Justine Welsh, MD - Medical Director, Addiction Alliance of Georgia; Director, Emory Healthcare Addiction Services
Justine W. Welsh, MD is a child/adolescent and adult addiction psychiatrist, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. She is the founder and Director of the Emory Healthcare Addiction Services and the Medical Director of the Addiction Alliance of Georgia.
Dr. Welsh is an active advocate for expanding access to care for individuals with substance use disorder, as well as implementing innovative ways to approach recovery. She recently served as a board member of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and currently Chairs the Public Policy Committee for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. Her research has focused on accessing evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders across the lifespan. She has been the recipient of award and grant funding from agencies including NIDA, NIAAA, and AACAP. Her co-edited book, Treating Adolescent Substance Use: A Clinician’s Guide, was released in 2019.
Dr. Welsh also provides expert consultation on reducing addiction-related stigma and enhancing medical education in the CDC’s Division of Overdose Prevention and serves as the Associate Director for the University of California Irvine Train New Trainers Primary Care Addiction Medicine fellowship.
John Gallagher, PhD, LCSW, LCAC - Director of Research, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
Prior to joining the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Dr. Gallagher was a tenured professor of social work at Indiana University and Morgan State University. His research agenda focuses on the use of medications in the criminal justice system to support opioid use disorder recovery, eliminating racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in treatment court outcomes, and developing best practice standards for serving African Americans who have substance use disorders.
Dr. Gallagher is the Associate Editor for Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly and the Journal for Advancing Justice, serves on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, and has been a peer reviewer for nearly 40 journals. He has developed a national reputation for excellence in criminal justice reform and addiction research with over 50 scientific publications and over 170 community, professional, and academic presentations.
Additionally, he has worked on projects funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Executive Office of the President of the United States and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). These projects helped develop the Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) Program Assessment Tool and expanded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training in the criminal justice system. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Clinical Addiction Counselor (LCAC), and since 2002, he has provided addiction and mental health counseling to adolescents, adults, and families. Dr. Gallagher utilizes his more than two decades of counseling experience to support the mission of the Addiction Alliance of Georgia and help agencies transfer research findings to practice settings.
Danielle Kretman BS, LADC, PMP, PMI-ACP Director of Program Innovation, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Danielle is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor and Project Management Professional with 13 years of service with Hazelden Betty Ford. Danielle formerly lead the national patient placement team for Hazelden Betty Ford, and was key in developing processes to allow for Addiction Alliance Georgia patients to be served through Hazelden Betty Ford intake services.
Danielle’s current role supports Hazelden Betty Ford’s Mental Health and Family Services. She leads innovative strategies for program analysis, assessment and tactical launch of new and expanded programs, products and services.
Erin Glen, MBA – Administrative Director, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
Erin earned both her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and her MBA from Georgia Tech. She brings a diverse background in business consulting, training, project management, and marketing in the energy, defense, online retail, and healthcare industries.
Faith Kanneh, MSPH - Clinical Research Coordinator at Hazelden Betty Ford
Faith is a clinical research coordinator at Hazelden Betty Ford, passionately working on studies aimed at better understanding and mitigating addiction across diverse populations. Her journey in research and academia has been marked by a commitment to understanding marginalized experiences and enhancing educational outcomes.
Faith earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. During her undergraduate years, she delved into research focusing on the institutionalized marginalization experienced by first-generation college students. Additionally, Faith actively participated in a lab dedicated to exploring strategies to improve reading comprehension for college students.
Building on her undergraduate experiences, Faith earned a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) with a concentration in Health Education and Health Communication at Johns Hopkins University. Faith strives to be a driving force in the pursuit of healthier, more inclusive communities.
John Martin, LCSW, MAC - Director of Medical and Professional Education, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
John is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Master Addiction Counselor. John graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston, MA, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Organizational Communication. He graduated with honors from the Master of Social Work program at the University of South Carolina – Columbia, with a specialization in Health/Mental Health.
John has worked in addiction and mental health since training at Willingway Hospital in Statesboro, GA in 2009. In 2013, he provided clinical addiction and mental health services at a men’s detox and residential program in Boston, MA. Upon returning to Georgia, John provided family counseling, adolescent continuing care, and marketing for Bradford Health and Recovery Houses Services.
