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SPRC Suicide Prevention Regional Planning Conference- Regions 3 & 5

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
May 18th - 20th, 2005
Public Health Service Regions 3 and 5

Speaker Biographies

(In Alphabetical Order) Donna Holland Barnes, Ph.D.
Donna Holland Barnes is a Research Associate and Professor at Howard University's Psychiatry Department in Washington, D.C. where she teaches suicide risk management to residents and third year medical students. She also conducts research on families who have lost someone to suicide. She is currently working with bipolar patients on a collaborative genetics study with a research team in the department of psychiatry. Barnes is co-founder and President of the National Organization for People of Color against Suicide (NOPCAS) and a founding member of the National Council for Suicide Prevention (NCSP). She has served on several national and local committees that pertained to suicidal behavior and appears on radio talk shows and in national magazines frequently on the subject of suicide. She sits on the board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Organization for Attempters and Survivors of Suicide in Interfaith Services (OASSIS).

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Lidia Bernik, M.H.S.
Lidia Bernik, serves as Program Coordinator at the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN USA). She has a Masters in Health Science in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a B.S. in Human Service Studies from Cornell University. During the summers of 1998 and 1999, she interned at the Westchester Division of New York Weill Cornell's Department of Psychiatry in the Adult Day Treatment Program. Prior to earning her master's degree, she worked as a corporate paralegal in New York City. She is a suicide survivor, having lost her sister in the year 2000. She was born and raised in New York City and is fluent in both Spanish and French.

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Alan L. Berman (Lanny), Ph.D.
Alan L. Berman is Executive Director of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS). He is a Past-President of the AAS (1984-1985) and their 1982 Shneidman Award recipient (for Outstanding Contributions in Research in Suicidology). Dr. Berman holds a B.A. degree from the Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America. From 1969 to 1991 he taught at the American University where he attained the rank of tenured full professor. In 1991 Dr. Berman changed his appointment to that of Distinguished Adjunct Professor when he was named Director of the newly established National Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the Washington School of Psychiatry, a position he held until accepting his current role with the AAS in January, 1995. A Diplomate in Clinical Psychology (American Board of Professional Psychology) and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Berman maintains a full time private practice of psychotherapy and psychological consultation at the Washington (D.C.) Psychological Center. He has published over 100 professional articles and book chapters. From 1990-1994, he served as Case Consultation Editor of the journal Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior (SLTB). In 1994 Dr. Berman was elected Editor of SLTB; however, he resigned this position when he was chosen as the AAS's Executive Director. He remains a consulting editor to SLTB and three other journals. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Suicide Research. In 1999 Dr. Berman was elected 1st Vice President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP); in 2003 he was elected Treasurer of IASP. He currently (2004) is President of Section (VII) of Behavioral Emergencies of the Division of Clinical Psychology (Div. 12) of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Berman appears frequently on both national and local media. He has appeared on The Today Show (2x), Good Morning America, Hour Magazine, and The Larry King Show.

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Jeffrey Bridge
Jeffrey Bridge earned his doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. His primary research interest is focused on understanding optimal approaches to care for youth who have engaged in suicidal behavior to implement effective, evidence-based services for this population.

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Heidi Bryan
Heidi Bryan obtained her B.A. degree in Chemistry from Cedar Crest College and worked 2 years as a research chemist at FMC Corporation in Princeton, NJ, then for over ten years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. Later she worked as an Administrative Assistant, Trust Assistant, Internet Banking Supervisor and Merchant Services Representative. She resigned in February, 2004 to devote more time to Feeling Blue Suicide Prevention Council, which she founded in 1998. Heidi is a Certified QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Gatekeeper suicide prevention trainer, along with having been trained in the Columbia TeenScreen, Signs of Suicide High School and Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention programs. She is a member of numerous national (suicide prevention and survivor) organizations and serves on the Chester County Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board. Heidi also volunteers for PRO-ACT (Pennsylvania Recovery Organization - Achieving Community Together) as the co-facilitator of their family program, and lives with her husband, 2 dogs and cat.

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Colleen Carpenter
Colleen Carpenter is the Project Coordinator for the Indiana Suicide Prevention Coalition (ISPC) and a suicide survivor. Prior to her work with ISPC, she spent 10 years doing research and working with programs in the fields of social inequality, reproductive health, and STD/HIV prevention. She has worked in a variety of health education oriented capacities with a multitude of audiences: troubled youth, juvenile offenders, clinic patients, college students, medical and nursing students, and reproductive health professionals. She created a Continuing Medical Education course which explores the cultural and psychosocial barriers to pap screening and the importance of cultural competency in patient-provider interactions. She also helped manage two multimillion dollar reproductive health programs that are based in Africa. She has a masters degree in sociology from Loyola University Chicago and a master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina's Health Behavior and Health Education program.

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Charles G. Curie, M.A., A.C.S.W.
Charles G. Curie was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2001 as Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). As SAMHSA Administrator, Curie reports to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and leads the $3.2 billion agency responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the Nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment and mental health services.

Articulating the vision of "a life in the community for everyone," Curie has charted a new course for SAMHSA. To realize this vision Curie has redefined SAMHSA's mission as "building resilience and facilitating recovery." He has created an Agency matrix of priorities and principles to guide program development and resource allocation. SAMHSA's new direction is based on the premise that people of all ages, with or at risk for mental or substance abuse disorders, should have the opportunity for a fulfilling life that includes a job, a home, and meaningful personal relationships with friends and family.

