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Home
About Us
Programs
Online Courses
Resources
Events/Conferences
Calendar
Contact

The Faculty

Jonathan T. Fanburg

Faculty

Jonathan T. Fanburg

Faculty

Dr. Fanburg is a Pediatrician and Adolescent Medicine specialist who has worked in Maine for over 20 years seeing children, adolescent, and young adults. Presently, he is the Chief of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Maine Medical Center. Clinically, he sees patients aged 10-26 years old for eating disorders, substance use, adolescent gynecology, mental health, and acute and well visits. In the community he is school physician or medical director for 4 school systems, the University of Southern Maine, and Long Creek.

Jonathan Fellers

Faculty

Jonathan Fellers

Faculty

Dr. Fellers, MD, is an addiction psychiatrist who works with patients, families, and our health care system to promote high quality evidence-based screening, assessment, and treatment for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental disorders. Dr. Fellers held various roles in medical and graduate medical education over the past 10 years, serving as a lecturer, mentor, site supervisor, rotation supervisor, and program director. Skilled in public speaking, he has delivered presentations at the local, regional, and national level and is a frequent presenter for continuing medical education through Grand Rounds, webinars, and conferences. He developed from the ground up the curriculum for the newly formed Addiction Medicine fellowship at Maine Medical Center. He has participated and presented at several ECHO programs during his time at MaineHealth. Currently, Dr. Fellers serves as Medical Director for two treatments programs. At Crossroads, he oversees the delivery of gender-responsive addiction, eating disorder, and behavioral health treatments for women in two residential programs and two IOPs. Through Foundation House, he supervises an extended care residential program that combines transitional sober living with clinical services (including IOP) for men age 17 to 35. He operates a small private practice and serves on the Board of the Portland Community Recovery Center and the Law and Addiction Committee for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Eric Haram

Faculty

Eric Haram

Faculty

Eric Haram is owner of Haram Consulting LLC, whose aim is to improve community health and safety from the impact of substance use disorders, by providing consulting and technical assistance in the areas of strategic planning, workforce development and systems improvement for States, Counties and Organizations. Eric has 30 years experience delivering, designing, and directing substance use treatment services in hospitals, correctional facilities, court systems and community behavioral health centers. Haram Consulting, LLC provides consultation in 11 states, from California to West Virginia, including his home state of Maine where he directs behavioral health services for York Hospital.

Amelia Hersey

Faculty

Amelia Hersey

Faculty

Amelia Hersey, PA-C, is the medical director of Hope House Clinic at Penobscot Community Healthcare where she does street medicine, recovery and homelessness medicine. She has also been the lead provider for the New Horizons Detox Unit in Hampden (a ten-bed withdrawal management unit for acute opioid and alcohol withdrawal) since it opened in 2018. She had previously worked as the lead physician assistant with the Community Care and Geriatrics team at PCHC, working in skilled nursing and long-term care for the 8 years, where she treated patients in nursing facilities for opioid and alcohol use disorders.

Jesse Higgins

Faculty

Jesse Higgins

Faculty

Jesse Higgins RN, MSN is the Director of Integrated Behavioral Health at Northern Light Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine. An Acadia provider since 2010, Jesse has practiced consultative psychiatry in a family medicine practice at Eastern Maine Medical Center since 2011. She developed and directs an integrated program that leverages licensed clinical social workers and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners on-site and via telehealth in outpatient medical practices throughout the state of Maine. The mission of this program is to improve access to behavioral health expertise for outpatient medical practice patients, families, providers, and staff. Jesse is a clinical leader and national speaker on topics that include integrated behavioral health, shared decision making, and strengthening medical practices as a trauma-informed access point for patients presenting with mental illness and substance use disorders. Jesse is proud to co-chair the Bangor Area Clinical Substance Use Workgroup, a clinical consortium that takes a collective public health approach to caring for patients and families impacted by substance use disorders; and serve on the Board of Trustees at Partners for Peace, the domestic violence resource center for Penobscot and Piscataquis Counties.

Randy Morrison

Faculty

Randy Morrison

Faculty

Randy Morrison (he/him) is a person who personally understands the challenges of navigating substance use and mental health concerns. He is a Certified Intentional Peer Support (IPS) Specialist, IPS Trainer, and CCAR Recovery Coach trainer; and has a master’s in public health and a master’s in policy, planning, and management. Randy spent over seven years leading the growth and implementation of peer support programs across Maine’s largest healthcare system before becoming a full-time trainer and consultant. During his time as a peer support director, he grew a peer support team of 3 peer supporters to over 65, the largest in Maine at the time. The programs spanned substance use peer support, mental health peer support, youth peer support, and family/parent peer support. Those positions worked in a variety of settings as well, including emergency departments, primary care, behavioral health clinics, youth early intervention programs, case management programs, and four peer support centers. Randy was a co-author of a manual for integrating peer support into multidisciplinary teams as well as contributed to a manual on integrating peer support roles into "alternative courts". Randy is passionate about peer support fidelity and creating systems that center the people utilizing them.

