James H. Berry, DO is Professor and Chair of the Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry at West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and the Director of Addictions. He is board certified in both General Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. He received his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, completed a General Psychiatry residency at West Virginia University and an Addiction Psychiatry fellowship at the University of Hawaii. He and his colleagues at WVU have developed innovative community-based treatment models in response to the addiction crisis in Appalachia and are actively engaged in novel neuromodulation research related to substance use disorders through WVU’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, including the nation’s first trial of Deep Brain Stimulation for opioid use disorder.

Dr. Berry has been a dedicated clinician and enthusiastic educator in West Virginia since the early days of the addiction epidemic.  Statewide, he serves as a member of the West Virginia Governor’s Advisory Council on Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment and the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. Nationally, he chairs the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Addiction Psychiatry Examination Committee and serves on the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine Board of Trustees, the Academy for Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care’s National Integration Academy Council, and the Addiction Policy Forum’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Tonya Chaney, MA, is the Statistical Services Branch Manager at the West Virginia Health Statistics Center where she oversees the Vital Statistics and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Program. She has been an epidemiologist for 17 years, working at the local and state levels in West Virginia in both infectious and chronic diseases. The Health Statistics Center provides data support to multiple programs within the Department of Health and Human Services as well as partners throughout West Virginia on various health related topics. Tonya received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in biology from Marshall University. She is a member of the National Association for Health Statistics and Information Systems and Mountains of Hope Cancer Coalition.

Matthew Q. Christiansen, MD, MPH, serves as Commissioner for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Public Health, and as the West Virginia State Health Officer. Dr. Christiansen was appointed Director of DHHR’s Office of Drug Control Policy in 2020 by Governor Jim Justice. He served in that role from 2020 until his appointment as Commissioner in 2023. Prior to joining the DHHR, Dr. Christiansen was an Associate Professor in the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Health where he also practiced primary care and addiction medicine. Dr. Christiansen is passionate about primary care and public health and has lectured in multiple states on primary care and addiction. A native of West Virginia, Dr. Christiansen earned his medical degree and Master of Public Health degree from Marshall University.

Candy Cooley is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist (PRSS) and a Community Health Worker at the Morgantown Ruby Memorial Hospital Drug Free Moms and Babies site, known as ACE- Accept Connect Encourage. The ACE program serves pregnant and postpartum women who are, or have been, dealing with Substance Use Disorder (SUD). She has over five years of experience working professionally in this field. During Candy’s time with ACE, she helped create a wellness recovery action plan for pregnant and postpartum women. Every week, she holds a recovery meeting that is just for the women who have been part of ACE. She also started a mom and baby pantry for the women participating in the program.

 

Candy’s training and lived experience are what make her so valuable in her role. She is a proud mother of an adult son, Justin. She is also a person in long-term recovery. Her life without drugs and alcohol began August 10, 2011. Her ability to share her experience struggling with SUD, being a single parent, and years in recovery with other women has been invaluable. She believes that recovery is possible for anyone, and everyone’s path is different. Working with pregnant and postpartum women has become her passion. She hopes to make a difference and break down the stigma that is a barrier for a lot of the women she supports.

Kimberly M. Farry, MD, FACOG, has been in practice as an obstetrician/gynecologist in Buckhannon, WV, since 1996, and has worked as both a hospital-employed physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital as well as in private practice. After graduating from Davis & Elkins College with a Bachelor of Science in 1985, Dr. Farry attended Temple University School of Medicine, receiving her Master of Science in 1987 and her Doctor of Medicine in 1991. Dr Farry serves as Medical Director of Clinical Services at St. Joseph’s Hospital.  Her professional affiliations include staff physician at Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital, assistant professor at West Virginia University, Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as a member of the Central West Virginia Medical Society and West Virginia State Medical Association. Dr. Farry serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the WV Perinatal Partnership as well as the Chair of its Central Advisory Council.

Priya Gopalan, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Western Psychiatric Hospital. She currently serves as the Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Services across nine hospitals, Chief of Psychiatry at Magee-Womens Hospital, and is one of the faculty advisors to the psychiatry residency’s Academic Administrator/Clinician Educator track. She co-directs the Reproductive Psychiatry and Women’s Mental Health Area of Concentration for psychiatry residents at Western Psychiatric. She is also actively involved in programmatic development around perinatal mental health services. Her interests include consultation-liaison psychiatry, perinatal psychiatry and women’s mental health, resident education, and service delivery.

