Aaron Arnold
Executive Director
Aaron has worked at Prevention Point Pittsburgh (PPP) since 2015, and served as a volunteer in various capacities since 2005. During his time serving as Executive Director of PPP Aaron has focused on strengthening the organizational infrastructure, expanding the provision of direct services, and advancing opportunities to implement harm reduction initiatives across Pennsylvania through advocacy efforts. He holds a master’s degree with departmental honors from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Alice Bell
Overdose Prevention Project Director
Alice is the Coordinator for PPP’s Overdose Prevention Project. She provides community training on Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction, oversees PPP’s naloxone distribution and works to advocate for people who use drugs on the local, state and national level. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked for PPP for more than 20 years.
Alfred DiRosa
Naloxone Project Coordinator
As the PA Naloxone Project Coordinator, Alfred (he/him) works with PPP and NEXT Distro to expand access to free mail-based naloxone throughout PA, and uses program outcomes to inform advocacy for greater access to harm reduction interventions. He spent two years as an MAT counselor in his home state of Virginia before moving to Pittsburgh in 2014. Prior to joining PPP, he was the operations manager for Hazelwood Initiative, a community based non-profit focused on affordable housing, and was also the managing editor and layout artist of Hazelwood's community newspaper, The Homepage.
Julia Hilbert
Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Coordinator
Julia Hilbert, MSW (she/her) is the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Coordinator for Prevention Point Pittsburgh, assisting grassroots organizations with accessing bulk naloxone and drug-checking strips to distribute statewide. Julia previously served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and is in leadership with the SSDP Pittsburgh community chapter. She also founded Pittsburgh DanceSafe, and volunteers regularly with nightlife harm reduction efforts.
Katie Houston
Adminstrative Coordinator
Katie (she/they) is the Administrative Coordinator, and got her start at the organization back in 2013 as a volunteer. She does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work to ensure smooth operations, and enjoys bringing her own brand of creativity to the organization. She loves thrifting, horror movies, her cats and niblings, but not necessarily in that order.
Malcolm Visnich
Overdose Prevention Specialist
Malcolm "Mossy Bones" Visnich (he/him) is an Overdose Prevention Specialist with PPP. He distributes naloxone and provides training on overdose prevention, and can be found at several of our site locations assisting participants. After living all over the country, Malcolm is happy to have returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh. Aside from slangin' Narcan, he enjoys playing banjo for his plants and riding his beloved bike, "James".
Gabby Warner
Harm Reduction Services Director
Born a "Hoosier", Gabby (they/she) works at PPP as the Harm Reduction Services Coordinator. Gabby works alongside PPP's Community Health Advocates who save lives distributing Naloxone in their communities! You can also catch Gabby rolling chore at sites throughout the week. Outside of work Gabby enjoys crafts, (trying) to grow things, and hanging out with their cat roommate, Ino.
Cass Simmons
Patient Care Specialist
Cass Simmons (she/they) can be found on site playing the role of Patient Care Specialist— supporting staff and assisting participants on the medical van here at Prevention Point. Their Aquarian nature gives them a humanitarian attitude and a disposition for autonomy and empowerment. Regularly engaging and working with the community allows Cass a unique perspective on navigating life, for the betterment of themselves and others. Alongside harm reduction, Cass is devoted to a life of humor, yoga, poetry, and mysticism.
Libbi Cox
Mental Health Social Work Coordinator
Libbi (she/her) comes to Prevention Point with over a decade of experience in the helping professions.She spent ten years focusing on abortion care, full spectrum ob/gyn care, and reproductive justice. Most recently, her work has been focused on harm reduction based case management and HIV advocacy. Libbi is a Chatham University alum. She lives in Highland Park with her canine best friend, Maple Jane, and their cat, Birch. In her free time, she enjoys karaoke, reading, and porch sitting.
