Our Team

Traci C. Green, PhD, MSc, Director, OPRC

Traci C. Green, PhD, MSc, is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on drug use, opioid addiction, and drug-related injury. She earned a Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University and a PhD in Epidemiology from Yale University.  She helped design the ASI-MV®, a real-time illicit and prescription drug abuse surveillance system developed by Inflexxion, Inc. Prior to joining the Heller School at Brandeis, she served as Deputy Director of the Boston Medical Center Injury Prevention Center, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.  She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University where she co-directs the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Opioids and Overdose at Rhode Island Hospital.  Dr. Green helped co-found www.prescribetoprevent.org for prescribers and pharmacists and its companion site www.prevent-protect.org for families, patients, and community organizations.  She serves as an advisor to the Rhode Island Governor on addiction and overdose, and consults for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas on public health and public safety opportunities.  She served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and two recent National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committees pertaining to opioid pain management, regulatory strategies to address opioids, and medications for opioid use disorder.  Her research is supported by the CDC, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, and the Department of Justice.    

tracigreen@brandeis.edu ~ 781-736-2609

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Medical Director, OPRC

Andrew Kolodny, MD, is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Behavioral Health at the Heller School at Brandeis University and Co-Director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative. His primary area of focus is the prescription opioid and heroin crisis devastating families and communities across the country. He is also the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, an organization with a mission to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by overprescribing of opioid analgesics. Dr. Kolodny previously served as Chief Medical Officer for Phoenix House, a national nonprofit addiction treatment agency and as Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. He began his career working for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Office of the Executive Deputy Commissioner, where he helped develop and implement multiple programs, including city-wide buprenorphine programs, naloxone overdose prevention programs and emergency room screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) programs for drug and alcohol misuse.

Gail Strickler, PhD, Deputy Director, OPRC

Gail Strickler, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate and the Deputy Director of the Opioid Research Collaborative at the Institute for Behavioral Health at Brandeis University.  Dr. Strickler brings over 25 years of experience conducting research and evaluation, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to assess the effectiveness of prevention and treatment initiatives for individuals with substance abuse disorders and other chronic health conditions. She was recently Principal Investigator on the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC), funded by the Bureau of Justice and Co-Principal Investigator of the Prescription Behavior Surveillance System (PBSS) project, a longitudinal multi-state database of prescription drug monitoring program data designed to serve as an early warning surveillance tool and as a tool to evaluate changes in state policy and regulations.  Her current research interests include assessing PDMP effectiveness in reducing opioid overdoses rates as well as reducing rates of abuse, diversion and inappropriate prescribing of prescribed controlled substances, with a focus on opioids.  She has published research on patterns of controlled substance prescribing in PBSS states, effectiveness of PDMP use mandates, risk factors associated with problem use of prescription drugs, gender differences in the non-medical use of abusable prescriptions, and unmet need for substance abuse treatment of adults in Massachusetts. 

Peter Kreiner, PhD, Senior Scientist, OPRC

Peter Kreiner, PhD, is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Behavioral Health at the Heller School at Brandeis University and the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative. He is Principal Investigator for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Training and Technical Assistance Center, and for the Prescription Behavior Surveillance System at Brandeis, a longitudinal multi-state database of prescription drug monitoring program data to serve as an early warning surveillance tool and a tool to help evaluate changes in state policy and regulations. Dr. Kreiner has more than 25 years’ experience conducting research and evaluation of substance abuse prevention and treatment systems and programs at community, state, and regional levels. His research interests include small geographic area measures and models, specifically focused on rates of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdose cases, and measures of appropriate and inappropriate prescribing; and network analysis applied to interorganizational networks and provider-patient networks related to care coordination.