr. Nunn currently conducts applied research on how to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in HIV infection, treatment and care. With colleagues, she oversees two pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation science programs in Providence, Rhode Island and Jackson, Mississippi. She is the Principal Investigator of an NIH grant focused on training African Americans and Latinos in community and clinical research related to HIV/AIDS, with a focus on training new investigators in the Deep South.
Dr. Nunn is best known for her innovative community partnerships to address disparities, including engaging clergy and community leaders in HIV testing, treatment and social marketing campaigns. She is also the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPHI). In 2020, RIPHI launched Open Door Health, Rhode Island’s first LGBTQ clinic.
Email: [email protected]
Nick Zaller, Ph.D.
Dr.Zaller is a Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and founder and Director of the Southern Public Health and Criminal Justice Research Center (S-PAC). His research focus is on the overlap between behavioral health disorders, including addiction and mental illness, infectious diseases and incarceration both in the United States and internationally. Dr. Zaller earned his bachelor’s degree in microbiology and East Asian Studies from Kansas University in 1999. After graduation, he lived in China for a year as a Fulbright Scholar before completing a doctorate in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004. Dr. Zaller went on to complete an NIH post-doctoral fellowship in HIV and Other Infectious Consequences of Substance Use at The Miriam Hospital and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he served as a faculty member for 10 years prior to moving to Arkansas.
Email: [email protected]