Onyx Green
Harm Reduction Programs Specialist
Onyx (they/them) is a Harm Reduction Specialist at Prevention Point Pittsburgh. On Wednesdays they run the Hill SSP site. They also help people access naloxone through the statewide mailing project. Onyx got their start in harm reduction as a student in Atlanta, GA, where they helped facilitate outreach programs for unhoused community members. Outside of their efforts in harm reduction, Onyx is an artist, curator, and organizer whose work explores intersections of identity.
Lex Becton
Social Work Coordinator
Lex Becton (she/her) is a social work student with lived experience with substance use and the criminal justice system. She provides case management to Prevention Point Pittsburgh's medical van. Lex found harm reduction as a formerly incarcerated person seeing first hand how the criminal justice system over-sentences people, particularly people of color and people incarcerated for drug related offenses. She is interested in working with people in the crucial period of time between release and relapse to reduce the risk of overdose death due to the poisoned drug supply and lowered tolerance from long periods of non-use. Her passion lies in helping people find wellness in whatever it means to them.
Jake Barney
Harm Reduction Programs Specialist
Jake Barney (They/Them) is a Pittsburgh native, independent Artist/Activist, and the PA Naloxone Mailing Project Specialist at Prevention Point. They oversee the mailing distribution of Naloxone (a life-saving medication) to folks across the state of Pennsylvania who wish to be opioid overdose first responders. During their years as an activist, Jake has organized a variety of protests and healing circles for the Asian community and created mutual aid fundraising events for local Abortion resources as well as local Queer/Trans-led organizations. They have made a lifelong commitment to fight in the struggles for Abolition, Racial Justice, Queer & Trans Liberation, Reproductive Rights, Climate Change, and Harm Reduction. Outside of work, Jake can be found skateboarding, dancing, DJ’ing, playing Kendama, spinning/breathing fire, and petting all the cats, dogs, and other critters!
Scott Kelly
Harm Reduction Specialist
Scott Kelly (he/him) is a Harm Reduction Specialist for Prevention Point Pittsburgh. He partly manages our Community Advisory Board (CAB) and partly works to support our Syringe Service Program (SSP), including driving the van and working at SSP sites. Scott comes to Prevention Point after working as a Harm Reduction Outreach Worker in Washington, DC where he also earned an MPH at George Washington University. In addition to being Canadian, Scott spends much of his free time reading non-fiction, writing poetry/songs, and listening to folk punk.
Ashanti Duncan
Office & Administrative Coordinator
Ashanti (she/her/they) is the office & administrative coordinator; she acts as the glue of the office. She lives by the sentiment of meeting people where they are at. Her academic background is in Psychology and Nonprofit management which lead her to centering her work around social justice advocacy and building up organizations doing work for the people. She is also a big lover of cats, chai & storms.
Craig Laffey
Mobile Medical Services Coordinator
Craig Laffey (He, Him) is our Mobile Medical Services Coordinator. Craig helps manage the Med-Van Services during the week and works with participants to apply for medical insurance and help them find other services they may need. Craig previously worked for a non-profit as a Program Manager overseeing their local emergency shelters and family units. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and he is a Certified Addictions Counselor. Craig has published several pieces of Addiction and Recovery related poetry that has been viewed and shared countless times all over the world. He is planning to publish a collection of his poems and life experiences in the next year. He has two children, Luca and Rowan.
Jonah Stocks-Ladd
Harm Reduction Services Volunteer Coordinator
Jonah Stocks-Ladd is the volunteer services coordinator. He is a recent climate refugee from New Orleans, where he was a member of the local harm reduction collective, Trystereo. Jonah is excited to facilitate community support in affirming the dignity, health and human rights of people who use drugs. An avid listener, he is consumed by outsider and underground sounds of the past and future. He loves the Velvet Underground almost as much as he loves his dog, Mary Lou. Yes, he would like another cup of coffee.
Sarah Papperman
President of the Board
Sarah has been volunteering at PPP's exchange site since 2009 and has been on the Board of Directors since 2015. Outside of PPP, Sarah works at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health as a program evaluator. She enjoys tending to her chaos garden, playing trumpet, cooking, and biking around town. Sarah is originally from central New York and has an MPH from the University of Pittsburgh.
