We are a skilled and passionate team providing support to and evaluation of the prevention portion of the North Carolina Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant and other substance misuse prevention initiatives.
We receive funding from Community Wellness, Health Integration, and Prevention Section of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
Dr. Rhodes is a professor in and chair of the Department of Social Science and Health Policy. He has published more than 250 articles and book chapters on the health of vulnerable populations, including immigrants, Latinx persons, and sexual and gender minorities, harnessing community-engaged research approaches such as community-based participatory research (CBPR).
An innovator in blending health equity research and practice, Dr. Rhodes has developed, implemented and evaluated more than 15 evidence-based behavioral and community-level prevention interventions for vulnerable and historically marginalized populations. Several are included in the CDC Compendium of Evidence-based Interventions and Best Practices for HIV Prevention.
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Dr. Pankratz is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy. She has 20+ years of experience in school and community-based substance misuse prevention research, with a focus on methods for improving prevention practice. This includes designing and testing interventions to improve implementation of prevention curricula, supporting communities in implementing the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), building prevention data infrastructure, and creating processes to transform prevention systems.
She has provided training and technical assistance on the SPF, such as community assessment, prevention planning, and evaluation. She has supported prevention strategy implementation across the spectrum of SAMHSAs CSAP 6 strategies and CADCA's 7 strategies.
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Dr. Ballard is an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine. She is a developmental psychologist with multi-disciplinary training in psychology, education, and population health. Her research focuses on promoting positive youth development and amplifying the voices of youth in the settings that serve them to improve the health of youth and communities.
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Dr. Moore is a Professor and the Vice-chair in the Department of Implementation Science. He is behavioral scientist who conducts community-engaged research focused on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based strategies for the promotion of health behaviors in youth and adults. He also conducts epidemiological research examining the behavioral determinants of obesity, cardiometabolic health, and related comorbidities. He has a long track record of conducting community-engaged research with community-based organizations that serve youth and families.
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Dr. McCoy is a Clinical Professor and Biostatistician for the Capstone College of Nursing at The University of Alabama. He has 20 years of experience as a study methodologist. He is an Accredited Professional Statistician (PStat) by the American Statistical Association. He has provided methodological, study design, data management and analysis support on several external/NIH funded projects, including in special populations for HIV prevention and substance misuse in youth and young adults.
He has contributed to over 145 publications in a biostatistician role. He is especially interested in helping to describe, analyze, and visualize data to assist communities reduce substance use and improve health for youth and young adult populations.
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Dr. Egan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Implementation Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Her overarching research agenda is dedicated to reducing harms associated with substance use through the implementation of interventions and policies within medical, community and academic settings.
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Mrs. Lasley is a Project Manager II in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy within the Division of Public Health. She has a multidisciplinary background in psychology, neurobiology, and gerontology, with specialized training in research administration. Her research experience focuses on wellness across the lifespan, with emphasis on substance misuse prevention, childhood development, cognitive aging, and health equity. She collaborates on the evaluation of North Carolina's substance misuse prevention system, including the developing statewide surveys, supporting the implementation of prevention interventions and dissemination efforts.
Ms. Yassa is Project Manager II in Social Sciences and Health Policy. Her expertise is in community-based intervention. She worked as an EMT and has firsthand experience administering naloxone and referring people to treatment. She also has firsthand retail and management experience with tobacco, alcohol, vapes, CBD, Delta 8, Delta 10, and Kratom. She collaborates on the evaluation of substance misuse prevention in NC and coordinates the NC statewide prevention survey.