Jennifer Hancock is the President and CEO of Volunteers of America of Mid-States. Jennifer earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Kentucky, where she began a career dedicated to social justice and community building. 

Jennifer has served in many capacities during her more than 20 years of professional leadership in the nonprofit sector and in her 16 years advancing the mission of VOA.  Under her leadership, VOA has become a nationally recognized expert in providing family-focused and results-oriented solutions for the opioid and addiction crisis.  Working closely with a wide range of elected officials and community leaders, the organization has earned consistent recognition for providing best practice care across nearly 50 programs. 

Dr. Amber Pendleton is a general pediatrician at Norton Children’s Medical Group – Novak Clinic, professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and the Associate Division Chief for the General Pediatrics division at UofL. She attended medical school at University of Kentucky, Pediatrics residency at University of Virginia, then came to care for children in Louisville over a decade ago. She has served on the Community Access to Child Health national committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics for many years and has primary interest in addressing the mental and social needs of families in primary care through prescribing community and coordinating multi-disciplinary care. 

Chelsea Harrod is the Child Protection Branch Manager in the Division of Protection and Permanency with the Department for Community Based Services. Chelsea began her career with the Cabinet as a frontline, investigative social worker in 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Family Science with a minor in Community and Leadership Development from the University of Kentucky. Chelsea strives to assist the families in Kentucky while ensuring the safety of the children throughout the Commonwealth!

Dr. Young received her Psy.D. in Counseling Psychology from Carlow University. Dr. Young’s passion for social justice concerns previously connected her to Mercy Behavioral Health, a legacy program of the Sisters of Mercy of the America’s ministry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There she provided comprehensive mental health and substance abuse services to underserved populations for eleven years. Her research interests include trauma-informed services for women, harm reduction psychotherapy and the clinical implications of bias in the therapeutic relationship. She is a member of both the American Psychological Association and Kentucky Psychological Association.

Dr. Chapman earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kentucky. Her primary research interests are in evaluating components of psychotherapy process and outcome, both in person and via telepsychology, to develop evidence-based practices that increase the access to and quality of mental health care amongst underserved populations. Although Dr. Chapman uses an integration of interpersonal process, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness theories to inform her work, her clinical approach is ultimately informed by a client-directed outcome-informed (CDOI) model. She is currently a member of the APA Division 17 Section for the Promotion of Psychotherapy Science, is involved with the Society for Psychotherapy Research and the KPA.

April Schweinhart, PhD, earned her doctorate in Experimental Psychology at the University of Louisville in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in 2015. She continued study as a Postdoctoral Associate at Rutgers University in Newark in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences. Dr. Schweinhart has been working at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) since 2016, where she is now a Research Scientist.

Ashley Simons-Rudolph, PhD, promotes engagement through interdisciplinary, community, and policy-related research. Dr. Simons-Rudolph has expertise in gender and social policy, research-to-practice, community-based participatory research, substance misuse, family formation/stability, and qualitative methodologies. She has worked in diverse communities ranging from townships in sub-Saharan Africa, to Indigenous reservations in the Midwest. She is currently leading/actively contributing to projects in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. She has 25 years of experience conducting research in academic and practice-based settings in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her role at PIRE, Dr. Simons-Rudolph is the Outreach and Communication Specialist for community-based research with the Society for Community Research and Action and the former Editor in Chief of Gender Issues, a multinational and interdisciplinary research journal published quarterly by Springer Nature.

Dr. Ayesa Hilvano completed her training in anesthesia at the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick , NJ.  She was the Director of Anesthesia until 2022 and currently serves as a Lead on the the Obstetric Anesthesia Team at St Elizabeth Healthcare - Edgewood Hospital in Edgewood, KY, she is involved in the Respiratory Failure Project and she is a council member with the Women Health Institute at St Elizabeth Healthcare. Dr. Hilvano also serves as the Board Director at Seven Hills Anesthesia in St Elizabeth Division and Chairs the Compliance Committee at Seven Hills Anesthesia. Dr. Hilvano is a Diplomate in the American Board of Anesthesiology. Dr. Hilvano also serves as a KyPQC OB Leads and she is a member of the KyPQC MM Task Force.