Stephanie Nichols

Faculty

Stephanie Nichols

Faculty

Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, BCPP, MPH, FCCP is an Associate Professor in the University of New England School of Pharmacy, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Tufts School of Medicine, and a Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorder Pharmacist at Maine Medical Center and the Comprehensive Addiction Medicine Clinic in Portland. She graduated from the University at Buffalo and completed an Inpatient Pharmacy Residency at Maine Medical Center. Dr. Nichols is a Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist (BCPP) and is an inducted fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (FCCP). Her research focuses on identifying, mitigating, and preventing psychotropic adverse effects; epidemiology of opioids and other psychoactive substances; and identifying postpartum psychosis risk factors.

Alane O'Connor

Faculty

Alane O'Connor

Faculty

Alane O’Connor, DNP is the director of perinatal addiction medicine at Maine Medical Center and is the medical advisor of the Maine Maternal Opioid Misuse (MaineMOM) Initiative, a 5-year, $5 million federal grant to expand access to substance use treatment for pregnant and postpartum individuals in Maine. She also co-chairs Maine’s Opioid Response Clinical Advisory Committee, which advises the Governor’s opioid response director on clinical and public policy issues. Dr. O’Connor has more than 15 years of experience in addiction medicine in a variety of settings including the design and implementation of an extended-release buprenorphine pilot at Somerset County Jail, rapid access to substance use treatment in emergency departments through Maine Medical Association’s Project RISE, as well extensive experience caring for pregnant patients with substance use disorder in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. She lectures regionally and nationally and has trained more than 100 family medicine and obstetric resident physicians. She is a core faculty member of Maine’s only addiction medicine fellowship program. Finally, she has published numerous peer reviewed articles on maternal and infant outcomes of substance exposed pregnancies including the related child welfare implications as well as the care of incarcerated pregnant patients.

Eva Quirion

Faculty

Eva Quirion

Faculty

Dr. Quirion is a graduate of The University of Maine, Orono and the University of Phoenix. She joined an interventional pain practice after receiving her FNP certification. She then joined St. Joseph Healthcare in 2014 as a Pain Care provider embedded in primary care. Eva has been working with patients to help them manage their chronic pain. She has worked closely with primary care providers to improve patient safety related to chronic pain medications and other controlled substances. She has become an expert at tapering chronic controlled substances with compassion. The uncovering of undiagnosed substance use disorder led Eva to work with the St. Joseph’s MOUD team. At this time, Eva manages over 100 patients who are on suboxone for substance use disorder. The recovery group has also offers sublocade (injectable buprenorphine) as an additional treatment option for those with opioid use disorder. Eva’s dissertation topic is Compassion Fatigue Among Nurse Practitioners in Maine. She became interested in compassion early in her career and works to promote compassion as a therapeutic tool in patient care. In addition to clinical practice, Eva is also serving as faculty in the University of Maine’s NP program. Eva’s greatest joys are her husband, two daughters, and granddaughter. She enjoys flower gardening and back yard bird watching.

Richard Rawson

Faculty

Richard Rawson

Faculty

Richard A. Rawson, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and a Research Professor at the Vermont Center for Behavior and Health at the University of Vermont. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Vermont in 1974. Dr. Rawson conducted numerous clinical trials on pharmacological and psychosocial/behavioral addiction treatments for the treatment of individuals with cocaine and methamphetamine disorders. He has represented the US at numerous international meetings on methamphetamine. He has led addiction research and training projects for the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department, exporting science-based knowledge to many parts of the world. He currently is providing consultation on treatment of stimulant use disorder to 8 US states and several international projects. Dr. Rawson has published 3 books, 40 book chapters, and over 250 peer-reviewed articles and has conducted at least a zillion workshops, paper presentations, and training sessions.

Kinna Thakarar

Faculty

Kinna Thakarar

Faculty

Dr. Kinna Thakarar is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Maine Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine in Portland, Maine. She is board-certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and addiction medicine and has a special interest in health services research related to the ID/ substance use disorder syndemic. She completed ID fellowship and additional addiction medicine training at Boston Medical Center. She provides infectious disease and addiction medicine care at a variety of sites, including, MMC, MMP ID, Preble Street Learning Collaborative, and also precepts trainees at the Gilman (HIV/hepatitis) clinic in Portland.

Andrea Truncali

Faculty

Andrea Truncali

Faculty

Andrea Truncali, MD, MPH is a board-certified physician in both Internal and Addiction Medicine, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University. She completed medical school and residency at New York University, followed by further training in preventive medicine and public health. In pursuit of improving the health and well-being of underserved people, Dr Truncali takes care of patients in specialty substance use treatment as well as primary care settings, provides education and guidance to physicians on the topic of substance use disorder, and contributes to activities at the state level regarding substance use prevention and treatment.

Susan Woods

Faculty

Susan Woods

Faculty

Susan Woods, MD, MPH is an internist, informaticist, researcher and entrepreneur who is passionate about using digital health to extend care to patients’ lives while reducing healthcare resource demands. She is founder and CEO of Generated Health, accelerating patient self-care using low-cost, everyday technology. Serving as the first digital director of patient experience in the VA’s Connected Care Office, she led development and deployment of the patient portal and Open Notes, mobile app development, and patient generated data solutions. She founded the Center for Tobacco Independence and Maine Tobacco HelpLine. She is Visiting Associate Professor, Tufts School of Medicine in Public Health and Informatics, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Participatory Medicine. She serves on boards of the Maine Medical Association, New England Rural Health Association, and Maine Technology Institute.

ME Substance Use Disorders Learning Community