About Me
Bold in Medicine. Grounded in Empathy. Fierce in the fight for dignity.
I’m a board-certified, fellowship-trained addiction medicine physician, educator, policy advisor, expert witness and national advocate. But the work I do is more than a career—it’s personal.
My brother died from a substance use disorder, and in the painful aftermath, I learned something that changed the course of my life. The system isn’t just failing; it’s built to fail people like him. I discovered that in my home state of Michigan, Medicaid didn’t even cover physician visits for people with addiction. That’s when I realized this isn’t just about individual care; it’s about fixing systems. That’s when my advocacy began.
Why I Do This Work
Every day, I think about the lives that could be different, the families that could be spared, the kind of grief mine carries. But I also think about community, about how our public health, our safety, and our collective humanity all depend on how we treat addiction. We’re at an inflection point. We have evidence-based tools like medications, treatment models, harm reduction strategies, and trauma-informed care, and they work. What we need now is the will to use them. What we need is to treat people with substance use disorder with dignity and respect in hospitals, courtrooms, clinics, and in policy. This work isn’t just about preventing suffering; it’s about building something better.
What I Bring to the Table
I bring two things to every client relationship: expertise and empathy. I’ve led national education initiatives, advised lawmakers, helped systems implement trauma-informed care, and trained thousands of clinicians. I’ve spoken in courtrooms and on stages. I’ve rewritten policy and curricula, but all of it is grounded in one truth: every decision we make. Whether it’s at the bedside, in a training room, or under a state capital dome. It impacts a real person. I center my work on the end user, the patient with a substance use disorder and their family, because that’s who this work is for.
What I Want You to Know
Addiction is not a moral failing. It’s not a weakness. The stories we’ve been told as a society are wrong. Addiction is a treatable chronic illness with outcomes that rival diabetes and hypertension when people receive proper care.
When you work with me, I want you to walk away not just more informed, but more hopeful. Hopeful that change is possible, hopeful that you can be a part of it.
Interested in working together?
Let’s talk about how we can shift the culture, reduce stigma, and save lives together.