Maggie Schroeder is currently the Program Manager for the Adult Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services Branch at the Division of Behavioral Health, Developmental & Intellectual Disabilities for the State of Kentucky.  Ms. Schroeder has Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Political Science and is a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC).  She has over 30 years of experience in providing behavioral health and substance abuse services to individuals and their families including case management and therapeutic interventions services as well as providing clinical and administrative supervision.

Hannah Fischer is an Associate Professor in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Louisville. She has completed the Intermediate Improvement Science Series and Advanced Improvement Methods courses through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and currently serves in the role of Director of Quality Improvement and Safety for the division of neonatology. She has led many quality improvement projects locally and is inspired by the improvement in outcomes that can be achieved. Regionally, she is involved in the Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative to improve maternal and infant outcomes across the state. She aspires to teach others to improve their healthcare systems and has developed the Neonatal Fellows Quality Improvement Curriculum and provides lectures on quality improvement in multiple venues to further this goal.

Laura Eirich, MPH is a graduate from Carroll University Waukesha, WI with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Psychology. She completed a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Rutgers School of Public Health Piscataway, NJ. Her current position is the administrator for the Kentucky Office of Community Health Workers (KOCHW. Laura Eirich is responsible for overseeing the Kentucky Office of Community Health Workers (KOCHW), which includes leading, recruiting, training, and supervising staff, managing statewide human resource need. She manages a 2.8-million-dollar CDC grant “Community Health Workers for COVID-19 Response and Resilience.” She also established and administers the statewide Community Health Worker certification process and stablished and manages the CHW Training Organization Certification to ensure that trainings meet set criteria and are competency-based. She maintains engagement and collaboration with Community Health Workers, partners, and stakeholders across the Commonwealth, which involves convening statewide CHW Advisory Workgroup to facilitate conversations around policy updates, resource sharing, and facilitate networking. Laure Eirich represents the Kentucky Department for Public Health Office of Community Health Workers on local, state, regional, and national workgroups.

Dr. Connie White practiced as an OB/GYN physician in Frankfort, Kentucky, for over twenty years. She retired from clinical medicine and first worked at the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) as the Director of the Division of Women’s Health from 2009-2010. She then joined the College of Public Health as a Clinical Professor at the University of Kentucky (UK) from 2011-2012 in the Department for Health Behavior. Dr. White returned to KDPH as Deputy Commissioner in 2014. She has served as the Principal Investigator for several grants that included Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke, Colon Cancer Screening, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) for Pregnant and Parenting Women, Obesity/Physical Activity, among others. Dr. White is a graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College with a BS degree in Chemistry. She earned an MS in Toxicology from the University of Kentucky and worked as a researcher in Teratology at the National Center for Toxicological Research in Little Rock, Arkansas. She completed medical school training at UK and an OB/GYN residency at University of Louisville. She is certified in OB/GYN by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. White’s professional activities include serving as a District Officer in the American College of OB/GYN (ACOG), her professional organization.