Jessica Kerns is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist with Women’s Health Care, Davis Medical Center, in Elkins, WV. She struggled with SUD for over 17 years. By the grace of God, and personal perseverance and dedication, she has been sober for three and half years. The passion she has to help those who are still struggling with SUD is enormous! She strives to be the non-judgmental, friendly, compassionate, and resourceful person to those seeking help that she didn’t have when she needed it. A native of Elkins, WV, she absolutely adores spending time with her family and growing into a happy and healthy lifestyle together. She is happily married, has two beautiful daughters and a handsome four-legged furbaby. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching dance and gymnastics at a local dance studio.

Jacob Kilgore, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a proud native of Kenova, West Virginia, and son of the Marshall University undergraduate Yeager Scholars Program, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, and a combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency. After residency, he completed a pediatric infectious diseases fellowship and quality and safety chief residency at Duke University in addition to a master’s in public health (MPH) at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.  He has since returned to his alma mater and serves alongside his incredible Peds ID partner, Dr. Mariana Lanata. His research interests focus on both inpatient and outpatient antimicrobial stewardship as well as quality improvement and patient safety.

Suzanne Krueger is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist with the Drug Free Moms and Babies Project. She has worked in different treatment settings since 2017. She is dedicated to long term recovery. As a mother of three, she has experienced pregnancy in three very different stages of addiction and recovery. Through her lived experiences, she believes she is capable of meeting women where they are in their recovery journeys. She looks forward to continuing her education while also serving patients and the community.

Mariana Lanata, MD, FAAP, is originally from Lima, Peru. She completed medical school at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and moved to the US to pursue further training. She did her pediatric residency at Miami Children’s Hospital (currently Niklaus Children’s Hospital) and her Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  She currently is an Associate Professor at Marshall University, initially being the sole Peds ID specialist for two years prior to Dr. Kilgore joining the practice.  Besides providing direct patient care, she is also the Medical Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention at Hoops Family Children’s Hospital.

Carrie Linn, MA, began with the WV Family Planning Program (FPP) as the Northern Region Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (APPI) Specialist in 2011. She has conducted community outreach and education and taught reproductive health in more than 200 locations across West Virginia. Her dedication led to a promotion last year. Carrie now serves as the Community Outreach and Education Coordinator for the FPP. Her career has included the development of teen friendly marketing plans for Family Planning clinics, training health teachers and community agencies in evidenced-based curriculum, serving on numerous boards and community resource networks, and assisting with the administration of the Federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant and State Office of Drug Control Policy-Family Planning grant.

Heather Marshall, MA, LPC, NBCC, PMH-C, is a Nationally Board-Certified Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. She holds a BA and MA from Waynesburg University, and brings a wealth of experience from addiction therapy, residential facilities, outpatient community agencies, and private practice. In 2021, Heather became a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional, igniting a flame for advocating for those struggling with postpartum, fertility, and birth trauma issues.

Kayla Mullin, MA, LPC, AADC, PMH-C, is the owner of Montani Mental Health in Morgantown, WV.  A WV native, she is a graduate of Fairmont State University and Waynesburg University, where she specialized in Addictions Counseling. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in both WV and PA and holds the title of Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor for the West Virginia Certification Board for Addiction and Prevention Professionals. Before opening her own practice, Kayla worked in the juvenile justice and hospital settings. With two children of her own, hearing the stories of mothers who came in for therapy opened her eyes to the issues facing mothers in the Mountain State. She obtained her PMH-C in October 2019.

Mark Olfert, PhD, FAHA, FAPS, RRT, CPFT, is a professor in the School of Medicine at West Virginia University with joint appointment in the Department of Human Performance, Division of Exercise Physiology and the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology & Toxicology.  He serves as the Graduate Program Director of the Clinical & Translational Sciences PhD Program in the Robert C Byrd Health Sciences Center and is a member of the executive committee for Center for Inhalation Toxicology. He received his Doctorate of Physiology degree from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California in 2000. His post-doctoral training in pulmonary physiology and vascular biology was performed at the School of Medicine, Division of Physiology, University of California San Diego. He has been named Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences in 2014, and Fellow of the American Physiology Society (FAPS) in 2017.

Prior to his graduate education, Dr. Olfert was trained as a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) and worked in adult, pediatric and neonatal intensive care settings for over 7 years. He is also a Certified Pulmonary Function Technologist (CPFT) and Perinatal/Pediatric Respiratory Care Specialist by the National Board of Respiratory Care. In his free time, Dr. Olfert enjoys motorcycle riding, scuba diving and spending time with his wife and daughter.

