Dr. Borek earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The George Washington University in 1998. Her research has focused on at-risk youth, acculturation, and ethnic identity while her clinical experience included behavioral treatment of substance abusing women and their young children and persons with psychiatric and drug abuse disorders. She is currently the Acting Branch Chief of the Behavioral and Brain Development Branch in the Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) where she oversees a portfolio of research on long-term outcomes of prenatal exposure to drugs of abuse and other environmental stressors.  Prior to her work at NIDA, Dr. Borek was the chief of the Child and Adolescent Research Program at the Center for Mental Health Research on AIDS at the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH). While at NIMH Dr. Borek also worked on projects addressing youth behavior problems including "Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General."

Workshop: "Exposure to Drugs of Abuse During Development: Implications for Adolescent Vulnerability to Substance Abuse" [see description & time

Wendy Burgoyne works with the Best Start Resource Centre, a provincial resource centre of the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, funded to improve maternal, newborn and child health. Ms. Burgoyne supports local communities in their efforts to prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) through a variety of strategies including awareness campaigns, new resources, conferences, workshops and alcohol policy development. In her present capacity, Wendy assists communities across the province by providing presentations, consultations and designing new provincial resources. Recent initiatives on FASD include assisting with the development of signage for Sandy’s Law, a provincial physician training strategy, a training video about screening for alcohol use in pregnancy, a provincial FASD awareness campaign and a provincial FASD conference. She also completed a national review of recent awareness campaigns about FASD for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Workshop: "Prevention: The Front Line in Addressing Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Pregnancy" [see description & time]

Kevin Burns received both Bachelors and Masters Degrees at the University of Oregon in Developmental Child
Psychology and Therapeutic Recreation. He has worked with children under the age of five for 27 years, in a
variety of settings including child care centers, research centers, day treatment centers, and a children's psychiatric hospital. For the last 16 years he has served as a therapist at the Relief Nursery in Eugene.  Mr. Burns is one of the founding members of the Oregon Network for Infant Mental Health.

Workshop: "Attachment and its Impact on Early Brain Development: The Circle of Security Approach to Treating Attachment Disorders [see description & time]

Rachael Carnes received her B.A. in Dance-Theater from Reed College. She trained at the Creative Dance Center in Seattle with Anne Green Gilbert, and worked as a teacher, choreographer and board member at the CDC, as well as developing her own classes, artist-in-residence workshops and projects throughout the Seattle area. After relocating to New York City in 1999, she pursued graduate studies in Child Development, Developmental Psychology and Dance/Movement therapy and created her program for Little Ones and their Big People. Since founding Sparkplug Dance in Eugene, Oregon, Rachael has been a regular presenter for Lane Community College, University of Oregon, Oregon Association for the Education of the Young Child, Oregon Department of Education, Headstart of Oregon, and the Eugene Public Library. She has presented at a number of conferences and events including a workshop on adaptive dance and inclusion at the annual conference for Dance and the Child International, in The Hague, Netherlands, and at the International Festival of Smiling Children in Istanbul, Turkey, as a guest of the Turkish Spinal Cord Association. She is a popular teacher with the Lane Arts Council Youth Arts Residency Program, and teaches in the schools for Lane Community College’s Arts Integration Initiative. She teaches concept-based dance to all ages and enjoys dancing and playing with her own little girl and boy.

Workshop: “Look at me, I’m becoming neurologically hardwired!” Learn the Baby Brain Dance! [see description & time]

Deborah Padgett Coehlo is an Assistant Professor and Program Lead of the Human Development and Family Sciences Department at Oregon State University, Cascades Campus. Dr. Coehlo is also a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner specializing in care of families with children with special needs and a state-wide trainer for foster parenting for Oregon State Child Welfare Program through Portland State University. She received her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Oregon State University in 1999 extending her clinical and research interests into families across the life span. She is a member of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), the National Association for Pediatric Nurse Associates and Practitioners (NAPNAP), the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Her research, scholarly work, and publications have focused on caregiving across the lifespan, care of children with special needs and their families including sibling relationships, mental health issues across the life span, relative care of foster children, and multimedia strategies for enhancing education. She is also a trainer for Oregon State Child Welfare Services, and has developed curriculum materials for foster parenting medically fragile toddlers and infants and solving toileting problems from tots to teens.