Paul Cooley
Vice President
Paul is an Emergency Department Registered Nurse. He started volunteering at PPP in 2010. He is also involved in his Union SEIU, the campaign for Safe Nurse Patient Ratios, and is in school to become a Nurse Practitioner. He lives in the Northside with his wife Kate and two young children. He is a long suffering Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and hopes for a World Series win and is optimistic about supervised injection sites in Western PA.
Mary Gallagher
Board Treasurer
Mary has a long employment history managing federal, state and county governmental funding for various non-profit profit medical and social service providers in Pennsylvania. Before retiring, Mary was a project manager for the Center for Inclusion Health, Allegheny Health Network that focuses on Hepatitis C, HIV screening and care, transgender person healthcare and other work to improve the healthcare of marginalized populations. Mary has served on and chaired several non-profit Boards and currently also serves on the board of The Open Door, Inc.
Ashley Chung
Board Secretary
Ashley works at Wolff Center for Quality at UPMC as the project manager of the infection prevention team. In this role, she is responsible for understanding and communicating real-time data to inform infection prevention and control policies and procedures across the UPMC health system. Prior to this, she worked at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation managing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part B grant for southwestern PA. She is originally from Maryland and came to Pittsburgh to pursue an MPH. She cares deeply about harm reduction, racial and social justice as public health, and housing-first healthcare. In her spare time, Ashley is also on the Board of Directors for True T PGH, and enjoys cooking for her friends and hiking and biking (hoping to complete the entire Great Allegheny Passage to DC one day!)
Kyle Harder
Board Member
Kyle Harder has been involved in the social service field in the Pittsburgh area for 25 years, working direct care and administrative positions with children, youth and their families, as well as for a local addiction rehabilitation facility. Kyle received his BS in Social Anthropology from the University of Michigan and his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. Kyle is in long-term recovery from an addiction to alcohol. Reducing stigma and providing harm reduction services to those who use drugs is a passion and mission for him. It is an immense honor to serve on the board of Prevention Point Pittsburgh, alongside those devoted, hard-working employees who are literally saving lives on a daily basis.
Doree Simon (she/her)
Board Member
Doree Simon is a Pittsburgh-based film director and producer whose work covers social impact topics ranging from mental health and women's empowerment to President Obama's first campaign trail. After her 23-year-old brother, Kevin, died of a fentanyl overdose, Doree began to direct a feature-length documentary film investigating stigma as the unspoken barrier to his recovery and treatment options that could have saved his life. Doree’s journey led to her involvement in Pittsburgh's harm reduction, recovery, and substance use disorder support communities. Along with being a proud Prevention Point Pittsburgh board member, she is a member of the Steering Committee for the Pittsburgh Recovery Walk. A New York University alum, Doree directed the feature documentary 99%: THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM (Sundance ‘13 & Participant Media) and her short documentary IN HER SHOES: INDIA won the 2020 Webby Award for Diversity and Inclusion Video. She is currently the director of production at Matador Network, an award-winning global media brand.
Jane Liebschutz, MD, MPH, FACP
Board Member
Dr. Liebschutz is a primary care and addiction medicine physician, substance use researcher, educator, and administrator. She is Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and UPMC Endowed Chair for Translational Medicine and Research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC. Her research agenda focuses on prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders, including safe opioid prescribing for pain and disseminating treatments for opioid use disorders in non-specialty medical settings. She is a national lecturer and educator on opioid prescribing. She has been a certified buprenorphine prescriber since 2006, managing an active panel of opioid-dependent patients within her primary care practice and serving as inpatient addiction medicine consultant. She also is a national expert on physician wellness.
Nicky Ripley
Board Member
Nicky (they/them) founded the legal services program at the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation to provide civil legal aid for low-income LGBTQ+ and HIV+ people in Southwestern Pennsylvania. They work to improve social determinants of health by addressing the unique legal challenges these communities face. They also serve as a regional resource for LGBTQ+ jurisprudence and advocacy. In addition to their legal advocacy work, Nicky leverages their platform to promote diversity and inclusivity within the legal profession. In their free time, Nicky enjoys exploring nature, cooking for friends, and hands-on crafting projects.
