Advisory Board

Jack Beckley is a Supervising Investigator with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General assigned to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) and supervises the Drug Diversion Section.  While serving with the Hartford City Police Department as Detective/Lieutenant, he was assigned to a multi-jurisdictional drug task force and was directly involved in numerous drug investigations that involved drug diversion, drug trafficking, fraud, theft of controlled substances, and medical practitioners over prescribing controlled substances or prescribing without medical necessity.  He received specialized training in the area of managing such investigations, interview and interrogation, and evidence collection.

Charlie Cichon leads the NADDI organization with a prestigious resume that presents his firsthand knowledge and experience in the fields of law enforcement, health oversight and regulation, global product protection, education, and training. Charlie is responsible for overseeing the administration, program development, and strategic planning of the organization. His other key duties include fundraising, marketing, and community outreach. Charlie is recognized as an international expert on pharmaceutical abuse and diversion and has investigated, testified, and lectured extensively on the topics of pharmaceutical misuse, abuse, and diversion for approximately 30 years.

Dr. Matthew Crist serves as a Medical Officer on the Response Team in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He serves as a subject matter expert on drug diversion and provides consultation to state and local health departments conducting epidemiologic investigations of drug diversion events.

Elaine Dorr serves as vice president of Partner Development for Knowledge to Practice. In her role, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of developing K2P’s enterprise sales presence with practice-changing physician continuing medical education. Prior to this role, Elaine has been a proven sales leader with an extensive 25-year career, working with both startups and fortune 500 corporations. Elaine has held a variety of sales executive roles focused on bringing innovative emerging technology solutions to Provider organizations that span Academic, Pediatric, and large clinically integrated networks. She has demonstrated the ability to simplify, articulate and drive complex solutions that deliver sustained value to both the customer and the organization.

Russell is an experienced project manager with a demonstrated work history in the hospital and healthcare industry. He is skilled in analytics, accounting, management, teamwork, and leadership. Russell completed a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) focused in Biology from University of Central Arkansas.

Derek Empey is a pharmacist at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, NY. Current roles include clinical pharmacist, clinical informatics and IT, as well as Drug Diversion program manager covering 2 campuses. A graduate of Albany College of Pharmacy, and recently from Louisiana Tech University with a MS in Health Informatics, he has had supervisory roles in retail pharmacy, regional leadership roles in chain operations, long term care pharmacy, and inpatient hospital pharmacy.

Marcus investigates cases that include the overprescribing of narcotics, diversion of controlled substances, patient abuse as well as patient death. Marcus C. Erickson was born and raised in Albuquerque New Mexico. He joined the United States Army when he was 17 years old and served 5 years on active duty while stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Marcus was a Military Police Investigator with Internal Affairs, working inside the United States Disciplinary Barracks (U.S.D.B). Marcus plans to continue to use his knowledge and experience to provide the best oversight for the Healthcare profession.

As a critical care nurse and currently as an anesthetist, Rodrigo has experienced diversion and impairment both personally and professionally. Rodrigo and his wife, Claudia, co-founded a dual diagnosis abstinence based treatment center called Parkdale Center, specializing in treating the impaired health care provider. Rodrigo and his team have consulted with hospitals, pharmacies, employers, licensing boards, and regulatory agencies with the goal of identifying, intervening on, and mitigating the consequences of diversion in the workplace.

Rodrigo has held positions with the Indiana Office of the Attorney General Prescription Drug Task Force, is an appointed delegate for the National Safety Council and was the recipient of the National Mental Health America Heros award and Anesthesia Practitioner of the Year for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetist in 2021.

George Hayes was president and CEO of Memorial Hospital, University of Colorado Health until 2016. Before that he was president and CEO of the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado. George also held various leadership roles during his 23 year tenure at St. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a Master’s in Healthcare Administration.

Ms. Koivula is a Registered Nurse and works as the Outreach Coordinator for the Statewide Peer Assistance for Nurses (SPAN) program in New York State. She is an advocate for nurses personally impacted by the disease of addiction and supports their personal as well as professional recovery. Ms. Koivula assists nurses in navigating the complexities of licensure, legal consequence, treatment and employment related issues while dually protecting public safety interests. Through her compassionate approach, she helps nurses improve their professional practice management through integration of recovery planning, prioritizing self-care, and establishing a peer network.

Dr. Tim Lahey is an infectious disease physician and director of clinical ethics at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He is also professor of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at UVM in Burlington, VT. He specializes in HIV and other infectious diseases, and clinical ethics. His research includes HIV care, tuberculosis epidemiology, medical education and clinical ethics.

Dr. Lahey enjoys a team approach to challenging decisions and the care of people with HIV and other infectious diseases.

Carolyn is the pharmacy executive director for Vizient. Previously, she held pharmacy management roles at Memorial Hermann Health System, the Medical Center of Aurora, University of Colorado and Texas Children’s Hospital. She graduated from University of Houston-Clear Lake with an MBA in business administration.

