Kandace Arlaud, MSN, PMHNP-BC, is a Treatment Director and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Meharry Medical College’s outpatient opioid treatment program, where she leads initiatives to expand access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) through integrated, harm reduction–based models of care. She has over a decade of experience in addiction medicine and community-based behavioral health, serving uninsured and marginalized populations. Kandace directs quality improvement efforts to strengthen care coordination, enhance counseling and peer support integration, and streamline continuity across multi-partner programs. Her work centers on reducing stigma, advancing health equity, and scaling sustainable, patient-centered approaches to addiction treatment.

Orisha A. Bowers holds a BFA, two MA degrees, an MEd, a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, a Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies, a Certificate in Complementary Alternative Medicine, and a Certificate and Licensure in Chaplaincy. She has more than 25 years of experience in social services, nonprofit leadership, grants management, program design, and civic engagement.

Orisha’s life’s work is centered on intentionally weaving together women’s studies, education, interdisciplinary scholarship, creativity, spirituality, healing, wellness, and movement. She uses both scholarship and vocation to facilitate healing in communities of color, with a particular focus on reproductive health, women’s issues, and faith communities.
An ordained minister through the Universal Life Church, Orisha is a ViiV Community Captain for Risk to Reason, a member of the Queering Womanist Preaching Cohort, and a participant in the Building New Tables Womanist Leadership Residency. These leadership roles reflect her ongoing commitment to womanist thought, faith-based social justice, community empowerment, and health equity.

Orisha combines a spiritual focus with therapeutic and embodied practices, including Dancing Mindfulness, to offer transformative healing experiences throughout the United States and internationally. Through her teaching, ministry, and community engagement, she creates spaces that foster personal growth, collective wellness, and liberation.

Lesly-Marie Buer (she/they), PhD, MPH, is the co-founder and Organizational Director of Hellbender Harm Reduction in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dr. Buer is an advocate for community driven harm reduction, reproductive justice, and efforts to address discrimination and socioeconomic inequalities. She has published in such places as Substance Use and Misuse, International Journal of Drug Policy, Journal of Appalachian Studies, North American Dialogue, and Boston Review. Dr. Buer’s book, Rx Appalachia, focuses on women’s encounters with substance use disorder treatment in rural Central Appalachia.

Cody Chastain, MD, MEHP, FACP, FIDSA is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt Health and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in Loma Linda, CA, where he received multiple recognitions including the Chancellor’s Award. He then completed his training in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC; while at Duke, he received the Haskel Schiff award by his peers for excellence in clinical medicine. After working as a hospitalist for Duke University Health Systems, Dr. Chastain completed subspecialty training in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he served as chief fellow and subsequently joined faculty. He later completed a Master of Education in the Health Professions (MEHP) degree at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Chastain leads the Division of Infectious Diseases' Viral Hepatitis Program, and he cares for people with HIV in the inpatient and outpatient setting. He actively collaborates in research focusing on HIV, viral hepatitis, and medical education.

He is an active educator in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education and has received multiple teaching awards, including the Bonnie M. Miller Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Hugh J. Morgan Teaching Award, the William Schaffner Teaching Award, and the Geoffrey David Chazen Faculty Award for Innovation in Medical Education. He has also been a Featured Educator for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Medical Education Community of Practice. Dr. Chastain founded and served as the inaugural director for the EXCellence In TEaching (EXCITE) pathway for the Department of Medicine and currently serves as the chair of the Vanderbilt Health Academy of Excellence in Education Fleming Society. In addition, he serves as the Principal Investigator for the Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center.

Robert L. Cooper, PhD, MSSW, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College, Director of the Meharry Drug User Health Center, and Founder and Co-Director of the Meharry Addiction Clinic. His work focuses on substance use disorder treatment, harm reduction, HIV and hepatitis C prevention, medication for opioid use disorder, and health disparities. Dr. Cooper has developed several clinical and community initiatives, including syringe-services, mobile-health, rural addiction-treatment, and patient-navigation programs. He brings nearly three decades of experience as a clinician, educator, researcher, and program leader serving populations affected by substance use and barriers to healthcare.