Beth Redden, CNM, APRN, FACNM, has been a Certified Nurse-Midwife in WV since 2009. She is the President of the WV Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, a WV Women’s Commissioner, and the WV ACNM liaison to the Midwives Alliance of West Virginia. She was awarded Politically Active Nurse of the Year in 2022 by the WV Nurses Association for her efforts working to remove Certificate of Need for Birth Centers and was granted the title of Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives in 2020. She has been involved in birth work since 2002 as a labor nurse, was a hospital-based midwife for 12 years in Beckley, and currently is the owner of Divine Beginnings WV, a thriving home-birth practice based in Oak Hill. She has precepted CNM students, medical students, family practice residents, and she is currently working with a 3rd year CPM student in her practice. She is married to a wonderful man who is understanding and supportive of her “crazy midwife life” and mother to 3 amazing young men.

Meredith Spada, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  Prior to medical school, she earned her master’s degree in secondary education at the University of Pennsylvania and taught high school biology and physical science in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She then attended medical school at Penn State University College of Medicine. She completed a general psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western Psychiatric Hospital. Dr Spada graduated with certificates from the residency program’s Women’s Mental Health Area of Concentration and the program’s Academic Administrator, Clinician Educator Track. She is an Associate Program Director for Psychiatry Residency Training and Co-Director for the residency program’s Academic Administrator, Clinician Educator Track as well as Co-Director for the Women’s Mental Health and Reproductive Psychiatry Area of Concentration. Clinically, she works on the inpatient psychiatry consult service at her institution’s tertiary women’s hospital and also provides consultation to pediatricians in Western, PA through the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh telephonic access program (TiPS). She has a special interest in parental mental health during the perinatal period and the impact of parental well being on child wellbeing and development.

Katie Spriggs, MSW, is a graduate of Shepherd University with a bachelor’s degree in social work and West Virginia University with a master’s degree in social work. Katie has worked in victim services for 10 years, with a focus on victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking. She is a member of the WV Human Trafficking Task Force, is Co-Chair of their training committee and a steering committee member. Katie serves as a member of the WV Foundation for Rape Information and Services and currently serves as President of their board. Katie has trained medical professionals, law enforcement, military members and community members about intervention and prevention of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Katie has been with Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center (EPEC) for 10 years and currently serves as the Executive Director. EPEC is a dual program in the Eastern Panhandle of WV that serves victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking. Katie co-facilitates the statewide WV Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Advocates Aspiring for Equity team, Public Policy team and is Co-Chair of their Membership Committee and Board of Directors.

Moira Tannenbaum, MSN, APRN, CNM, IBCLC, FACNM, has been a nurse-midwife for 14 years and a nurse for 25 years. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she received a BSN, and Frontier Nursing University in Hyden, Kentucky, for an MSN. As a nurse, she has worked in the NICU, MICU stepdown, labor and delivery, postpartum (“mother/baby”), pediatrics, corrections, emergency department, and as a visiting nurse. As a midwife, she has worked in practices attending births in homes, birth centers, and hospitals and served the childbearing population of a women’s state prison.

 

Her first big legislative success was being part of the team that helped pass HB 4334 in West Virginia in 2016, giving APRNs full practice authority. In 2017, she joined the board of directors of the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) and also served as VP for Government Affairs and Membership. In 2018, she joined the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, representing AABC. She is in her second term as the voting delegate from West Virginia Nurses Association to the American Nurses Association Membership Assembly and she has edited the quarterly publication West Virginia Nurse. In addition to her policy and advocacy work,  Moira teaches maternity nursing clinicals, works locum tenens as a midwife, and provides lactation consultation.

Lou Teter, MLS, is the Equal Employment Opportunity Consultant with WVU Medicine’s new Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Lou has 10 years of professional experience in large group facilitation and training in both corporate and nonprofit settings, and an academic background in healthcare policy research and implementation with a special interest in nondiscrimination provisions of healthcare policy. Her long-term goals are to foster a healthcare setting where all patients, employees, and community members feel safe and cared for. By developing and conducting trainings with healthcare providers throughout the multi- state region, Lou strives to decrease health disparities and improve patient outcomes by increasing foundational knowledge and awareness of marginalized community healthcare experiences.

Amy N. Tolliver, MS, of Charleston, has served as the Executive Director of the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership since 2013. Under her 10+ year tenure she has grown the organization from a project under the WV Community Voices to an independent not-for-profit corporation with a $5M+ operating budget. The Partnership, incorporated in 2019, now has seven full-time employees, ten full-time contractors and numerous other special project contractors who all contribute to the important statewide work of the organization. Ms. Tolliver came to the position with 20 years experience in state and federal policy development focusing on legislative and regulatory health care policy. She served as the Government Relations Specialist and Director of the Political Action Committee for the West Virginia State Medical Association for 15 years and also served as Budget Analyst for the West Virginia House of Delegates Finance Committee and as Program Coordinator for the West Virginia Child Care Association. Ms Tolliver earned her BS in Business Management from Marshall University and a MS in Business and Industrial Relations from Marshall University Graduate College.  She serves on the Board of the DRESS Syndrome Foundation and organization with a vision to see a world where severe adverse drug reactions are predictable, recognizable and treatable. She resides in Charleston, WV with her husband Scott and is the proud mother of a daughter (Emma) and son (Eli).  She is an avid cross-country and downhill mountain biker as well as a snowboarder in the winter season.