Lauren is a mother, a psychotherapist and a patient safety advocate focused on drug diversion education. After a routine surgery at Rose Medical Center in 2009, Lauren discovered she had Hepatitis C. She was a victim of Kristen Parker, a surgical scrub technician at Rose, who diverted drugs from operating rooms for her own use and spread the disease to hospital patients. Shortly after her diagnosis, Lauren felt the strong desire to speak out to help others realize the victims of this tragic case of drug diversion, leading to the senseless infection of 19 innocent patients with the hepatitis C virus, were real people with families who suddenly found themselves with a deadly disease and to impress the lasting impacts it would have on their lives.

Dr. Kate Malliarakis is a Professor Emerita with the George Washington University School of Nursing where she is the Chair of the Policy, Populations, & Systems Community. Dr. Malliarakis’ clinical interest is in substance abuse and addictions, especially health professionals with substance use disorders.

Dr. Malliarakis was formerly the Chief, Specific Drugs Branch in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, DC where she served under two Administrations. Dr. Malliarakis is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program and Leadership America. Dr. Malliarakis is a founding member and current Chair of the Committee on Impaired Nurses (COIN) for the District of Columbia Board of Nursing. In 2014, Dr. Malliarakis was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is licensed and certified as an adult primary care nurse practitioner (ANP-BC) and master addictions counselor (MAC).

Russ Nix is founder and consultant at Aegis RX. He has over 20 years of investigations experience with 15 years of experience in criminal narcotics investigations.

Samantha Roberts is the Controlled Substances Program Manager at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, she leads initiatives related to diversion prevention and education, opioid stewardship, and regulatory compliance. Samantha has held multiple leadership positions within Publix Pharmacy and Baptist Health System. She received her Masters of Business Administration and her Doctor of Pharmacy from Mercer University.

Kevin Slavik, a veteran pharmacist leader with diverse skills and experience, is Vice President of Pharmacy Management for Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. In his position, Kevin oversees the Plan’s pharmacy programs, providing dedicated leadership to drive pharmacy strategy and innovation efforts. Kevin has a wealth of experience in all aspects of pharmacy program management including vendor management, project management, financial oversight, contracting, sales, analytics and reporting, communications, quality improvement, accreditation, and formulary and clinical program evolution.

Kevin holds a pharmacy degree from the University of Illinois and also possesses a Masters in Health Administration. With his leadership experience, broad industry knowledge, and proven success record, he has garnered a strong reputation throughout the industry.

Kevin Smith serves as the Senior Government Affairs Advisor in the track and trace arena with rfxcel. Kevin assists in helping states/industry, to account for and mitigate the risk of supply chain management and help Life Sciences protect their products, by implementing robust tools to secure the supply chain, bring visibility in product distribution, enable compliance with government regulations, ensure patient safety and peace of mind. Prior to this role Kevin has served a very diverse role in Anti-Drug Scenarios from prevention, treatment, supply reduction, enforcement to policy making and thwarting narco-terrorism issues with the military. Kevin has 35 years of Counter-Drug experience with advanced technology implementation in many facets of the battle with illicit and prescription drugs. Kevin is a veteran of 27 years.

Gwen is the Director of Medication Technology for Fresenius Kabi. As a pharmacist Gwen has worked in Hospital, Retail and Long-term Care Pharmacy, Healthcare Technology, and now Pharma in a career that has spanned over 25 years. She has an extensive background in Hospital Medication Automation and Technology and serves on the Section Advisory Group for Operations Automation at ASHP.

Kristin has been a RN since 1991. After losing much to alcohol and opioid use disorders, she found recovery in 2005. She now works as Head Nurse Coach with Veritus, a virtual treatment program for nurses with substance use and mental health disorders, founded WisPAN (Wisconsin Peer Alliance for Nurses) a non-profit organization providing peer support for nurses with substance use issues, is an emergency room nurse, and has published a book, “An Unlikely Addict”, about her story of recovery. She is committed to making a difference. You can learn more on her websites, www.unlikelyaddict.com and www.wipeeralliance.org.

Susan P. Weinstein, Esq. is the President and co-founder of the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to conduct legal and legislative research and analysis and draft legislation on effective law and policy in the areas of public safety and health, alcohol and other drug use disorders, and the criminal justice system. Before establishing LAPPA, Ms. Weinstein oversaw the Criminal and Civil Justice Working Group of the National Judicial Opioid Task Force for the National Center for State Courts and worked for various criminal justice and alcohol and other drug abuse organizations. Ms. Weinstein earned her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law and her Bachelor of Business Administration from the George Washington University.

Carin Yale is the Controlled Substance Coordinator at Avera McKennan Hospital. Avera Health, based in Sioux Falls, SD, is comprised of more than 300 locations throughout the Midwest: South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota. She oversees DEA compliance, maintains licensing for 7 pharmacies, and investigates possible diversions within Avera’s hospitals. She is currently fine-tuning her hospital system’s robust Drug Diversion Prevention Program, and has written diversion related education modules for hospitals across the country. She is currently acting Vice President of the South Dakota NADDI chapter.