Curie has over 25 years of professional experience in mental health and substance abuse services field. His core commitment to ensuring that people with addictive and mental disorders have the opportunity for full participation in American society has earned him national recognition and acclaim.

Prior to his confirmation as SAMHSA Administrator, Curie was appointed by then Governor Tom Ridge as Deputy Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for the Department of Public Welfare in Pennsylvania. During his tenure, Curie implemented a nationally recognized mental health and drug and alcohol Medicaid managed care program and streamlined fractured service delivery systems. He also established and implemented a policy to reduce and ultimately eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint practices in the state hospital system. This program won the 2000 Innovations in American Government Award sponsored by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Ford Foundation, and the Council on Excellence in Government.

Before his service in the Ridge Administration, Curie was the Director of Risk Management Services for Henry S. Lehr Inc. in Bethlehem, PA; President/CEO of the Helen H. Stevens Community Mental Health Center in Carlisle, PA; and Executive Director/CEO of the Sandusky Valley Center in Tiffin, Ohio. Curie is a native of Indiana and a graduate of Huntington College. He holds a Masters Degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and is also certified by the Academy of Certified Social Workers.

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John Draper, Ph.D.
John Draper is the Director of the federally-funded National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network at the Mental Health Association of New York City. As the Lifeline's Director, Dr. Draper oversees all aspects of this service that connects 1-800-273-TALK callers to the nearest crisis center within a national network of more than 100 agencies. Prior to his work on the Lifeline, Dr. Draper had been the Director of Public Education and the LifeNet Multicultural Hotline Network for the Mental Health Association of New York City since July of 1996. Dr. Draper previously served as Clinical Director of Interfaith Medical Center's Mobile Crisis Team in Brooklyn, where for 7 years he conducted and supervised hundreds of home visits to persons in psychiatric crisis of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. In addition to his Directorship of the national network, he has a private practice in New York City, specializing in family systems and cognitive-behavioral approaches to treatment. Dr. Draper received his doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996.

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Capri-Mara Fillmore, M.D., MPH, MSC.
Capri-Mara Fillmore, MD at Vanderbilt Medical School MPH at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health MSc in Human Nutrition at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (prior to medical school) Residencies and Board Certifications: Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles Preventive Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Current Title(s): Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Associate Director of the Preventive Medicine Residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin; Associate Medical Director of the City of Milwaukee Health Department Current Work: As Associate Medical Director at the City of Milwaukee Health Department, Dr. Fillmore has designed, developed, initiated, and evaluated a middle and high school depression screening program for students. Because of their high rates of depression, Dr. Fillmore has specifically focused on interventions for pregnant teens in this program. Much of her work is in the area of correcting health disparities, with recent emphasis in premature births and infant mortality. Her work at the Milwaukee Health Dept includes medical directorship of maternal child health programs, mental health and chronic disease programs, school-age health programs, and the lead poison prevention and the environmental health program. She has been awarded women's health and nutrition research grants from the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society and Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation. Mentors students and residents in Preventive Medicine. Previous Work: Worked as a family physician in rural California and West Virginia. Advisor on USAID projects in Armenia and Romania on maternal child health. Worked for several years in several countries for the World Health Organization of the United Nations.

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Christopher Franklin
Christopher Franklin is a certified Training Administrator for the Office of Professional Development and Training for State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. He has over 33 years in direct care experience with youth, with more than 25 of those years focused almost exclusively on working with difficult juvenile populations. Since 1992 he has been researching, studying and training Police, Educators, Juvenile counselors and communities on the culture of teenagers, its antecedents and the violence often associated with them. He has developed and written training curricula on adolescent development for youth under supervision and in detention, Teen Culture, Community and Family Dynamics and Suicide Prevention and Education. Chris also served on to the Governor's Interagency Workgroup on Youth Suicide Prevention and the State of Maryland Task Force to develop a Policy for Suicide Prevention in Juvenile Services. He is currently responsible for coordinating the statewide implementation of the training for the Suicide Prevention Policy for Department of Juvenile Services

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Peter M. Gutierrez, Ph.D.
Peter M. Gutierrez earned his Ph.D. in clinical child psychology from the University of Michigan in 2007 and have been on the faculty of the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University since 1996. He is currently an associate professor and assistant chair of the department. His primary research work has been on assessment of risk and protective factors for adolescent suicide, development and evaluation of assessment tools, and how race and culture are related to suicide risk in adolescents and young adults. I am currently president-elect of the American Association of Suicidology, an associate member of the International Academy for Suicide Research, a member of the steering committee of the Illinois Suicide Prevention Task Force, and a consulting editor for Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

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Anara Guard
Anara Guard is Associate Center Director for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. She previously was Director of Information and Marketing for Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health focusing on promoting substance use disorders prevention and treatment through community strategies. There, she led a ten-person web team and oversaw the development of a risky drinking screening website that has screened more than 250,000 people. Prior to that, she worked at Education Development Center for seven years, primarily with the Children's Safety Network Injury and Violence Prevention Resource Center. She serves on the board of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Regional Poison Control Center, on the advisory committee for Faces and Voices of Recovery, and has just completed a term as the elected chair of the American Public Health Association's Injury Control and Emergency Health Services section. Anara edits a regular column for the international journal, Injury Prevention. She has a master's degree in library and information science and a certificate in maternal and child health. She has a particular interest and expertise in the strategic communication of injury-related information: effective use of websites as part of an overall communications strategy, persuasive translation of research results for non-expert audiences, and developing and disseminating print and electronic materials.