Annie Lewis-O'Connor, PhD, NP-BC, MPH, FAAN, DF-LAFN, DF-AFN is a dually Board Certified Pediatric and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. She is the founder and director of the C.A.R.E Clinic (Caring Approach to Resilience & Empowerment) and is co-chair of the Mass General Brigham Trauma-informed Care Initiative. The clinic is committed to providing patient centered and trauma-informed health care to people who have experienced individual, interpersonal and collective trauma. Dr. Lewis-O’Connor addresses violence from four pillars: Research, Policy, Education, and Clinical practice. Dr. Lewis-O’Connor is published in peer-reviewed journals and academic books on the topic of violence against women and children, trauma-informed care, and the effects of trauma, violence and abuse on health. Her current research is focused on measuring Trauma-Informed Care models of care in adult health care settings and exploration of best ‘screening’ (inquiry) methods for trauma, violence and abuse. Dr. Lewis-O’Connor was a Clinical Scholar with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2018-2021) focusing on health care leadership using a health equity lens.  Her current funding is exploring the return on investment when TIC models are utilized, trauma inquiry and use of trauma-informed care plans. She served as chair of the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse advancing policy and clinical practice for survivors of violence and abuse. Since 2010 she has served on the Executive Board of Casa Myrna Vasquez, the oldest and longest standing shelter in Mass for women and children. She received her Master’s in Nursing from Simmons College in Boston, a Master’s in Public Health from Boston University and PhD from Boston College.

Kristin Ashford is a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing where she serves as the associate dean of Undergraduate Faculty and Interprofessional Education. She has recently completed her first year in Washington DC as a RWJF health policy fellow at the National Academy of Medicine and the U.S Committee on Energy and Commerce, Health Subcommittee. Dr. Ashford received her BS at Washburn University in Kansas and completed her training as a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner at the University of Louisville. She further completed her PhD and NIH postdoctoral fellowship, Building Interprofessional Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRWCH), at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Lisa M. Blair received her PhD in Nursing with an interdisciplinary graduate specialization in Quantitative Research Methods at The Ohio State University. She is a registered nurse with clinical experience working with critically and chronically ill infants. Her postdoctoral training focused on data science and the impact of perinatal substance use on neonatal and child health and development. Her research and career development have been well funded by the National Institute for Nursing Research, National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse through two institutional training grants, two intramural research training awards, and an individual predoctoral fellowship. In her current role as an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University College of Nursing, Dr. Blair employs her data science expertise and health disparities focus to examine child outcomes in health and development after prenatal exposures to tobacco, electronic nicotine delivery systems, cannabis, and opioids.

Maggie Schroeder is currently the Program Manager for the Adult Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services Branch at the Division of Behavioral Health, Developmental & Intellectual Disabilities for the State of Kentucky. Ms. Schroeder has Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Political Science and is a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC). She has over 30 years of experience in providing behavioral health and substance abuse services to individuals and their families including case management and therapeutic interventions services as well as providing clinical and administrative supervision.

Katie Stratton, MS is currently a Program Administrator at the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities in the Adult Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services Branch for KY Moms Maternal Assistance Towards Recovery, a program for pregnant and postpartum individuals with substance use concerns. She is a 2009 Graduate of Capella University with a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, a 2001 Graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Child and Family Studies with a minor in Women’s Studies. She collaborates with several agencies within Kentucky working to assist in creating and establishing a System of Care for women with substance use concerns and their families. Before her involvement with DBHDID, Katie was a child and adolescent therapist licensed as an LPCA in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility for almost 5 years and an outpatient therapist for 2 years. There she was able to gain insight into the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and how ACE scores effect a person’s development and functionality in various environments. In her spare time, she is a youth archery coach for a Scholastic 3D Archery club in Lawrenceburg, KY.

Dr. Matthew T. Walton, PhD, MSSW is the lead researcher in the Office of Health Data and Analytics within the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The Office of Health Data and Analytics is a team of data analysts, database experts, statisticians, and researchers that serve the Cabinet by studying policy-relevant questions, with the aim of advancing health and wellness in Kentucky. In this role, he supports the health and social science research activities of the Cabinet; both by conducting sponsored research and data science projects as well as supporting the work of faculty researchers in Kentucky’s university community. Prior to initiating his career as a researcher, Dr. Walton worked as a medical social worker in a variety of healthcare settings, including an academic medical center, psychiatric settings, and an addiction treatment center. His particular research interests sit at the intersection of social work, child welfare, economics, and public health. Specifically, he is interested in helping to develop new insights to guide policy and practice to promote the safety and wellness of children and families; including investigations of social and health policy, and interventions to assist families that are simultaneously impacted by substance use disorders and cases of child maltreatment.