Workshop: "Prevention: Behavior Management Strategies for High Risk Children: The School Age Child" [see description & time]

Tom Dishion received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon. His interests include understanding the development of antisocial behavior and substance abuse in children and adolescents, as well as designing effective interventions and prevention programs. In particular, he and colleagues have examined the contribution of peer and family dynamics to escalations in adolescent substance use, delinquency, and violence. His intervention research focuses on the effectiveness of family-centered interventions, and the negative effects of aggregating high-risk youth into intervention groups. He is currently Director of Research at the Child and Family Center and Professor of Clinical Psychology, both at the University of Oregon. Prior to that, he was a research scientist at Oregon Social Learning Center. He has published over 90 scientific reports on these topics, a book for parents on family management, and two books for professionals working with troubled children and their families.

Workshop: "Adolescent Self Regulation and the Brain: Resilience, Risk and Intervention" [see description & times]

Lesa Dixon-Gray has worked in prevention and treatment in the public health and healthcare realm for over 20 years.  Her experience spans the addictions field and maternal and child health issues.  As a Public Health Social Worker in Florida, Lesa worked in Maternal and Child Health at the Florida State Health Office, and coordinated a statewide demonstration grant received from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention for the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association.  In Oregon, she was the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) (Medicaid) Coordinator for the DHS Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, coordinating OHP coverage for A&D clients.  Most recently, she has been the Program Coordinator for the Smoke-Free Mothers and Babies Project, a demonstration project focusing on tobacco cessation best practices and motivational interviewing strategies for pregnant women who smoke, funded through the Robert Wood Johnson – Smoke Free Families, National Dissemination Office. 

Currently, Lesa is working in the Office of Family Health-Women’s and Perinatal Health section, coordinating a CDC-funded project focusing on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies.  The project focuses on using motivational interviewing strategies with women who binge drink and engage in high-risk sexual activity and conducting surveillance with children diagnosed with FAS in Oregon.

Workshop: "But is it Really FAS? Results from Oregon’s Fetal Alcohol Surveillance Project" [see description & times]

Dr. Dennis Embry is President/CEO of PAXIS Institute in Tucson, co-investigator at the Center on Early Adolescence in Oregon, and co-investigator at the Center on Prevention and Early Intervention at Johns Hopkins University. Dr Embry has an international reputation in the area of designing, testing and disseminating effective large-scale educational campaigns to increase school and community safety, child safety, family well-being and health. His work has been featured in national media such as the "Today Show," "Good Morning America," Life Magazine, People Magazine, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

Based on Dr. Embry’s experience as a faculty member at the University of Kansas, at the Bureau of Child Research and the Department of Human Development, he developed the desire to integrate his academic research, clinical, and health promotion and marketing experience. Dr Embry has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters and is an author of a number of books, a weekly newspaper column, magazine articles and a frequent public speaker. He writes extensively on behavior and the brain, with publications in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Intervention in School and Clinic, Developmental Psychology, Brain and Mind, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, and the Journal of Community Psychology.  Dr. Embry and PAXIS have prevention and research projects in Arizona, Maryland, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, California, Texas, Virginia and various Native American sites.  His recent prevention work focuses on low-cost evidence-based kernels and behavioral vaccines, as well as evolutionary and epidemiology pressures affecting children and youth.

Workshop: "Cost-Effective Approaches to Remedying Deficiencies in Essential Brain Nutrients and Behaviors" [see description & times]

Dr. Fisher is a research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) and a senior scientist at the Center for Research to Practice, both in Eugene, Oregon. He is particularly interested in prevention research in the early years of life. Dr. Fisher is Principal Investigator on the Early Intervention Foster Care (EIFC) project, a 10-year study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to test the effectiveness of a preventive intervention for maltreated preschool-aged foster children. The intervention incorporates many of the elements of OSLC’s Treatment Foster Care program for adolescents, and adds additional components such as a focus on developmental delays and a home visitation model of service delivery, that are designed to meet the needs of children in this age group. He is also Principal Investigator on other studies involving foster children and their families, including a randomized trial funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to evaluate a therapeutic playgroup intervention to promote school readiness for foster children, and a longitudinal study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development to follow children identified at birth as high risk for child welfare system involvement through early adolescence. Related to these studies, Dr. Fisher is a Co-Investigator on an NIMH-funded network grant examining the effects of early experiences on glucocorticoid activity in the brain. He is also a Co-Investigator on two center grants at OSLC, Oregon Prevention Research Center Grant and Pathways Home: Reducing Risk in the Child Welfare System. Dr. Fisher is a licensed clinical psychologist and serves on a number of national advisory groups, including a NIDA workgroup of Native American researchers and scholars and a National Institutes of Health study section that evaluates proposals for community-based interventions.