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Linda Hale
Linda Hale is the Lead for the Wisconsin's Injury Prevention Program within the Bureau of Community Health Promotion, Division of Public Health, WI Department of Health and Family Services. It is the Injury Prevention Program's mission to reduce the burden of unintentional and intentional or violent injuries and deaths across the age span in the state and promote practices and policies that favor healthy choices and outcomes. Examples of injury prevention priorities identified in Wisconsin that Linda and her agency are currently working on include: suicide, falls, child maltreatment, youth violence, and motor vehicle related injuries, along with the coordination of statewide injury data systems such as the Wisconsin Violent Death Reporting System (WVDRS), CASEPOINT--a real time reporting system for medical examiners and coroners and overall injury mortality, morbidity and emergency department data (WISH-Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health). Ms. Hale was one of the core team members responsible for the development, adoption, and dissemination of the Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Strategy and is actively involved in the Wisconsin's Suicide Prevention Initiative. Linda has authored and co-authored injury related articles in the January 2005 and December 2000 WI Medical Journals such as, " Wisconsin's Violent Death Reporting System: Monitoring and Responding to Wisconsin's Violent Deaths", "Trends, Risk Factors, and Prevention of Falls in Older Adults in Wisconsin", "Community-Based Fall Prevention Programs for Older Adults in Wisconsin", "Bullying Prevention: Wisconsin Takes a Stand", "A Current Evaluation of Injury Programs in Wisconsin", "Community-Based Injury Prevention Programs: Toward a Safer Wisconsin". Prior to coming to the State, she worked as the Program and Clinical Director for an air medical and ground inter-facility transport service of a tertiary health care facility in the western part of the State of Wisconsin. She has been involved with education and injury prevention activities throughout her nursing and emergency medical services career of 20 plus years in both rural and urban settings, pre-hospital and acute care environments.

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Christian L. Hanna, MPH
Christian L. Hanna received a bachelors of science in natural resources from the University of Michigan, a masters in public health (MPH) from the University of Northern Colorado, and currently a PhD student at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. He is employed at the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety of the National Farm Medicine at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The Center provides injury control services for children and adolescents in rural and agricultural communities to a national audience. Services include research, delivery of technical assistance and development of products to states and others. The project receives support from a subcontract with the Children's Safety Network and Suicide Prevention Resource Center at the Education Development Center, Inc. in Newton, MA. A focus of his work includes providing technical assistance, training, and research for the prevention of violence-related injuries to children in rural communities.

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Jon W. Hisgen
After completing his Master's Degree in Health Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973 Mr. Hisgen became school health coordinator at Pewaukee, Wis. Public schools for 25 years and has been the health and physical activity consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction since 1998.. Mr. Hisgen has also made an impact in the health education field through his publications. Some of his writing includes Consumer Health for ETR Associates, Peter is Breathless asthma big book and curriculum for the American Lung Association, and Tobacco: A Smashing Integrated Curriculum for NASCO. He was the leader behind the development of the Suicide prevention unit you will see today. As part of his professional responsibilities Mr. Hisgen has served as a ad hoc instructor in health education planning and implementation, school health programs, best practices in prevention curriculum, instruction and assessment, consumer health and alcohol and other drug education at eight different public and private colleges and universities throughout Wisconsin. Mr. Hisgen has received the award of merit, the citation, the service, and the health achievement award from the Wisconsin AAHPERD. He has received the highest volunteer award from both the Wisconsin Division of the American Heart Association and the Wisconsin Division of the American Lung Association. Finally Mr. Hisgen was the national school health educator of the year from the Association for the Advancement of Health Education.

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Michael Hogan, Ph.D.
Michael Hogan has served as Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health since March 1991. He has held leadership positions and led mental health reform in three states. Serving in the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health from 1976 to 1984, he developed innovative community mental retardation and mental health services, and served as Regional Administrator and Superintendent of Northampton State Hospital. Western Massachusetts became one of the only regions in the U.S. serving mentally retarded and mentally ill citizens in a community based system without state institutions. Dr. Hogan served from 1984 to 1997 as Deputy Commissioner, and from 1987 to 1991 as Commissioner of Mental Health in Connecticut. He was credited with leading Connecticut to a fourth place ranking among the state mental health systems in 1990-tied with Ohio. During his tenure, Connecticut reduced state hospital use and costs, expanded and improved community services, and implemented purchase of service and information system reforms. Since 1991 Dr. Hogan has guided mental health care in Ohio through dramatic reforms. Implementing the comprehensive Mental Health Act of 1988 successfully, ODMH improved and refocused state hospital care, while diverting over $1b from institutional to community care. Ohio's mental health system moved from an institutionally oriented, state dominated system to a focus on community care and local responsibility. Innovations in Ohio include development of a consumer-centered recovery framework for mental illness, implementation of integrated, automated payment systems, and a nationally recognized collaborative program to improve the quality of care through research-validated service methods. Dr. Hogan holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from Syracuse University. He was appointed in April 2002 by President George Bush to chair the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Additionally, he is a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Mental Health Policy Research, served from 1994-1998 on the National Advisory Mental Health Council and from 1989 to 1999 as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute. He currently serves as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. He has authored a book and numerous chapters and journal articles, on topics ranging from strategic management to the organization and financing of mental health care. In 2002, Dr. Hogan received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and was chosen as the "Distinguished Service to State Government" by the National Governors Association. He is married and has three sons.

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Louisa Holmes
Louisa Holmes is a Prevention Specialist with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), representing Public Health Service Regions VIII and X. She also focuses on the topics of juvenile justice and adult corrections and suicide prevention, and suicide prevention among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Prior to joining SPRC in 2003, Louisa worked in a residential facility in Massachusetts with adolescents diagnosed with mental illness and behavioral disorders. Before moving to Boston, she worked with the San Francisco Unified School District, as well as with adult inmates confined to life imprisonment and alternately with children's literacy programs in the Seattle area, where she is originally from.

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John P. Humphries, MSE, NCSP
John P. Humphries is the School Psychology Program Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. John has been a school psychologist, special education coordinator, and director of student services, as well as a ropes course instructor and experiential educator. He was the first school psychologist in the Norris School District near Milwaukee, a small public school offering residential treatment and day school programs to 125 boys in grades 6-12. At Norris, John also obtained his private practice license. He went on to work in rural La Farge and Viroqua, then in Middleton-Cross Plains. Besides school psychology, John has expertise in special education law and gave a workshop on children with cochlear implants at the 25th Annual National Institute on Legal Issues of Educating Individuals with Disabilities held in Orlando, Florida (May, 2004). John was recently appointed by Governor Doyle to the Wisconsin Council on Mental Health. John has a Master's Degree in Education from UW-Whitewater and is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP). Prior to becoming an educator, he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Bacteriology from UW-Madison and worked in research labs at UW and biotechnology companies in California. He lives in Mount Horeb with his wife and two sons.

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Mary Margaret Kerr, Ed.D.
Mary Margaret Kerr received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Duke University and her doctorate from The American University in Washington, D.C. Trained in special education and developmental psychology, Dr. Kerr has devoted her career to working with troubled children and adolescents and to teaching those who help them. The author of six textbooks and many articles, she has taught in special education and alternative education classrooms and continues to consult with school districts across the country. A former faculty member at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Kerr joined the faculty of the School of Medicine and the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh in 1980. In 1989, Dr. Kerr joined the Pittsburgh City Schools as Director of Pupil Services, where she administered services such as guidance, counseling, social work, drug-free schools, alternative education, health services, school security, and discipline. In 1994, she returned to her faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh, to administer the school serving patients at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and to direct outreach services for the University's youth suicide and violence prevention center, STAR-Center. This Center provides crisis response services, training, and consultation to school districts and communities across Pennsylvania. In 1996 Dr. Kerr was appointed by the United States Court for the Central District of California as a Consent Decree Administrator for Los Angeles Unified School District. In this capacity, Dr. Kerr worked for eight years with educators and parents to improve services for 85,000 students with disabilities. Currently, Dr Kerr serves as Associate Chair of the Administrative and Policy Studies Department in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh, while continuing her work with the STAR Center.

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Cheryl King, Ph.D., ABPP
Cheryl King is Chief Psychologist and Director of the Child and Adolescent Depression Program in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School. An Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Michigan, Dr. King completed her doctoral degree in psychology at Indiana University and her postdoctoral training at the Lafayette Clinic in Detroit. Her research program focuses on understanding suicidal behavior among adolescents and developing evidenced-based psychosocial interventions for these youth. Dr. King is the current recipient of a grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to evaluate the efficacy of the Youth-Nominated Support Team (YST) in randomized controlled clinical trial. She is also the site principal investigator of STAR*D-Child, a NIMH multi-site study of the effects of maternal depression remission in children, as well as private foundation-sponsored studies of youth depression. Dr. King is on the NIMH Scientific Advisory Board for the multi-site study, Treatment of Adolescent Suicide Attempters (TASA), and on the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. King has published widely and is a Past President of the American Association of Suicidology. She is also President-Elect of the Association of Medical School Psychologists.

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Al Kluesner
Al Kluesner has over 35 years of experience in operations management and management consulting serving the high technology business sector. Mr. Kluesner served as Director of Operations and Planning for Honeywell's computer business; President and CEO of Murphy Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of wire harnesses; Founder, President and CEO of Wordtronix, Inc. which developed and marketed computerized office automation products throughout the world and subsequently became Chairman and CEO of Remington Rand Corporation after the purchase of Wordtronix. Mr. Kluesner has served as a Board of Director member for a number of private and public companies. Mr. Kluesner became a suicide survivor in 1985 after losing his 21 year old daughter and subsequently his 38 year old son in 1997 to suicide. Mr. Kluesner is a co-founder of SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education) and currently serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board. He became the leading advocate in Minnesota to introduce suicide prevention legislation in the state. Mr. Kluesner was involved in the Reno Conference; the birth of the National Council for Suicide Prevention; presenter in various suicide prevention conferences locally and nationally. Mr. Kluesner earned his B.S. degree in Business and Finance from Iowa State University and completed the Executive Management Program at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

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Barbara Kopans
Barbara Kopans has been instrumental in the development and implementation of nationwide mental health screening and education programs since joining the staff of Screening for Mental Health (SMH) in 1992. In 1999, she spearheaded the development of the SOS Suicide Prevention Program for high schools and has overseen its implementation since then. Ms. Kopans has coauthored a number of papers relative to mental health screening and has spoken throughout the country on the topic. Ms. Kopans came to SMH after eight years of experience in the development and promotion of public health and safety programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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Dequincy Lezine
Dequincy Lezine is graduating from UCLA with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2005 and will be pursuing postdoctoral training at the Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide. In cooperation with the national Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network in 1997, DeQuincy started the first student-run suicide prevention and mental health awareness group (Brown University chapter of SPAN; B-SPAN). DeQuincy is a strong advocate for college student suicide prevention who has personal experience with surviving suicide attempts and learning to cope with bipolar disorder. He has spoken out in a variety of media outlets including CNN, USA Today, and a recent video by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 1998, DeQuincy was a member of the Expert Panel that drafted the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. He then served as a member of the teams that drafted state strategies for Rhode Island and California.