Dr. Ryan Edgerton has worked as an epidemiologist for the past 9 years working in substance abuse prevention, treatment, and harm reduction research. Recently completing his PhD in health and behavioral economics his research includes harm reduction, drug user health, and healthcare policy. He helped found the Meharry Addiction Clinic and Meharry's SSP, HOPE. He has worked as the lead evaluator for multiple SAMHSA funded projects focusing on substance use treatment and prevention, a CDC funded project focusing on linking people who use drugs to HIV prevention medication, an Office of Minority Health funded project identifying the benefits of low-threshold buprenorphine treatment centers, multiple HRSA funded projects that improved training and education for medical students and residents interested in addiction medicine.

Thomas Gooch, Community Outreach and Engagement Manager. Thomas Gooch has two decades of experience in delivering services to people who use drugs. He was one of the first people in Tennessee to provide outreach, education and Narcan to active substance users, and managed the first underground syringe exchange program in Tennessee for nearly a decade. His advocacy with state government assisted in the legalization and funding of syringe exchange in Tennessee. He has provided training and consultation to programs seeking to serve African American and Latin communities throughout the southeast and the US Virgin Islands. He currently serves in the role as the Outreach Ambassador for Meharry Medical College's Department of Family Medicine's Addiction Clinic where he oversees a comprehensive harm reduction-based system of outreach services to meet the complex needs of active substance users at risk for HIV and other health issues. In his spare time, he also serves as the Founder and Executive Director of My Father's House a recovery housing program for men who seek to be more involved in their children's lives following experiences of homelessness or incarceration. As a person living in long-term recovery, he is a tireless advocate to ensure others have opportunities to truly become who they are meant to be.

Jarissa Greenard, M.A. Ed., is a public health professional and community educator with more than eight years of experience in HIV prevention research, health education, clinical research recruitment, and community engagement. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with researchers, healthcare professionals, community organizations, and advocates to increase awareness of HIV prevention strategies and expand access to evidence-based health information. She currently serves as a Co-Chair of the U.S. Community Educators and Recruiters Group within the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, contributing her leadership and community-engagement expertise to a global research network dedicated to advancing HIV prevention research.

Her work centers on translating complex scientific concepts into accessible, culturally responsive education that supports informed decision-making. Jarissa is committed to strengthening trust between research institutions and historically underrepresented communities while ensuring that community perspectives are meaningfully incorporated into research and education. Her broader interests include sexual health, health equity, and compassionate, stigma-free public health communication. She is also the creator and host of What We Don’t Say, a podcast exploring the conversations people often avoid or struggle to say aloud, particularly those involving sexual health, relationships, identity, healing, and emotional honesty.

Samuel A. MacMaster, Ph.D. is an expert in the behavioral health field with over three decades of experience in the design, delivery, and evaluation of innovative approaches to services. He is currently the Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Behavioral Health, the Chief Clinical Development Officer at RCN Treatment, an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Tennessee, and a Senior Advisor to behavioral health organizations across the country. He is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences across the globe. He has published three books and over 75 peer-reviewed articles related to the topic of substance use disorder. A person living in long-term recovery for over 38 years, he remains a tireless advocate for all individuals who struggle with health and wellness.

John Rocco MacMillan Rodney, MD, is a family physician, family-medicine obstetrician, and addiction medicine specialist whose combined training uniquely positions him to care for pregnant and postpartum patients with opioid use disorder. He is an Associate Professor at Meharry Medical College's Department of Family Medicine and the University of Tennessee's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Memphis, where he also directs the Surgical Obstetrics Fellowship and Behavioral Health Services at La Clínica Camellia / Médicos para la Familia — a safety-net practice serving underserved and marginalized communities.

Board certified in Family Medicine, Family Medicine Obstetrics, and Addiction Medicine, Dr. Rodney has built much of his career around expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder where it is hardest to reach. He serves as Medical Director of a methadone program in Memphis and of residential recovery programs in Texas and Indiana, and practices telehealth addiction medicine to extend care into rural and remote communities. He has authored grants supporting rural health and access to care, and is a national speaker who has delivered grand rounds at the Mayo Clinic. He is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

A prolific scholar, Dr. Rodney has published widely in the peer-reviewed literature and authored numerous textbook chapters, including the first American Academy of Family Physicians–endorsed textbook on obstetrical ultrasound. He earned his MD from Weill Cornell Medical College and completed a Family Medicine residency and Maternal-Child Health fellowship at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. A former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve, he is dedicated to teaching the next generation of clinicians to treat addiction as everyday, essential medical care.