Manuel C. Vallejo, MD, DMD, is Associate Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for Graduate Medical Education (GME), and Co-Director of Obstetric Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology. He is professor of Medical Education, Anesthesiology, Obstetrics & Gynecology at West Virginia University School of Medicine.

In the department of Anesthesiology at WVU, he serves as Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Institutional Affairs, Chair of the Promotions Committee, Chair of the Moderate Sedation Committee, Quality Assurance/Patient Safety representative for Obstetric Anesthesia, and is a contributing member of the Obstetric Anesthesia High Risk Patient committee.

Carole Warshaw, MD, (she, her) is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of domestic violence, trauma, substance use, and mental health. For over 40 years, she has led the development of innovative models for providing accessible, culturally responsive, trauma and domestic violence informed services; building cross-sector collaboration; and improving system capacities to address the health, mental health, substance use, and advocacy concerns of domestic violence survivors and their families. She speaks and publishes extensively on these topics and has served as an advisor to numerous health, mental health, substance use, and domestic violence advocacy organizations, as well as federal agencies.

Dr. Warshaw founded the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health in 2005 and its precursor, the Chicago-based Domestic Violence and Mental Health Policy Initiative in 1999. Previously, she spent over 30 years at John H. Stroger Jr. (formerly Cook County) Hospital as an internist, emergency room physician, and Director of Behavioral Science for the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency. While there she co-founded the Hospital Crisis Intervention Project, which trains healthcare providers on domestic violence and provides on-site advocacy for survivors and their families. Dr. Warshaw has maintained a part-time private practice in psychiatry since 1989 and is currently a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois. She is board certified in psychiatry and internal medicine.

Margret Watkins, MPH, CHES, obtained her BS degree from West Virginia University and her MPH degree from East Stroudsburg University. She initially began her career in a hospital setting before transitioning to public health in 2015. She focused on sexual health before moving to WV DHHR in 2019 as an epidemiologist. She transitioned to her current role as STD program director in 2021.

Rebecca Woo, MD, FACOG, has a long-standing interest in women’s health. As a medical student at the Medical College of Georgia, she worked with the local homeless clinic to establish a women’s clinic. She was president of the student branch of the American Medical Women’s Association from 2000- 2001, and co-founder of the student OB/GYN interest group. After completing residency in OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, Dr. Woo and her family moved to Europe where she continued caring for women’s OB/GYN needs as a civilian contractor for the US Army. Upon returning to the United States in 2010, she engaged in private practice for five years. In 2015, Dr. Woo left obstetrics and began the process of transitioning to psychiatry. She returned to her education at the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University) for additional training in mental health. As a psychiatry resident, Dr. Woo co-developed a women’s mental health clinic within the residency program. She helped develop a new resident didactic curriculum, based on a two-year, alternating cycle involving all levels of postgraduate trainees. She received the resident education award for her work in 2020.

Dr. Woo joined Dr. Toby Goldsmith, her mentor at Emory University, and as part of the PEACE for Moms program, Dr. Woo and Dr. Goldsmith provide perinatal psychiatric consultations to doctors across the state of Georgia. She also co-coordinates the newly launched Reproductive Mental Health ECHO series hosted by Georgia Department of Public Health. Dr. Woo is an active participant in the national Lifeline for Moms network, which connects perinatal psychiatry access programs across the country. Her clinical interests include other aspects of reproductive mental health including sexual health; she recently completed the University of Michigan Sexual Health certificate training program and is in the process of becoming an AASECT certified provider. Dr Woo is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.

Christine Woolslayer, M.Ed, serves as a Public Health Analyst within the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs in Region 3. For the past 7 years, she has led various initiatives around women’s health, minority health, adolescent health, the family planning program, and human trafficking. Prior to her federal service, Chris worked for AccessMatters/TRAINING 3 as the Manager of Training and Performance Improvement. In this role she worked with Title X grantees in the region, including West Virginia where she had the distinct pleasure of organizing several of the annual Reproductive Health Updates.   When not championing public health, Chris can be found at her home in Philadelphia with her husband (also named Chris), her son, Ben and her daughter, Holly, along with two dogs and “several” cats.