Leila M Vaezazizi Author

Dr. Colon-Rivera has board certifications in General, Adolescent, Addiction Medicine, and Addiction psychiatry. He is currently an attending physician at the UPMC Behavioral Health Network and Telepsychiatry Division and the Medical Director of the Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, Inc Behavioral Health Program (APM), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving communities' quality of life through direct behavior and substance use disorder services in the Philadelphia region. Dr. Colon-Rivera serves as a clinical advisor for the Advisory on Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee for Pennsylvania and an Opioid State Targeted Response Technical Assistance advisor to Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania. Elie G. Aoun, M.D., is a psychiatrist in general, addiction and forensic practice in New York, on faculty at NYU as an emergency psychiatrist and a PGY7 forensic psychiatry research fellow at Columbia University. He serves as the vice chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry. He is a member of the ACGME committee tasked with developing the new guidelines for general psychiatry residency training programs (Milestones). His work focuses on examining the intersection of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and the law. Specifically, he works on program development and implementation in reentry models for individuals with SUD, examining interventions that reduce crime recidivism in this population. In addition, Dr. Aoun's expertise includes also the neuro-psycho-endocrinology of Alcohol Use Disorder, behavioral economic model of addictions, public policy and advocacy for issues pertaining to access to care for underprivileged and stigmatized populations including those with substance use disorders, LGBT and incarcerated individuals. He has authored several peer reviewed articles, book chapters, position statements and other policy papers and has presented talks at various national and local meetings. Dr. Leila M. Vaezazizi, M.D. is an addiction psychiatrist at the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Medical Center and faculty member at New York University School of Medicine. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, completed her residency training at New York University and addiction psychiatry clinical and research fellowship at Columbia University. She is the medical director of the Substance Abuse Recovery Program at the Manhattan Veterans Affairs Medical Center, an intensive outpatient program for the treatment of substance use disorders. Dr. Vaezazizi has authored several articles and book chapters focusing on substance use disorders and social determinants of the opioid crisis and has served as a member of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry.