Lisa Rey Thomas PhD

Lisa Rey Thomas, PhD is a member of the Tlingit Tribes and her family is from Southeast Alaska. Lisa returned to ADAI as a research scientist in December 2019 to support the State Opioid Response (SOR) work and the Center for Community-Engaged Drug Education, Epidemiology, and Research (CEDEER). This work includes coordinating the quarterly, multidisciplinary Treatment Research Workgroup meetings, the Transforming our Communities annual gathering, and supporting the regional opioid/substance use disorder coalitions/task forces/stakeholder groups in Washington.

Previously Lisa was with ADAI from 2004-2016 as a research scientist. During that time her focus was community-based participatory research with American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities to reduce health disparities and promote health and wellness in a culturally appropriate and strengths-based manner. Throughout her tenure she was particularly committed to the use of Community Based/Tribally Based Participatory Research approaches to ensure that research with Indigenous communities is collaborative, respectful and ethical. Dr. Thomas has worked in collaboration with multiple organizations to plan and implement a series of behavioral health conferences and summits and has worked closely with lead addiction scientists and harm reduction advocates over the course of her training and professional positions.

Before returning to ADAI, Lisa served as the Opioid Response Project Director with the Olympic Community of Health (OCH) which brought multiple sectors across the three counties as well as state and federal partners together to work collaboratively to address the opioid public health crisis in the Olympic region. Prior to joining OCH Dr. Thomas was the Director of the Suquamish Tribe Wellness Center which provides Adult Mental Health, Child and Family Mental Health, Substance Use Disorder, Adult Psychiatric, Naturopathic, Problem Gambling, and Victims Advocacy services.

Lisa has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and worked with Dr. Alan Marlatt at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the UW and Dr. Jerry Mohatt at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. In addition to her work with ADAI, Lisa contracts with the American Indian Health Commission of Washington state to support the statewide American Indian/Alaska Native Opioid Response Workgroup. She has two sons, 31 and 21, as well as a lovely daughter-in-law, and loves to run, garden, and knit!