91社区

Dr. Julie A. Baldwin is a Regents鈥� Professor of Health Sciences at Northern Arizona University and Executive Director of the Center for Community Health and Engaged Research. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she leads community鈥憄artnered, translational research to strengthen adolescent behavioral health, substance use prevention, and family well鈥慴eing in rural and Indigenous settings.

Trained in molecular biology and public health, she has directed federally funded initiatives supporting youth substance use and HIV prevention and addictions research training, including the Culturally-Centered Addictions Research Training (C鈥慍ART) Program.

She serves as principal investigator of a large NIMHD鈥憇upported Southwest regional research collaborative and was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine in 2023.

Dr. Richard Dembo is a Professor of Criminology at the 91社区 in Tampa whose research focuses on adolescent substance use, delinquency, and the translation of evidence-based interventions into juvenile justice settings.

Trained as a sociologist, he has published more than 300 scholarly works examining links among drug use, mental health, and youth offending. He has led multiple federally funded, longitudinal intervention studies for at-risk and high-risk youth and served as a principal investigator on national initiatives, including NIDA鈥檚 JJ鈥慣RIALS.

An AAAS Fellow and Fellow of the Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center, Dr. Dembo applies advanced data analytics to improve services and outcomes for justice-involved youth.

Dr. Michael L. Dennis is a psychologist and Chief Research Officer at Chestnut Health Systems, where he leads the Lighthouse Institute鈥檚 community鈥慴ased research on behavioral health, substance use, and justice鈥慽nvolved youth and families. Trained in research methods at Northwestern University under an NIH fellowship, his work focuses on implementing and testing interventions that improve real鈥憌orld practice.

He has served as principal investigator or co鈥慽nvestigator on numerous federally funded trials, including JJ鈥慣RIALS and studies on substance use treatment, recovery support, and technology鈥慳ssisted interventions for adolescents and young adults.

Dr. Dennis co鈥慸eveloped Recovery Management Checkups and the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), widely used tools that strengthen screening, treatment planning, and long鈥憈erm outcome monitoring across systems of care.

Dr. John Lowe is the Joseph Blades Centennial Memorial Professor and the former Director of the Indigenous Nursing Research Enhancement (INRE) Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing.

He is a national leader in research focused on preventing and reducing substance use and behavioral health disorders among Native American and Indigenous adolescents and young adults. An enrolled member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama and the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, he has developed culturally grounded, evidence鈥慴ased interventions, including the first manualized Talking Circle program for youth substance use and mental health prevention. His NIH, SAMHSA, and RWJF鈥慺unded research advances community鈥慴ased approaches that translate traditional knowledge into effective, scalable prevention strategies.

Dr. Lowe has held national advisory roles, and his work has been recognized for its impact on youth's well鈥恇eing and behavioral health practice.

Dr. Aaron R. Lyon is a Professor in the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Co-Director of the SMART Center, and a licensed clinical child psychologist. He also co-directs the UW ALACRITY Center and leads the Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education.

Dr. Lyon鈥檚 work focuses on improving the reach and effectiveness of school鈥� and community鈥慴ased behavioral health interventions for children and adolescents. His research emphasizes implementation strategies, measurement-based care, and human-centered design to strengthen the adoption and sustained use of evidence-based practices within multi-tiered support systems.

He is the principal investigator on multiple federally funded studies advancing practical, scalable behavioral health solutions for youth and families.

Dr. Kenneth J. Mart铆nez is a retired child psychologist and former Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research with a long career advancing adolescent behavioral health through data鈥慽nformed, community鈥慴ased, and systems鈥憀evel approaches. He served as New Mexico鈥檚 State Children鈥檚 Behavioral Health Director and has been a longstanding faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Mart铆nez held national leadership roles, including past Chair of the Children, Youth and Families Division of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, representing the 50 states and territories. He developed Community Defined Evidence, a framework for identifying and translating effective local practices into broader behavioral health systems.

He has advised states, school districts, and federal programs on improving behavioral health services for youth, including those involved in juvenile justice, and has testified before Congress on children鈥檚 mental health needs.

Dr. Rachel Shelton is a Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University and a leading social and behavioral scientist specializing in dissemination, implementation, and community鈥慴ased research.

With more than 16 years of experience, her work uses qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to understand how evidence-based interventions are adopted, sustained, and adapted in clinical and community settings.

She is Co鈥慏irector for Translational and Implementation Science at the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and Director of Columbia鈥檚 Implementation Science Initiative.

Dr. Shelton has led multiple federally funded studies, published over 160 peer鈥憆eviewed articles, and trained hundreds of researchers and practitioners nationally and internationally. Her work advances practical strategies for translating research into real鈥憌orld behavioral health and prevention practice.

Charles Mendez III is Managing Director of the C.E. Mendez Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated since 1975 to preventing substance use, bullying, and violence among children and adolescents.

The Foundation develops and disseminates the nationally recognized, evidence-based Too Good for Drugs and Too Good for Violence programs, which build social-emotional skills and protective factors for students in grades K鈥�12.

Mr. Mendez鈥檚 work focuses on translating prevention research into practical, age-appropriate strategies for implementation in real-world settings. He partners with community coalitions, schools, behavioral health agencies, state governments, and universities to strengthen the quality, reach, and sustainability of substance use prevention efforts for youth.

Dr. Enya B. Vroom is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Health San Antonio and a behavioral health services researcher specializing in implementation science. She is also a Core Scholar at the Center for Research to Advance Community Health and faculty at the Be Well Institute for Substance Use and Related Disorders.

Dr. Vroom is trained in qualitative and mixed-methods research, with a focus on identifying barriers and developing strategies to adopt, implement, and sustain substance use treatment and recovery support services in community settings. Her work also emphasizes building workforce capacity to translate evidence-based practices into routine care.

Dr. Vroom was an ITRE Scholar in cohort #4 and served as a peer or academic mentor for ITRE Scholars in cohorts #5-9.