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David A. Litts, O.D., F.A.A.O.
David Litts is the Associate Director, Prevention Practice at the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a funded project of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. His work focuses on disseminating evidence-based suicide prevention practices among professionals and community leaders. Prior to this position, he served for three years as Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health and the US Surgeon General. In this position, he represented the Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary on the completion of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the development of a public-private infrastructure to facilitate its implementation. He has also served as Chief of Staff for the Air Force Surgeon General and Executive Director of the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program where he oversaw the development of a comprehensive population-based suicide prevention program covering 600,000 Air Force personnel. The program was associated with a statistically significant, 55 percent drop in the suicide rate over four years. This program is now the largest and longest sustained suicide prevention effort associated with significant reductions in suicide. He is the recipient of the Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Award and the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award.

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Keri M. Lubell, Ph.D.
Keri M. Lubell is a Behavioral Scientist with the Program Implementation and Dissemination Branch in the Division of Violence Prevention at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Lubell received her Ph.D. in sociology from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her current research explores how state-based groups develop and implement statewide suicide prevention plans and programs, in particular focusing on how groups identify and negotiate challenges, create effective partnerships, and engage key stakeholders. She serves as scientific advisor for several suicide prevention projects funded by CDC, including two statewide suicide prevention implementation efforts. She has also conducted research addressing gender differences in suicide, the overlap between suicide and interpersonal violence, and how people seek help for mental health problems.

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Leslie M. Mcguire, MSW
Leslie M. Mcguire is the Co-Director of the Columbia University TeenScreen Program and Co-Deputy Director of the Carmel Hill Center for Early Diagnosis and Treatment, both housed in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York. The TeenScreen Program is a voluntary mental health and suicide risk screening program that works to ensure that every child is offered a mental health checkup before leaving high school. The Carmel Hill Center oversees programs that focus on child and adolescent mental health research, service delivery and public policy. Ms. McGuire began her career at Columbia in 1998 as the coordinator of over 15 New York based screening sites. The data derived from these screening sites enabled the launch of the TeenScreen program nationally in 1999, and Ms. McGuire was named its first Director. Ms. McGuire has led the TeenScreen program in its transformation from a local research program to a national public health effort. Over 200 sites in 41 states, Canada, Panama, South Korea and Guam have been trained to date. Prior to her work at Columbia, Ms. McGuire engaged in clinical work with children, adolescents and adults and also did research in the areas of AIDS and childhood sexual abuse. Ms. McGuire received her B.A. in psychology from Lafayette College and her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan.

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Richard Mckeon, Ph.D., MPH
Richard Mckeon received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, and a Master's of Public Health in Health Administration from Columbia University. He has spent most of his career working in community mental health, including 11 years as director of a psychiatric emergency service and four years as Associate Administrator/Clinical Director of a hospital based community mental health center in Newton, New Jersey. He established the first evidenced based treatment program for chronically suicidal borderline patients in the state of New Jersey utilizing Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy. In 2001, he relocated to Washington D.C. and worked as a Congressional Fellow for United States Senator Paul Wellstone, covering health and mental health policy issues. He spent five years on the Board of the American Association of Suicidology as Clinical Division Director and has also served on the Board of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He currently serves as a special advisor on suicide prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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Bob Musick, MSW/LCSW
Bob Musick is the Director of Community Mental Health Services Development with Valley HealthCare System in Morgantown, West Virginia. Bob received his Bachelor and Master's Degree from West Virginia University School of Social Work. He has been working in the field of Mental Health since 1971 with the majority of his experience in Crisis Services and Administration. Bob has taught several courses in the School of Social Work at West Virginia University, supervision, group therapy, policy, and mental health. Bob is also Executive Director of The West Virginia Council for the Prevention of Suicide Program. He has been overseeing this project for the past 2 years as a part time position. Bob travels all over West Virginia presenting workshops on awareness and prevention of suicide. In the past two years Bob has presented over 27 workshops to an audience of 875 school personnel, mental health professionals, child abuse staff, crisis staff, police officers, faith based staff, families and children, parent groups, hospital staff, and state personnel. Bob and Dr. William Fremouw had their Adolescent Assessment Suicide Protocol published in May 2004.

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Michael W. Ogden
Michael W. Ogden has been in the human services field for the past 15 years. During this time, he has worked in various capacities ranging from Clinician, Operations Director, Administrator, and as Marketing/New Business Director within the private sector, government sector and private not-for-profit sector. He currently serves as the Director of Marketing and New Business Development for Eagleville Hospital, Eaglevile, PA. Michael is also the Chairman of the Schuylkill County Suicide Prevention Task Force and the Schuylkill County Communities That Care Program. He has extensive experience with developing science-based prevention programs in the community, as well as in schools and has extensive experience with developing community partnerships. The Communities That Care program that he chairs was recently awarded the 2005 Governor's Award for Local Government Excellence for Building Community Partnerships, by the Pennsylvania Department of Economic and Community Development (DCED). Michael is a graduate of St. Leo College, Tampa, FL where he earned a Bachelors of Art in Psychology. He resides in Ashland, Schuylkill County with his family.

