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Find Your New Authorities

This database features alternative experts who are available to the press. Their authority derives from either lived experience or professional expertise or both. The current categories are Drugs, Care, Labor and Economics, with more to come. For additional information please visit the About page.

DRUGS

From active drug users to pain experts

Morgan Godvin

Morgan Godvin
Member, Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council
Godvin’s research and advocacy emphasize overdose prevention, and the intersection of the criminal-legal system and substance use. Previously addicted to heroin, she says drug overdose, addiction and incarceration have touched every facet of her life, she was appointed by the Oregon Health Authority to serve on the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council overseeing grant funding for and implementation of addiction recovery centers, and on Oregon's Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. Godvin’s also founder, Beats Overdose, which provides harm reduction services to music events; engagement editor, JSTOR Daily’s American Prison Newspapers collection; and Narrative Justice fellow, Health in Justice Action Lab.

FOCUS: Drugs
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANIZATION: Self

Juan Hincapie-Castillo

Juan Hincapie-Castillo
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Hincapie-Castillo is a pharmacist and pharmaco-epidemiologist whose research interests include: drug utilization and safety in pain management and psychotropic pharmacotherapy; the effects of law on health outcomes and policy surveillance (legal epidemiology); assessment of health services utilization in pain management, substance use disorders, and chronic diseases; and quality improvement and assessment of inpatient pain management and medication use. Additionally, Hincapie-Castillo is a faculty member, UNC Center of Pharmacoepidemiology, and UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. An advocate for evidence-based policymaking, he’s president, Board of Directors, National Pain Advocacy Center.

FOCUS: Drugs
LANGUAGE: English, Spanish
ORGANIZATION: Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Epidemiology

Terrell Jones

Terrell Jones
Co-Director, Peer Network of New York (PNNY)
After years of self-destructive drug use, Jones initiated his own recovery and began his life in harm reduction as a peer worker. An original member of PNNY, he’s also outreach and advocacy program manager for New York Harm Reduction Educators, where he conducts street outreach, coordinates peer programs, provides training for medical students, and assists with advocacy initiatives and programming. Terrell has also worked with Drug Policy Alliance, National Harm Reduction Coalition, New York Academy of Medicine, and VOCAL-NY to discuss harm reduction policies and programs with elected officials, medical providers, social service providers, and community members. NOTE: Jones prefers to be contacted by phone: (929) 309-7320 (mobile)

FOCUS: Drugs
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANIZATION: Peer Network of New York

Ayana Jordan

Ayana Jordan
Barbara Wilson, Endowed Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Jordan, who’s an addiction psychiatrist, helps racial and ethnic minoritized people achieve wellness and recovery from substance use disorders. Her research and clinical work emphasizes equity, inclusion, and structural inequities that impede improved mental health and wellness. She’s also associate professor, Department of Population Health, Grossman School of Medicine, and oversees community engagement at NYU Langone’s Institute for Excellence in Health Equity. Additionally, Jordan is director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiative, for the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network, where she works with people with opioid use disorder in the carceral system. NOTE: Jordan says text is the best way to reach her: (203) 787-8032

FOCUS: Drugs
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANIZATION: NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Lelena Peacock

Lelena Peacock
Pain patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and arachnoiditis who benefits from opioids
Peacock is a pain advocate and small business owner. She focuses on discrimination against patients in pain, especially those who take opioid medication. Dealing with a chronic illness herself, Peacock understands the stigma of being a chronic pain patient in the anti-opioid era. She’s especially interested in harm reduction techniques for patients cut off from their medication who turn to the streets to purchase pain medication, where she says much of the supply is counterfeit and contains illicit fentanyl. Peacock can also discuss from first-hand experience the impact pain care or lack of access to it can have on income and quality of life. NOTE: She prefers initial contact to be via Twitter or text: (336) 486-8251

FOCUS: Drugs
LANGUAGE: English
ORGANIZATION: Self

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