Speakers

Jonathan Caulkins, PhD
Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy 
Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College

Dr. Caulkins specializes in systems analysis of problems pertaining to drugs, crime, violence, COVID-19, and prevention, work that earned him the David Kershaw Award from the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management, a Robert Wood Johnson Health Investigator Award and the INFORMS President’s Award.  Issues surrounding cannabis legalization have been a particular focus, and he is a co-author of the book Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press) as well as numerous reports with RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center. 

Dr. Caulkins received a BS and MS in systems science from Washington University, an S.M. in EECS and a doctorate in operations research, both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

David Hammond, PhD
Professor, University Research Chair 
School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo

In his research, David Hammond focuses on evaluating the impact of cannabis legalization and regulations. Professor Hammond leads the International Cannabis Policy Study which is evaluating the impact of cannabis legalization in Canada and the US.

Professor Hammond also serves as an Expert Witness in court cases, primarily on behalf of governments defending health regulations from industry legal challenges. Professor Hammond’s research has been recognized by awards from CIHR, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medical Association, the Royal Statistical Society of Canada, and the World Health Organization.

Beatriz Carlini, PhD, MPH
University of Washington

In her research career, Dr. Carlini, Acting Associate Professor at the UW Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, has been dedicated to understanding the public health impact of legal psychoactive substance use (such as alcohol, inhalants, tobacco, and cannabis) and policies on social and health outcomes. Since 2016, Dr. Carlini has led the ADAI Cannabis Education & Research Program, including coordinating collaboration with other marijuana researchers at the UW, acting as the Program Chair of the UW Cannabis/Marijuana Research Symposium and serving as a liaison with policy makers within the state and researchers at other universities.

Dr. Carlini has been a pioneer on bringing awareness of the sharp increase in the availability and risks of high-THC content products brought by cannabis legalization in WA. In 2020, she chaired the PRSC Cannabis Concentration Workgroup composed of UW and WSU scientists, which authored a Consensus Statement and Report on Cannabis Concentration and Health Risks.

Carrie Cuttler, PhD
Washington State University

Dr. Carrie Cuttler received her PhD in Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2008 and subsequently conducted a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC. She was a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University (WSU) from 2014-2018 and transitioned into a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in 2018.

The Health and Cognition (THC) Lab that Dr. Cuttler directs focuses on investigating both the beneficial and detrimental effects of chronic cannabis use and acute cannabis intoxication. Her recent work focuses on examining links between cannabis use and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, ADHD), physical health (e.g., pain, sleep), stress, and cognition (e.g., memory, decision-making, executive functioning, creativity, attention). She has published several books and over 60 peer-reviewed journal publications with some of her recent work published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Neurobiology of Stress, Journal of Business Venturing, and the Journal of Neuroscience. Her cutting-edge work has been featured in Forbes, the Washington Post, and Newsweek.

Julia Dilley, PhD, MES
University of Washington

Julia Dilley is an epidemiologist with Program Design and Evaluation Services, a shared office of the Multnomah County Health Department and Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division. For more than 20 years, she has provided data and program evaluation support for state, local, and Tribal health programs.

Julia’s research currently focuses on assessing the public health impact of changes in law around cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Alaska). Since 2016, she has co-chaired the Council of State & Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Cannabis Subcommittee, leading efforts to identify the best measures and methods for cannabis-related public health monitoring. She is also supporting data modernization efforts that seek to improve public health surveillance systems with an equity lens.

Wayne Hall, PhD
University of Queensland, Australia

Wayne Hall is Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, the University of Queensland. He was Professor at the National Addiction Centre, Kings College London (2014-2019); Professional Fellow (2017-2020) in and Director of the National Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research (2014-2016) at the University of Queensland; an NHMRC Australia Fellow in addiction neuroethics at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and the Queensland Brain Institute (2099-2015); Professor of Public Health Policy in the School of Population Health (2005-2010); Director of the Office of Public Policy and Ethics at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (2001-2005); and Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW (1994-2001).

With over 160 papers published about cannabis, Dr. Wayne Hall is internationally recognized for his research on the health effects and public policy responses to cannabis. He has been an advisor to the World Health Organization since 1993 and was elected as a WHO nominee to the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board in 2011. He co-authored a 1995 WHO document on cannabis and was the lead author on the 2016 WHO report on non-medical cannabis use.

Deborah Hasin, PhD
Columbia University

Dr. Hasin is Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University. She directs the NIDA T32 Substance Abuse Epidemiology Training Program in the Department of Epidemiology in Mailman, and also directs the Substance Dependence Research Group at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Hasin conducts research on drug and alcohol use and substance use disorders in the general population and in specialized vulnerable groups. She has published over 500 papers. Her studies are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and other organizations.

She currently leads three NIH-funded studies, as well as studies funded by other sources, and sponsors and mentors K and other awards of junior scientists. Dr. Hasin’s current studies include the relationship of state cannabis laws to use of cannabis and other substances; time trends in drug and alcohol disorders in the U.S.; and the validity of DSM-5 definitions of substance and psychiatric disorders in national and clinical populations. Dr. Hasin has participated in World Health Organization studies, served on the National Advisory Council to NIAAA, and been a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 Substance Use Disorders Workgroup. She is past president of the American Psychopathological Association and is currently President-Elect of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.