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Lavonne Greenaway Ortega, M.D., MPH
Lavonne Greenaway Ortega provides technical assistance to coalitions and individuals at the state, territorial and local community level, and has a special interest in issues relating to survivors of suicide attempts, self-harm, and faith-based prevention initiatives. Dr. Ortega is working with The Link's National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare to coordinate a workgroup to assist in the development of a competency-based curriculum for clergy responding to suicide. Previously, Dr. Ortega was the Project Coordinator for the Injury Surveillance Program at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she oversaw the Massachusetts Violent Death Reporting System. She recently co-authored "Homicide and Suicide Rates for 2003, as Reported by the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) - Six U.S. States," which appeared in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

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Dalton Paxman
Dalton Paxman is the Regional Health Administrator for the mid-Atlantic region. He oversees public health initiatives in the region for the Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He administers the regional OPHS programs in Public Health Preparedness, Minority Health, Population Affairs, and Women's Health. From 1996-2000, he served as the Senior Environmental Health Advisor, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, OPHS/HHS. He advised the Assistant Secretary for Health/Surgeon General and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention on environmental health issues. He served as senior staff on key multi-agency environmental health and science policy initiatives, including the President's Food Safety Initiative and the President's Task Force on Children's Environmental Health and Safety. He also served as the Department's liaison to the National Science and Technology Council for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. For his work at HHS, he received numerous awards, including the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award and the Assistant Secretary for Health's Special Recognition Award and Outstanding Team Performance Awards. Prior to DHHS, he was a Senior Policy Analyst in the Environment Program at the Office of Technology Assessment in the U.S. Congress. At OTA, he directed congressional studies in the areas of health risk assessment research, comparative risk assessment, and environmental regulations. He was the project director for the Risks to Students in Schools and the Researching Health Risks reports. He was a founding member and first President of the Risk Assessment and Policy Association. Prior to OTA, he was a research toxicologist and a post-doctoral scholar for the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. He received his PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, where he received the Kruze Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Research. He continues to write and publish on public health issues. He is married to Dr. Marisa Bartolomei and has two daughters, Daniela and Siena.

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Juan B. Peña, Ph.D.
Juan B. Peña is currently a research fellow at the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide and has his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has worked as a clinical researcher at the New York State Psychiatric Institute as well as a Research Associate at Intersystems Incorporated. Dr. Peña has also worked as a clinical social worker at a school-based child and adolescent mental health clinic and as a program associate at Cornell University Cooperative Extension were he helped create youth development programs for adolescents. His current research interests include preventing risk behaviors and suicide in diverse adolescent populations.

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Nancy Pierce
Nancy Pierce has been working as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in crisis intervention and trauma for 30 years in the Emergency Services Unit at the Mental Health Center of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin. She provides suicide and homicide risk assessments, mental status evaluations and finds alternatives to hospitalizations by creating outpatient treatment plans. Nancy regularly serves as the mental health consultant in emergency detentions and other mental health emergencies. Nancy provides private contractual services through Mental Health Crisis Consultants (MHCC) on mental health crisis cases with law enforcement, EMS, hospital emergency rooms, schools, social service agencies, mental health centers, victim witness units, human services, corrections, private practitioners and with natural support systems such as family, friends, and community. She trains and consults with schools on developing resources for school-based prevention of youth suicide. Nancy is the principal instructor for Wisconsin's state-wide training for law enforcement and mental health personnel on Best Practices in Crisis Intervention and Emergency Detentions. Nancy has been a trauma specialist for the past 21 years. Through her consulting firm, Critical Incident Stress Management Services (CISM), she provides a field crisis response to traumatic incidents as well as training and consultation for emergency responders, schools, public agencies, and private businesses. Nancy works with county emergency management and human services to train disaster mental health volunteers. Nancy is a lecturer on Crisis Intervention in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Graduate School of Social Work.

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Lloyd Potter, Ph.D., MPH
Lloyd Potter is the project director for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. He oversees the strategic plan and its implementation for the resource center. Associate Director for the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention and Director of Children's Safety Network. His current work is focused upon providing assistance to state and local public health officials to develop and implement efforts to prevent suicide, violence, and unintentional injury. From 1993 - 2000 Dr. Potter served as the Leader of Youth Violence and Suicide Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. He has been proactive in promoting suicide as a public health issue. Dr. Potter has his Masters in Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta. He also has a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Houston. His PhD is from the University of Texas at Austin in sociology and demography. He taught elementary school from 1980 - 1983 before returning to graduate school. He has also worked as an assistant professor of Sociology and Demography at Fordham University in New York.