Sara Luby
Board Member
Sara (she/her), a former PPP volunteer, is the Director of Quality and Compliance at Allies for Health + Wellbeing. She earned her BSW from Carlow University and her MPH from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a member of the Pitt Men’s Study Community Advisory Board. Sara has worked in community, clinical, academic, and governmental settings in the field of HIV for over 12 years. Her public health interests include harm reduction; LGBTQ+ health disparities; reproductive justice; and criminal justice reform. Sara lives in Avalon with her cat Oscar.
Raagini Jawa, MD, MPH
Board Member
Dr. Jawa is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator in the Department of General Internal Medicine and Center for Research on Health Care at University of Pittsburgh. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease, and Addiction Medicine. She has been a long term advocate for harm reduction and low-barrier addiction service access and is leading xylazine training and technical assistance for providers, health departments, and HR agencies. Clinically, she provides office-based addiction treatment and endovascular infectious disease consults UPMC and enjoys volunteering at the PPP wound clinic. Dr. Jawa’s research focuses on mitigating health disparities and aims to optimize integration of harm reduction services for individuals who use substances within health settings by developing and studying provider education and clinical interventions to prevent drug use complications. She has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, been featured on health podcasts, and has been interviewed on WebMD, WTAE, NPR, PBSNews Hour for her work and advocacy on harm reduction. For fun, Dr. Jawa is an amateur photographer and accomplished musician who performs vocals and ukulele, leading musical collaborations with her band Leher.
M. Brandon Clark
Board Member
M. Brandon Clark is an HIV-positive gay man, sex worker, and activist. Currently, he is leveraging his past as a person with a history of substance use, to research harm reduction and health promotion among traditionally disenfranchised communities. He is a student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is pursing a PhD in Behavioral & Community Health Sciences. He also holds a B.S. from City University of New York in Public Health and Human Rights, and a Master in Public Health from New York University.
Leah Picker
Board Member
Leah works at Carnegie Mellon University as Director of Foundation Relations, and at The Street Dog Coalition as Development Director. She holds a B.A. in English from Vassar College, a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and earned her CFRE in 2021. Leah moved to Pittsburgh in 2012 from Brooklyn, and lives in East Liberty with her cat Hank, and her dog Rabbit.
Thomas Whitfield
Board Member
Thomas works as the Outreach Coordinator for The Open Door, Inc. promoting harm reduction and HIV education in Southwestern PA. He holds a B.S. in Public Health from Slippery Rock University and is interested in addressing social determinants of health through a harm reduction lens. Thomas also is on the Board of Directors for Pittsburgh Equality Center. In his spare time, Thomas enjoys going to the movies- specifically horror movies as well as being outdoors.
Sarah Resenic, MSW, MBA
Board Member
Sarah Resenic is serving as the Director of Human Resources at Community Human Services, a nonprofit organization based in Pittsburgh. She has created a model of human resources that focuses on trauma-informed care and harm reduction practices, contributing significantly to the organization's mission. In addition to her role at Community Human Services, Resenic has a background in human resources and social work, which underscores her expertise in managing and developing HR policies that prioritize the well-being and equitable treatment of employees. Her work often intersects with various community service initiatives, highlighting her commitment to creating supportive and inclusive work environments. Sarah has a master’s in social work with a focus in direct practice and trauma from Carlow University and an MBA with a focus in healthcare administration from Seton Hill University.
Antonio Gumucio, MS
Board Member
Antonio works as a research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Emergency Medicine and the Center for Cardiac Arrest Survival. Antonio serves as an EMT, AHA Lifesaving Skills trainer, and street medicine provider. Passionate about harm reduction, Antonio is one of the founding members and former president of Street Medicine at Pitt. Antonio is originally from New York via Bolivia and is completing his MPH from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health.
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