Timothy Ozechowski is a Health Quantitative Research Associate at Abt Associates and Senior Research Scientist in the Division of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. He is a clinical researcher and behavioral methodologist and biostatistician who will consult on ensuring adherence to PCORI methodology standards in the design and conduct of the proposed trial and collaborate on data management and data analyses. Dr. Ozechowski will lend particular expertise to study methodology, data collection and management procedures, data analysis activities, and preparing study reports and manuscripts. He has over two decades experience as a behavioral scientist focused on evaluating and disseminating behavioral treatments for adolescent substance use, including SBIRT models for adolescents, and has been principal or co-investigator on 13 federally funded grants and subcontracts focused on youth AOD use. He has expertise in a range of advanced statistical methodologies, including random-effects hierarchical linear modeling, multilevel and latent growth curve modeling, structural equation modeling, Bayesian statistics, cluster analysis, generalized linear and nonlinear mixed modeling for categorical data, item response modeling, and multiple imputation of missing data. He is currently Statistics Editor for the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.
Dr. O’Grady is the principal investigator on an NIH/NIAAA-funded study examining the implementation of a text messaging program for unhealthy alcohol use in emergency departments, co-investigator on 5 NIH-funded studies and a PCORI-funded study on substance use treatment services and implementation, and lead evaluator on several SAMHSA- and State-funded projects in partnership with New York State and the State of Connecticut. In addition, Dr. O’Grady is the director of the Center for Prevention Evaluation and Statistics (CPES) at UConn Health which supports the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in identification, collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data pertaining to substance use prevention, mental health, and health disparities. She also is the co-chair of the CT State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW). Dr. O’Grady advises students and teaches courses in the UConn Public Health Sciences program, including Implementation Science and the Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health. She obtained her PhD from Colorado State University and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the NIH-funded University of Connecticut School of Medicine Alcohol Research Center. More about Dr. O'Grady >>
Sara Becker, Ph.D., is the Alice Hamilton Professor of Psychiatry and Inaugural Director of the Center for Dissemination and Science at the Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Duke University and her clinical internship at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital in 2009. She is an implementation scientist who conducts programmatic research designed to increase both the demand for and supply of effective interventions for youth substance use. More about Dr. Becker >>
Sion Kim Harris, PhD CPH, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and current Co-Director of the Boston Children’s Hospital Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research (CABHRe). Since 1999, Dr. Harris has been conducting pioneering research in adolescent substance use screening and brief intervention strategies for use in medical offices, including the development and validation of the CRAFFT screen which has become the most widely studied and recommended screening tool for problematic adolescent substance use. Dr. Harris has published over 90 original scientific publications, and has received numerous awards, including the Young Professional Award from the Maternal and Child Health Section of the American Public Health Association, the John Nelson Chappel Best Research Award from the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, and the Estherann Grace Teaching Award and T. Berry Brazelton Innovation Award from the Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, and Division of Developmental Medicine, respectively. She received her doctorate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Read more about Dr. Harris here About Us – CRAFFT and here Sion Harris | Researchers | Boston Children's Hospital (childrenshospital.org)
Dr. Lydia Shrier is a board-certified Adolescent Medicine physician who has been providing clinical care and conducting research on adolescent substance use and other risk behaviors for almost 30 years. She serves as Research Director for the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine and Co-Director of the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research at Boston Children’s Hospital, with a primary appointment in Pediatrics and a secondary appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shrier’s research focuses on screening and brief intervention in primary care, adolescent behaviors in the natural environment, and behavioral interventions that can be delivered in daily life. Her work has enhanced understanding of the role of affect regulation in adolescent substance use and led to the development of the MOMENT intervention to reduce cannabis use in adolescents and young adults. She contributed to the development of the CRAFFT screen to identify problem substance use, which is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is among the most widely used tools in adolescent primary care, and the S2BI screen to identify adolescent substance use by level of risk, which had been recommended by the NIDA-SAHMSA Blending Initiative to guide substance use screening and brief intervention in primary care. Read more about Dr. Shrier hereOur Team – Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research (cabhre.org) and here Lydia A. Shrier, MD, MPH | Boston Children's Hospital (childrenshospital.org)
Maddie O’Connell earned her Master of Public Health degree at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), where she studied epidemiology and biostatistics with a context in maternal and child health. Prior to joining the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research (CABHRe) at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2019, she worked on research teams at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Her research areas include adolescent substance use and sexual and reproductive health, and she is particularly interested in the role of technology-facilitated interventions on adolescent behavioral health.
Nicholas McCaskill is a Clinical Research Assistant in the Division of Adolescent/ Young Adult Medicine and the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Research (CABHRe) at Boston Children's Hospital. Currently, he works with principal investigators Drs. Sion Kim Harris and Lydia Shrier to implement interventions that reduce adolescent and young adult substance use. He has been an LGBTQ+ advocate for 10+ years and addresses the dearth of literature pertaining to sexual and gender minorities. His research focuses on suicide protective factors for Black transgender individuals and understanding how stigma and discrimination heighten the likelihood for suicide for in this population.
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