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Jerry Reed, MSW
Jerry Reed serves as Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (SPAN USA). Prior to assuming this position on July 1, 2003, Jerry served as an independent consultant working on health care, mental health, geriatric and suicide prevention issues. He most recently worked with the Center for Mental Health Services on a variety of initiatives in support of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and also served as project liaison with the three-year Hotline Linkage and Evaluation Project (HELP) and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). He received an MSW degree with an emphasis in Aging Administration from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1982. He spent 15 years as a career civil servant working in both Europe and the United States as a civilian with the Department of the Army developing, implementing and managing a variety of quality of life programs including substance abuse prevention and treatment, family advocacy, child and youth development programs, social services and a range of morale, welfare and recreation programs. Selected as a Congressional Fellow in 1996, he worked in the Office of Senator Harry Reid (NV) serving as senior advisor on health care, mental health, suicide prevention and aging issues. Upon completion of the fellowship he accepted a full time position with the U.S. Senate and completed his assignment in 1999 as Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Reid. Jerry is currently working on a doctoral degree in Health Related Sciences with an emphasis in Gerontology at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Dawn Reese
Dawn Reese Dawn Reese has been working with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for 26 years, having served with the Labor Relations Committee, the Majority Whip's Office and the Minority Caucus Chairman's Office. She has worked on health care legislation and was involved in crafting Act 102 of 1994, model legislation for organ and tissue donation. Dawn is currently an Administrative Specialist in the Minority Caucus Chairman's Office and is responsible for informing Members of the Democratic Caucus about legislation scheduled for voting. She also assists Members in bringing their legislation before the House for consideration. Governor Tom Ridge appointed Dawn to the Governor's Organ Donation Advisory Committee. She was reappointed by both Governors Schweiker and Rendell and was elected to serve as the Committee Chair. Dawn has been instrumental in providing leadership and direction on several initiatives to advance organ and tissue donation awareness, including (1) creating an annual funding stream for grants to Pennsylvania's organ procurement organizations, (2) providing, reimbursement to donor families for expenses related to donation, (3) establishing student awareness programs administered through the PA Department of Education, (4) and creating the "Donate Life" vehicle license plate. In 2004, Dawn's husband of 27 years completed suicide. She, along with her son, attended a local suicide support group meeting. She learned that the majority of meeting participants had lost a child to suicide and later learned that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people. She is ready to use her personal experience and her legislative experience toward the prevention of suicide.

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Daniel J. Reidenberg, Psy. D., FAPA
Daniel J. Reidenberg is currently the Executive Director of SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), a national non-profit agency working to prevent suicide and help suicide survivors and those suffering with depression. Before coming to SAVE, he was the Director of Family & Children's Service in Minneapolis overseeing 10 mental health and community-based programs. Dan graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1988 with a degree in Psychology and minor in Child Psychology. After completing training at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center and the Minnesota Security Hospital, he received his Doctor of Clinical Psychology degree in 1994 from the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology. The American Psychotherapy Association awarded him Certified Diplomate in Psychotherapy status in 1998 and Fellow status in 2004. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the APA Executive Advisory Board and Chair of the Certified Relationship Specialists Board. Dr. Reidenberg's background includes working extensively with adolescents and adults who are seriously and persistently mentally ill, chemically dependent, and diverse personality disorders in a variety of in-patient, out-patient, partial-hospitalization and day-treatment and residential programs. He also consults with psychologists, attorneys, and businesses on healthcare and legal matters. Dan has testified in over 150 cases at the Minnesota Security Hospital, Ramsey and Hennepin County courts on forensic cases. Dan has been interviewed by the media (KARE-11, WCCO-4, UPN-9, KTCA-2, KSTP-5, Channel 12 News, MPR, Ruth Koslak, Mix 104, 20/20, Star/Tribune, Pioneer Press, LA Times, North Carolina Herald-Sun, Bloomington Sun, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal and professional journals) on various topics including: children, adolescents, mental and chemical health issues, suicide, parenting and child maltreatment issues, custody, and prostitution. He has provided testimony before Minnesota Legislators, been a keynote speaker and guest lecturer, and presented numerous workshops locally and nationally. He is the author of Sports Talk, a book chapter for professionals on helping clients with communication issues and is currently helping edit a book on anxiety disorders. In 1997 Dan was inducted into the Who's Who Registry of Business Leader's as a Lifetime VIP and in 2001 was inducted to the International Biography of Distinguished Leaders. As a volunteer Dan served 8 years on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, lectured to over 6,500 individuals on child abuse, and received two Commendations from the Governor for organizing 24-hour Radiothons to End Child Abuse. He helped create the Open Door support group and served on their Advisory Board and was a counselor at the Crisis Connection. Each year since 1995 Dan has been on the Advisory Board of a golf tournament for KDWB raising money for the Variety Children's Association and was the Event Coordinator for the Heart & Soul Concerts raising money for Camp Heartland serving on their Board of Directors from 1996-2001. Dan also coordinated other fundraising events including the Princess Diana dress display, Dance Marathon, Paul Molitor golf tournament, and the Cities 97 Hope in the Heartland concerts.

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Philip Rodgers
Philip Rodgers is the evaluation specialist for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Evidence-Based Practices Project (EBPP). The purpose of EBPP is to identify evidence-based suicide prevention programs and, in conjunction with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, to create an online registry of effective programs. The registry provides state suicide specialists, school and government administrators, clinicians and others with the information they need to make informed decisions about the adaptation of prevention programs in their communities. EBPP also provides technical assistance to those evaluating suicide prevention programs and those who wish to apply for review by the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices. Dr. Rodgers earned a B.S. in Experimental Psychology from California State University Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation Methodology from Utah State University. He has worked in the field of research and evaluation for over thirteen years, and has recently completed evaluations in fields as diverse as charter schools, Medicaid, and website accessibility for disabled populations.

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Lisa A. Roehl, MA, LPC
Lisa A. Roehl is a graduate of the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, Illinois where she received a Masters of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is a Certified Professional Counselor for the State of Wisconsin. Clinical areas of interest include youth mental health and LGBT mental health. Prior to her tenure with Professional Services Group, Inc. Ms. Roehl was the Coordinator of Support Services for the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) servicing individuals with HIV/AIDS and their families. Currently Ms. Roehl serves as the Director of Programs for the Mental Health Association in Milwaukee Wisconsin (MHAMILW). In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Ms. Roehl is active in MHAMILW's prevention and early intervention initiatives related to school-based youth suicide prevention and depression screening in the primary healthcare setting. Ms. Roehl is also a board member of the Wisconsin AIDS Fund.