Dr. Sara Petruska is a generalist obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville, where she serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Medical Student Clerkship Director. She graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in 1994 and from the University of Florida with an M.D. in 2000. She completed residency training in 2004 and a fellowship in Medical Education in 2008 at the State University of New York Stony Brook. In 2008, she relocated to Louisville with her husband Jeff as they joined the faculty of UofL together. She believes we are at our best when we are a team with the patient at the center.

Dr. John O’Brien specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Kentucky, where he serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. O’Brien graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with a B.A. in Biology and from Wayne State University in Detroit with an M.D. in 1988. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1992 and a Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine in 1994 at the University of Tennessee.

Paula K. Schreck MD, IBCLC, FABM attended the University of Michigan Medical School. She completed her Pediatric Residency at the University of California, San Diego.  She is the creator and medical director of the St. John Mother Nurture Network, a WK Kellogg Foundation-supported innovative and far-reaching breastfeeding initiative that spans her urban hospital and the surrounding community. She is also medical director and co-creator of The Lactation Consultant Program, a unique Pathway 2 academic lactation consultant training program.  She leads quality improvement and Baby-Friendly initiatives for many Ascension Michigan hospitals and also leads quality improvement collaboratives in Michigan, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Kentucky.   She serves as the Chief of Clinical Strategy of Coffective, LLC and she is on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.

Dr. Duff has served as Professor of Maternal-Fetal Medicine University of Florida in Gainesville since 1989. He completed his undergraduate studies in American Government at Harvard University and subsequently earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Virginia and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from Georgetown University. He then pursued residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Texas—San Antonio. His research interests center on viral and bacterial infections in pregnancy and student and resident education.

Dr. Ayesa Hilvano currently serves as the Obstetric Anesthesia Director at St Elizabeth Healthcare - Edgewood Hospital in Edgewood, KY and is a council member with the Women Health Institute at St Elizabeth Healthcare. Dr. Hilvano also serves as the Board Director at Seven Hills Anesthesia in St Elizabeth Division and Chairs the Compliance Committee at Seven Hills Anesthesia. Dr. Hilvano is a Diplomate in the American Board of Anesthesiology.

Dr. White practiced as an OB/GYN physician in Frankfort, Kentucky, for over twenty years. She retired from clinical medicine and first worked at the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) as the Director of the Division of Women’s Health from 2009-2010. She then joined the College of Public Health as a Clinical Professor at the University of Kentucky (UK) from 2011-2012 in the Department for Health Behavior. Dr. White returned to KDPH as Deputy Commissioner in 2014. She has served as the Principal Investigator for several grants that included Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke, Colon Cancer Screening, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) for Pregnant and Parenting Women, Obesity/Physical Activity, among others. Dr. White is a graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College with a BS degree in Chemistry. She earned an MS in Toxicology from the University of Kentucky and worked as a researcher in Teratology at the National Center for Toxicological Research in Little Rock, Arkansas. She completed medical school training at UK and an OB/GYN residency at University of Louisville. She is certified in OB/GYN by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. White’s professional activities include serving as a District Officer in the American College of OB/GYN (ACOG), her professional organization.

Dr. John O’Brien specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Kentucky, where he serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. O’Brien graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with a B.A. in Biology and from Wayne State University in Detroit with an M.D. in 1988. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1992 and a Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine in 1994 at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Sara Petruska is a generalist obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville, where she serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Medical Student Clerkship Director. She graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in 1994 and from the University of Florida with an M.D. in 2000. She completed residency training in 2004 and a fellowship in Medical Education in 2008 at the State University of New York Stony Brook. In 2008, she relocated to Louisville with her husband Jeff as they joined the faculty of UofL together. She believes we are at our best when we are a team with the patient at the center.