Jason Kilmer, PhD
University of Washington

Jason Kilmer is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington (UW), and serves as an investigator on several studies evaluating prevention and intervention efforts for alcohol, cannabis, and other drug use by college students. In addition to research and teaching, he has worked extensively with college students and student groups around alcohol and other drug prevention programming and presentations throughout his career (including student athletes, fraternity and sorority members, residence life, and first-year students), both at UW and on over 120 campuses across the nation. 

Jason also serves as the chairperson of Washington state’s College Coalition on Substance misuse, Advocacy, and Prevention.  He has been project faculty for several national learning collaboratives in the US, including NYU’s National College Depression Partnership, Dartmouth’s National College Health Improvement Program, and the NCAA’s 360 Proof project.  He was one of the six members of the development team for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (CollegeAIM).  Jason was the 2014 recipient of the National Prevention Network’s Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the field of prevention, and was also the 2017 recipient of the Washington State Prevention Professional Award of Excellence.

Rosalie Pacula, PhD
University of Southern California

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, PhD holds the Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Health Policy, Economics & Law at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California and is a Senior Fellow with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, where she co-directs the RAND-USC Schaeffer Opioid Policy Tools & Information Center of Excellence (OPTIC) in addition to leading numerous National Institute of Health funded studies examining the impact of federal, state and local laws on the supply, demand and access to treatment for intoxicating substances. 

Previously she spent 21 years at the RAND Corporation, serving for 15 years as co-director of RAND’s Drug Policy Research Center, working on drug policy studies for the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Commission, and the U.K. Home Office.  She served on NIDA’s National Advisory Council Cannabis Policy Workgroup (2017), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA’s) technical advisory committee on preventing cannabis use among youth (2020-present), the World Health Organization’s Technical Expert Committee on Cannabis Use and Cannabis Policy (December 2019-2020), the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine  (NASEM) Committee on the Review of Specific Programs in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (2021 – present) and the CDC’s National Injury Prevention’s Board of Scholarly Counsellors (2021- present).  Dr. Pacula is a graduate from the Santa Clara University and received her doctorate in economics from Duke University.

Gillian Schauer, PhD, MPH
University of Washington

Gillian Schauer, PhD, MPH is the Executive Director of the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA), a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that convenes government officials involved in cannabis regulation from more than 40 U.S. states and territories to share best practices and lessons learned to protect public health and consumer safety, advance equity, and harmonize policy to create more predictability in markets. 

Dr. Schauer has worked in public health and drug policy for nearly two decades and has a decade of experience working with federal and state agencies on cannabis policy, data monitoring, and research translation. Through work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she founded and led the Multi-State Collaborative for Cannabis and Public Health from 2014-2021 to foster learnings and cultivate best practices for public health across states with legal cannabis. Prior to her work on cannabis issues, Dr. Schauer worked on tobacco prevention and control, with a focus on tobacco cessation and treatment.

Dr. Schauer is also an affiliate Research Scientist with the Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington. She has more than 70 peer-reviewed research publications on cannabis, tobacco, and other substances. She has a PhD in Behavioral Science from Emory University, a Master of Public Health from University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University.

Denise Walker, PhD
University of Washington

Denise Walker is a Research Professor at the University of Washington, Director of the Innovative Programs Research Group and is a licensed clinical psychologist. A main area of her research expertise is on the development and evaluation of interventions for cannabis disorders for both adults and adolescents, utilizing brief interventions (Motivational Enhancement Therapy, MET), longer courses of treatment (MET+CBT), and aftercare.

She has been involved in the development and evaluation of the Teen Marijuana Check-Up (TMCU), a school-based intervention to elicit self-referral by heavy using adolescents.  The TMCU has been the focus of five clinical trials and is identified as an “Evidence Based” intervention on the NREPP.  Another focus of her work is on adapting the Check-Up model (a motivational interviewing intervention) for other high risk populations including active duty military with an alcohol disorder, active duty military with untreated PTSD, and domestic violence perpetrators.

Marina Epstein, PhD
University of Washington

Dr. Epstein received her graduate degree and postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan. Since 2010, she has been a Research Scientist at the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington, engaging in prevention science research aimed at identifying risk and protective factors associated with substance use in adolescence, young adulthood, and into adulthood. She is currently leading two NIH-funded grants. The first uses data from four longitudinal studies to examine a) predictors of ENDS/electronic cigarette use compared to combustible use, b) the interplay between electronic and combustible cigarette use, and c) intergenerational continuity of nicotine use. The second study is focused on life-long determinants of health during midlife (the period between ages 40 and 60), including patterns of alcohol and other substance use, as well as social and built environments. She has also led studies that test the impact of cannabis legalization and the effect that legalization has had on parenting practices. Her expertise includes complex longitudinal data analysis and pinpointing intervention targets to use at multiple points of development.

Tracy Klein, PhD, FAAN, FAANP
Washington State University

Dr. Tracy Klein, PhD, FAAN, FAANP is an Associate Professor at Washington State University College of Nursing and the Assistant Director of the Center for Cannabis Research, Policy and Outreach. Her scholarship encompasses the interface between public policy and prescribing as it relates to practitioner, patient and institutional factors. She is part of a five-year SAMHSA funded interprofessional team who has educated over 500 medical, nursing, pharmacy and professional students in interprofessional management of opioid use disorder and chronic pain.

A fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and Academy of Nurse Practitioners, her research on controlled substances and pharmacotherapeutics is published in the Journal of Rural Health; Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research; Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy; University of Toronto Medical Journal; and the Journal of Pediatric Healthcare among others. Her expertise encompasses teaching and practice as a family nurse practitioner; and state, national, and international policy and regulatory consultation.