Workshop: "Intervening Early to Improve Young Foster Children’s Brain Development" [see description & time]

Dr. Frascella is currently the Director of the Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) where he heads a broad drug abuse and addiction program of translational research and research training in clinical neuroscience, human development, and behavioral treatment. Dr. Frascella also has served for several years as the Chief of the Clinical Neurobiology Branch as well as the program director of NIDA’s basic pain research and basic research training programs. Before coming to NIDA, Dr. Frascella headed a neurophysiology research program at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and prior to that, he held the position of Assistant Professor within the Department of Psychology at Brown University. Dr. Frascella received an A.B. in Biopsychology from Hamilton College, and a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology/Neuroscience from Brown University.

Workshop: "Exposure to Drugs of Abuse During Development: Implications for Adolescent Vulnerability to Substance Abuse" [see description & time]

Dr. Gatzke-Kopp completed her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California with an emphasis in Clinical Neuroscience.  She has spent the last ten years studying neurobiological influences on behavior, with an emphasis on the development of disruptive behavior disorders.  She is currently an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.  Her interests are in understanding brain dysfunction that predisposes to psychopathology, and environmental contributions, both prenatal and postnatal, that impact brain development. 

Workshop: "There’s Something in the Air: The Invisible Effects of Nicotine on Brain Development" [see description & times]

Dr. Jon Grant is an associate professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and co-directs a clinic for Impulse Control Disorders at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis. He completed a law degree from Cornell University, a medical degree from Brown University, and a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. Dr. Grant’s research, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, focuses on the pharmacological and psychosocial treatment of impulsive/addictive behaviors. He is editor in chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies, author of Stop Me Because I Can’t Stop Myself, a book on impulse control disorders, and editor of Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment and Textbook of Men’s Mental Health.

Workshop: "The Adolescent Brain and Impulsive Behaviors" [see description & times]

Emily Havel began work as the medical records consultant for the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Surveillance Project in August of 2007. Prior to this position Ms. Havel served as the Project Coordinator for the Post Secondary Outcomes project (Project PSO) through the Teaching Research Institute in Eugene, Oregon. This study examined the transitions of young adults with traumatic brain injury from high school into their adult lives. Prior to Project PSO, Ms. Havel worked at the University of Oregon for two years overseeing the TRACS study (Transition Research on Adjudicated Youth in Community Settings,) a large scale longitudinal study which examined the facility-to-community transition of 531 incarcerated youth following their release from Oregon's juvenile correctional system

Workshop: But is it Really FAS? Results from Oregon’s Fetal Alcohol Surveillance Project [see description & times]

Flo Hilliard holds a Master's Degree from the University of North Florida with a specialty in Addictions Counseling and is a Faculty Associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Division of Continuing Studies. In the past 20 years, she has worked as a clinician, lecturer, prevention specialist, grant writer and video producer in the field of substance abuse, addiction treatment and prevention. Ms. Hilliard is a national lecturer on the topics of the neurobiology of abuse, addiction and behavior and the bio-psychosocial differences between males and females and its implication for treatment and continued recovery.

Workshop: Inside the Biology & Culture of Sex & Gender: Science & Theory for Improving Services [see workshop description]

Dr. Michael Leeds is an international community mental health trainer and consultant.  In clinical service he has worked in both intensive outpatient and residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, post traumatic stress syndrome, adolescent risk behaviors and gang prevention.  As a Master Trainer for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Center of Substance Abuse Prevention, he designed and implemented professional development training for substance abuse prevention, treatment and education.  Dr. Leeds has worked with hundreds of school districts, tribal administrations, state agencies, business, and community organizations to develop health promotion programs and strategies. 

Dr. Leeds holds a Bachelors Degree in psychology and religious studies and both Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Psychology.  Over the last forty years he has studied Shotokan Karate, Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, Praying Mantis and Wing Chun Kung Fu, Chen and Yang Family styles of T’ai Chi Chuan.  As a student of Mokusen Miyuki, Ph.D. he has practiced Zazen meditation since 1970.  He began teaching and lecturing on Mindfulness Based Clinical Techniques in 2000.  A licensed psychotherapist since 1979, he practices in Eugene, Oregon, serving individuals, couples and families. 

Workshop: "Mindfulness in Counseling and Therapy" [see description & time]

Larry earned a BS in Pharmacy and a BA in the History of Medicine at the University of Washington in 1979. He has been on the faculty of Bellevue Community College for the last 15 years teaching relapse prevention and the history of addiction and recovery in their ALDAC Program. He has also been a Contractor for the Oregon Department of Corrections, and has worked in the field of addiction recovery since 1986, including 12 years with the Hazelden Foundation. After working as a research scientist in neurologic pharmacokinetics he worked many years as a Pharmacist in various settings. Being recovering person himself, he has seen many facets involved in addiction prevention and treatment. He was also a Volunteer Firefighter (Lieutenant) for 15 years - now retired.