Patricia Lee King is the State Project Director and Quality Lead for the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative working with over 100 hospitals to improve maternal and newborn outcomes in Illinois with her fabulous team and collaborators across the state and nation.

Dan Weiss is a Project Manager at ILPQC for the Mothers and Newborns affected by Opioids OB & Neonatal Initiatives and the upcoming Babies Antibiotic Stewardship Improvement Collaborative (BASIC) Initiative. He received his Masters in Public Health with a maternal and child health concentration in 2015 from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

Dr. Barton completed his medical school and residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.  He completed a Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellowship at the University of Tennessee-Memphis under the direction of Dr. Baha Sibai in 1991.  Since then, he has served as the Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Baptist Health Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky.  He serves as voluntary faculty at the University of Kentucky.  He is active in the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Foundation for SMFM.  Dr. Barton served as a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Hypertension in Pregnancy Task Force and contributed to the National Partnership for Maternal Safety Consensus Bundle on Obstetric Hypertension.  He has published over 250 articles and abstracts largely in his field of interest of hypertension in pregnancy and maternal medical complications of pregnancy. 

Maggie Schroeder is currently the Program Manager for the Adult Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services Branch at the Division of Behavioral Health, Developmental & Intellectual Disabilities for the State of Kentucky.  Ms. Schroeder has Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Political Science and is a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC).  She has over 30 years of experience in providing behavioral health and substance abuse services to individuals and their families including case management and therapeutic interventions services as well as providing clinical and administrative supervision.

Katie Stratton is currently a Program Administrator at the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities in the Adult Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services Branch for KY Moms Maternal Assistance Towards Recovery, a program for pregnant and postpartum individuals with substance use concerns.    She is a 2009 Graduate of Capella University with a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, a 2001 Graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Child and Family Studies with a minor in Women’s Studies.  She collaborates with several agencies within Kentucky working to assist in creating and establishing a System of Care for women with substance use concerns and their families.  Before her involvement with DBHDID, Katie was a child and adolescent therapist licensed as an LPCA in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility for almost 5 years and an outpatient therapist for 2 years.  There she was able to gain insight into the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and how ACE scores effect a person’s development and functionality in various environments.

Dr. Sara Petruska is a generalist obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of Louisville, where she serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Medical Student Clerkship Director. She graduated from Boston College with a B.S. in 1994 and from the University of Florida with an M.D. in 2000. She completed residency training in 2004 and a fellowship in Medical Education in 2008 at the State University of New York Stony Brook. In 2008, she relocated to Louisville with her husband Jeff as they joined the faculty of UofL together. She believes we are at our best when we are a team with the patient at the center.

Dr. John O’Brien specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Kentucky, where he serves as Medical Director for Labor and Delivery and Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. O’Brien graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan with a B.A. in Biology and from Wayne State University in Detroit with an M.D. in 1988. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1992 and a Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine in 1994 at the University of Tennessee.

Brenda is the Executive Director of TIPQC and is one of the founding staff members having started in 2008.  She received her Improvement Advisor Certificate in 2010 from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. Brenda received a Master’s in Education from the University of North Texas and a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare from Lipscomb University in 2016.  Brenda serves on the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety Advisory Council,  Infant Mortality Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, and Chairman of the Board for ONE Tennessee.

Hannah Fischer completed her training in neonatology at the University of Louisville and joined faculty as an assistant professor in 2015. She has completed the Intermediate Improvement Science Series and Advanced Improvement Methods courses through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and currently serves in the role of Director of Quality Improvement and Safety for the division of neonatology. She has been involved with or lead many quality improvement projects locally and is inspired by the improvement in outcomes that can be achieved. She aspires to teach others to improve their healthcare systems and has developed the Neonatal Fellows Quality Improvement Curriculum to further this goal. Her work has been recognized by her peers and received the “Pediatrics Outstanding Performance Award” for her quality improvement work from the University of Louisville Department of Pediatrics in 2019.