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Kay F. Schoo, R.N.
Kay F. Schoo has over 30 years experience in health care with adolescents in juvenile facilities. For the last 5 years she has been at headquarters as the Nurse Manager for the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Services responsible for the clinical management and implementation of quality health care throughout Juvenile Services facilities. She has developed and written Health Care Standards and Operational Procedures for Health Centers that comply with the Standards set forth by the National Commission for Correctional Health Care and developed Nursing Assessment Protocols that are used to implement a standard of care throughout all DJS facilities in Maryland. Always interested in the improvement of health care within the Juvenile System she was appointed to the State of Maryland Task Force to develop a Policy for Suicide Prevention in Juvenile Services. She was instrumental in arranging consultation with experts such as Lindsey Hayes in the development, writing and implementation of the Suicide Prevention Policy that presently is being used by the State of Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

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David Shaffer, F.R.C.P., F.R.C.PSYCH
David Shaffer is chief of the Department of Child Psychiatry and the Irving Philips Professor of Child Psychiatry (and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics) at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City. He is a former president of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Shaffer obtained his medical training at University College, London, his training in pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and his training in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London. His earliest research on very young suicides was among the first to point to the importance of aggression and the role of imitation in youth suicide. Subsequent epidemiological research included the controlled "New York" study of completed teen suicides. This research showed that most suicides in the young occur in the context of a psychiatric illness and highlighted the importance of mood disorders and alcohol and substance abuse as features of suicide risk among teens. He has directed a number of studies on suicide prevention, including a controlled examination of suicide-awareness programs that raised questions about the usefulness and safety of a purely educational approach to suicide prevention. He has been a strong advocate of school-based screening of older teenagers for depression and suicidality and has also carried out studies examining the specificity, sensitivity, validity, and practical difficulties of screening instruments. He has served as a member of task forces examining the relationship between SSRI antidepressants and suicidal behavior for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He received the American Suicide Foundation's award for research in suicide in 1989, the American Mental Health Fund Research Award for research on suicide in 1990, the Philips Prize for outstanding contribution to prevention given by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 1998, the American Psychiatric Association's McGavin Award in 1995 and Ittelson award in 2000, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Award for Research in Depression or Suicide in 2004. He has served as a consultant on suicide prevention for the Department of Defense, the Indian Health Service, and New York State, and was a member of the Surgeon General's Advisory Task Force on Suicide Prevention. He is a former president of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. Other research interests have included the development of computerized diagnostic instruments (the NIMH DISC) and psychiatric classification. He has been co-chair of the DSM-IV Child and Adolescent Disorders Work Group.

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Patricia K. Smith, M.S., R.D.
Patricia K. Smith is the Violence Prevention Program Coordinator for the Injury & Violence Prevention Section of the Michigan Department of Community Health. She has worked in injury prevention and control at the state level in Michigan for the past fifteen years. She was the Director of the Department's Violence Against Women Prevention Program for 10½ of those years. She has Bachelor degrees from Eastern Michigan and Michigan State Universities, and received her Masters degree from Michigan State. Pat will run her third marathon on May 22 and loves to talk about marathoning with anyone who is willing to listen.

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Jason S. Spiegelman, M.A.
Jason S. Spiegelman is currently an adjunct professor of psychology at Towson University and Villa Julie College in Baltimore, Maryland. He has been involved in suicidology since 1999, when he first joined the American Association of Suicidology. He has served on the board of directors of both AAS, as well as the American Psychological Association's Division 12, Section VII (Clinical Emergencies and Crises). He is currently the coordinator of Section VII's directory of APPIC-approved predoctoral internships offering training in behavioral emergencies. With Dr. James Werth, he recently coauthored the book chapter "Don't forget about me: The experiences of therapists-in-training after a client has attempted or died by suicide." The chapter can be found in "Therapeutic and legal issues for therapists who have survived a client suicide: Breaking the silence", edited by Dr. Kayla Weiner.

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Merry Stanford, M.ED., M.S.W.
Merry Stanford is Health and Character Education Consultant with the Coordinated School Health and Safety Programs Unit at the Michigan Department of Education. Her experience includes working at the state, school district, and community agency levels in the areas of prevention, education, and treatment. She coordinates the Michigan Model Partnership for Character Education, a federal partnership grant that funded the development and evaluation of character education and suicide prevention lessons as part of the nationally recognized Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education. She has been active in developing state policy guidance in the areas of suicide prevention, health education, character education, and other health-related areas.

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True Thao, MSW, LICSW
True Thao is an experienced consultant and trainer who works with organizations in the areas of mental health, refugee issues, and Hmong culture. He helps businesses with cultural diversity, work site conflict mediation, and developmental insight for both Hmong professionals and Hmong consumers. True has a Masters from Rhode Island College in social work and served as program director for several social service agencies. He is currently the Public Health Consultant to Hmong American Partnership in St. Paul, MN.

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Greg Woods, MOD, MA
Greg Woods President, GFWoods Consulting, Inc. Mr. Woods is an Organization Development professional who believes that effective change is achieved by designing a sequence of events that engage the hearts & minds of people, resulting in higher commitment, direct ownership, accountability, and sustainability. In his career as an internal and external change agent, he has worked with organizations in a variety of industries to improve efficiency, effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and build resilience for change. His experience includes research design, survey design & feedback, organizational diagnosis, and industry analysis. He has been directly engaged within client systems having conducted needs analysis, training and development coursework, the implementation of self-directed work teams, job analysis & redesign, and business process improvement. Mr. Woods earned his Master of Organization Development and Dual Master of Arts in German and Political Science from Bowling Green State University.

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