Over my career, I have had the privilege to contribute to or lead a wide variety of diverse projects. Most of these have enabled me to use my expertise and role at the institution to address community needs, especially in the areas of substance abuse and mental health service delivery and through serving up data analytics for data-driven decision-making.
Below are a few public-facing examples of my work. A full list of funded projects can be found on my CV.
selected active projects
Erie County Risk Indicator Database
Part of an ongoing collaborative project with the Erie County Dept. of Mental Health that I have led for the past five years (and have been involved with for 15+). It provides data analytic and evaluation services to support the substance use and mental health prevention and treatment systems in the County. The project utilizes an evidence-based planning model with the ultimate goal of
improving the delivery and effectiveness of treatment and prevention services. The link is to a comprehensive portal of project data, reports and the system dashboard.
The Point
New York State-wide community-based opioid service search portal supported through the NYS Dept. of Health AIDS Institute Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP). The site is a crucial resource for linking the community to drug and syringe disposal locations, syringe and naloxone access, Hepatitis C testing facilities and other resources. The site is one tool for communities to mitigate the harms associated with the opioid epidemic through limiting social access to opioids and linking to injection drug users to harm reduction supports.
Talk it over
The environmental prevention campaign resulting from a collaborative project supporting the coalition of substance use and mental health prevention providers in Erie County, NY known as Px21. This two year project is supported by the Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation and fills a critical gap in universal prevention messaging aimed at parents and other caregivers, empowering them with skills, knowledge and strategies to talk with kids about challenging topics, like alcohol, drugs, COVID, vaping, and mental health, among others.
Anchor Mission Initiative
I have held a lead role in Buffalo State’s institutional involvement in national higher education Anchor Mission cohort since its inception in 2013. Through this experience, I have developed expertise in integrating broad community data with aligned institutional indicators for data driven strategy development and decision-making around IHE-led community impacts.