Cory Roroya (she/her) is a Nashville native and grassroots sexual health liaison whose work is shaped by community care and the matriarchs who raised her. Rooted in reproductive justice, union organizing, and sex-positive education, she has spent over a decade supporting Black women through affirming, trauma-informed, and pleasure-centered sexual health education. Cory believes the human sexual and spiritual experience should be seen intersectionally as fundamental to any social movement, as they shape how people seek, receive, and maintain their personal care. Through her Leather and L.A.C.E. framework (Liberated, Aware, Connected, Educated). Cory blends community-building with dismantling shame and stigma. She has worked across BDSM/kink spaces, HIV prevention, and sexual health advocacy, and serves on multiple boards. Currently she is the Organizing Director for Healthy and Free TN. Across workshops and community engagement, together as a community, we can relinquish sexual shame, stigma, end the HIV epidemic, and uphold reproductive justice for all. Together we can build a new world rooted in care and not punishment.

Gregory Stafford, BSN, has spent seven years as a Harm Reduction nurse in Knoxville, Tennessee. He established and implemented medical services within a syringe services program (SSP), including rapid and confirmatory blood draw tests for Hepatitis C and free, low-barrier wound care. He currently works as the Drug User Health Director at Hellbender Harm Reduction.
His role has also involved educating the local medical community and students about Harm Reduction practices and how they are incorporated into modern medical environments. Previously, he spent four and a half years as a hospital nurse on cardiac and labor and delivery floors at Yale Health System and UT Medical Center. He received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UT Knoxville in 2014.

Julia Watson, PA-C, MSPAS, MSPH, is a board-certified Physician Associate at Meharry Medical College’s Addiction Medicine Clinic, where she provides medication-assisted treatment, behavioral health and acute care services to individuals with substance use disorders. Her clinical work emphasizes harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and improving access to treatment within underserved and marginalized populations disproportionately affected by addiction. She has contributed to projects focused on addiction medicine, data analysis and visualization, and population health.

A. Toni Young has stood at the forefront of public health for over 30 years, mobilizing communities and establishing collaborative partnerships to address health disparities affecting marginalized populations. With 13 years of experience living and working in Appalachia, Toni has developed a deep commitment to addressing the unique health challenges of this region. Toni’s path as an advocate began in 1993 when she founded the National Women and HIV/AIDS Project (NWAP) in Washington, D.C., focusing on reducing HIV’s impact among African American women. In time, NWAP evolved into the Community Education Group (CEG), which Toni now leads as Executive Director, guiding its expanded mission to address syndemic health challenges in Appalachia and beyond.

A dedicated advocate for marginalized populations, Toni has a distinguished record of directing resources and policies to improve health outcomes. Her leadership roles on the San Francisco and D.C. HIV Prevention Planning Councils allowed her to oversee the allocation of millions in public health funding. Through these councils, she shaped community-driven initiatives addressing the health needs of African American women and Black communities domestically and abroad. Furthermore, Toni has partnered with federal agencies like the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and has served on national advisory panels, including the CDC’s Sterile Needle Committee. Her role in developing the 1996 Ryan White application, in partnership with HRSA, helped broaden access to HIV/AIDS care for racial and ethnic minority communities.

Toni's commitment to research is evident through her sustained contributions to public health studies that address critical gaps in HIV prevention and care. In 2007, she led a pivotal study on behavioral risk factors contributing to HIV vulnerability among Black women with partners who had histories of incarceration, highlighting the structural challenges these populations face. This work underscored the importance of targeted interventions for at-risk communities. More recently, Toni has focused on advancing inclusive research practices; in 2020, she championed the involvement of people living with HIV in HIV cure-focused science, ensuring that studies reflect the needs and experiences of those most affected. Her efforts advocate for diversity in HIV cure research, promoting outcomes that serve all impacted communities.

In Appalachia, Toni’s work targets the syndemic of opioid use, HIV, and hepatitis C. CEG’s Community Health and Mobilization Prevention Services (CHAMPS) program, for instance, trains community health workers, provides HIV self-testing, and delivers health services directly to at-risk individuals through mobile units. Toni is also at the head of the Appalachia Opioid Remediation (AOR) database, an initiative to monitor the allocation of opioid settlement funds to ensure equitable resource distribution. Her vision for a “We Are Appalachia” cultural heritage designation highlights her dedication to reinforcing the region’s resilience through workforce development, harm reduction, and sustainable health interventions.

Through her commitment to equity, inclusion, and innovative public health solutions, Toni makes an indelible mark on public health practice. Her career is a testament to the power of community-centered approaches, bridging gaps in health care and promoting resilience within underserved communities.