Workshop: "The Use of Medications (on and off label) in Children and Adolescents and Possible Impacts on Addiction and Other Issues Later in Life" [see description & time]

Dr. Kevin Marks is a general pediatrician at PeaceHealth Medical Group in Eugene, Oregon. His main professional interest is office-based developmental and behavioral surveillance and screening. In the past year, he has contributed three original publications to the medical journal, Pediatrics, including an original research study. This past April, he submitted another original research article to Pediatrics entitled "Lower Screening Thresholds and Raising Quality Improvement with Lower-risk Preterm Children". He is the Oregon Pediatric Society (OPS) representative for Oregon's ABCD (Assuring Better Childhood Development) Screening Academy and is one of the four key members on Oregon's ABCD core team. Dr. Marks is also a participating member of OPS's Committee on Children with Disabilities. Dr. Marks, originally from Wisconsin, completed his undergraduate work at the University of Notre Dame and received his medical school training at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He did his pediatric residency at the University of California, San Francisco and at Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno.

Workshop: "Developmental, Social-emotional, Autism and Psychosocial Screening: Tools and Practices" [see description & time]

Pauline Martel is currently the Director of Prevention and Training for Adapt, a private non-profit Alcohol and other Drug Prevention and Treatment agency serving Douglas, Josephine, and Coos Counties in Oregon. She is also a part time instructor at Umpqua Community College and the University of Oregon as well as a trainer for the Oregon Department of Human Services Addiction and Mental Health Division (AMH) where she provides statewide training on a number of subjects including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury, Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence, and Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist Training (SAPST). Ms. Martel has worked with children and families for over 36 years. In addition to her experience working with children and families in an alcohol and other drug program, she was an early childhood education teacher for over 15 years and a K-8 classroom teacher. She continues to work with children and families as a classroom guest speaker and parent educator. She provides staff development training for teachers, counselors, and the business community. Pauline has been the recipient of various awards and honors throughout her career, most recently receiving the Douglas County Health Center “Public Health Hero” award in 2007.

Workshops:

"Brain Injury: Hidden Disorder" [see description & time]

"Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD): Implications and Strategies for Education, Prevention and Treatment Interventions" [see description & time]

Eric Martin is Executive Director of the Addiction Counselor Certification Board of Oregon. He is also an Instructor with the University of Oregon and Oregon's Child Welfare Division. Mr. Martin has 23 years of clinical experience in Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization, Residential and Outpatient Addictions Treatment and Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD) Prevention. As a recovering person, clinician and educator, Eric brings insight and humor in understanding the drug-brain-behavior connection. Eric is an international presenter and treatment advocate and has been honored with numerous awards over the years including the Oregon Governor's Award of Excellence. He is a member of the Oregon Governor's Council on Substance Abuse Programs and the Governor's Advisory Board on Drugs and Violent Crime. Eric has also produced a number of videos, including "Reunited," a video designed for methamphetamine addicted mothers entering the child welfare system.

Workshop: "Early Onset Substance Abuse: A Precursor to Chronic Addiction" [see description & times]

Dr. James McKenna is a biological anthropologist specializing in the evolution of primate behavior with an emphasis on parenting and infancy. His research and publications concern the relationship between sleeping arrangements, feeding method (especially breastfeeding) and risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Dr. James McKenna received his Masters Degree from San Diego State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. After teaching anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley for two years, he taught at Pomona College in Claremont for twenty years before being recruited in 1997 by the University of Notre Dame where he presently serves as the Edmund J. Joyce C.S.C. Chair in Anthropology. There he directs the first -ever- in the-world Mother-Infant Behavioral Sleep Laboratory. Dr. McKenna is best known for his pioneering studies of the physiology and behavior of breast feeding and mother-infant co-sleeping. He has published over 130 articles in medical, anthropology and psychology journals and his list of publications includes two book length monographs on SIDS and Infant Sleep, and two edited books entitled Evolutionary Medicine, and his most recent "Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives.” In 2007 he published a popular parenting book entitled: Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Co-sleeping."

Workshop: "The Critical Role of Parental-Infant Contact, Breastfeeding and Proximity for the Developing Human Primate: Fostering Optimal Infant Brain Growth" [see description & time]