After completing his graduate education, he began working as the Clinical Director at The Hale Foundation, a private non-profit organization specializing in addiction treatment services for the men’s residential program. As the Clinical Director, he started the outpatient program and saw clients for individual and family therapy. John has also worked as a psychiatric therapist at Aurora Pavilion, a behavioral health services program in Aiken, SC.
Before joining Emory and the Addiction Alliance of Georgia, John was the Clinical Director at The Bluff Recovery Center, providing clinical oversight and program management for detox, residential, and outpatient services for individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders. As Clinical Director, he founded the outpatient program and provided individual, group, and family therapy to individuals in the community and within the program. John also founded a group private practice named Autumn’s Harbor Psychotherapy, LLC.
Joseph Mathias, MD - Director of Outpatient Addiction Services, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
Dr. Mathias is an Addiction Psychiatrist at Emory Healthcare. He also serves as Associate Medical Education Director for the Addiction Alliance of Georgia. Dr. Mathias completed his training in General Psychiatry at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He started to develop an interest in addiction treatment during residency as his local community in Western Massachusetts suffered greatly due to the opioid epidemic. He served as Chief Resident in his final year of residency and helped treat patients with opioid use disorder at Berkshire County’s community mental health buprenorphine clinic. Following residency, Dr. Mathias completed his Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at Emory University. Dr. Mathias has a particular interest in the treatment and prevention of substance use disorders in adolescents/young adults. He is also actively involved in nursing student, medical student, residency and fellowship education.
Quyen Ngo, PhD – Executive Director of the Butler Center for Research, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Dr. Ngo leads research activities at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation as the executive director of the Butler Center for Research. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology and women's studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship. Over the past eight years, Dr. Ngo has conducted grant-funded research on the role of substance use in intimate partner violence and technology-enhanced brief interventions for substance use disorders.
Santosh Patel, MD, MBA - Medical Director of the Intensive Outpatient Program, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
Dr. Patel is an Addiction Psychiatrist at Emory Healthcare. He completed his training in general psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia, where he served as Chief Resident in his final year. After residency, he completed his addiction psychiatry fellowship at Emory University. Alongside training in addiction psychiatry, Dr. Patel also has additional certification in the specialty of sports psychiatry through the International Society of Sports Psychiatry and has worked with a wide range of professional and amateur athletes. Dr. Patel’s professional interests focus on the identification and prevention of substance use disorders in adults and the development of evidenced-based treatment programs focused on improving patient engagement and preventing relapse.
Samantha Patton, PhD – Clinical Director of the Intensive Outpatient Program, Addiction Alliance of Georgia
Dr. Patton completed her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY, where her graduate research focused on emotional and physiological factors that influence symptom trajectory following trauma exposure, particularly in women. She completed her clinical internship at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System in New Orleans, LA, and her postdoctoral fellowship at Emory with the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, where she gained further training in the evidence-based treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid disorders. Dr. Patton is passionate about providing evidence-based treatment and specializes in the treatment of PTSD, substance use disorders, and related problems. Her research interests focus on factors impacting symptom development, treatment outcomes and maintenance of treatment gains.
Emily Piper, JD – Chief Legal, Advocacy and Compliance Officer, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Emily serves as Hazelden Betty Ford's Chief Legal, Advocacy and Compliance Officer. As general counsel, she is responsible for the organization's legal and compliance functions, and additionally oversees communications, public relations and government relations for the Foundation. In addition to her work at Hazelden Betty Ford, Piper serves as a member of the board of trustees for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the state’s largest non-profit health plan corporation, is a director of its parent company, Stella, and is a trustee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation. Emily Piper has recently been positioned as the Executive lead for the AAG partnership from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
Frank Boykin serves as chair of the Georgia State University Foundation board and as a member on the Robinson College of Business Board of Advisors. He is also a co-founder and member of the Oversight Committee for the Addiction Alliance of Georgia, a partnership of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and Emory Healthcare to address addiction treatment, education and research for Atlanta.
Edward J. (Jack) Hardin is a Partner in the Corporate Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Mr. Hardin is currently Chairman of the Board of Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT). He is the Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Health, Co-Chair of the Regional Commission on Homelessness, President of the Georgia Legal Services Foundation, Chairman (and founder) of Gateway, LLC, a homeless services center, a member of the Boards of Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation, and Partners for Home, Inc., Vice Chairman of the Board of Georgia Works! Inc., a residential workforce program for the chronically homeless and a non-profit affordable housing provider.
Tom Johnson served as chief executive officer of two of America’s most respected news organizations, Los Angeles Times and CNN.