Jeffrey “Eric” Mitchell
Co-researcher
Andre Morris
Co-researcher
Grover “Will” Williams
Co-researcher
Will (he/him) is a co researcher on the Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU)
team, and worked on the King County opioid settlement community consultation project, the law enforcement regional co-design project, and the King County emergency medical services strategic plan. Will is a long term harm reductionist and advocate with years of experience working in the community and speaking at overdose awareness community events and UW lecture series. In addition to teaching students, Will has co-facilitated harm reduction training for clinicians at the UW Harborview Grand Rounds series in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department and has worked with the Harm Reduction Research and Treament (HaRRT) Center for the past 7 years and has co-authored several published manuscripts. Will is also an avid karaoke enthusiast.
Jenna Van Draanen
Assistant Professor
Jenna (she/her) is an interdisciplinary Assistant Professor working in the School of Nursing and the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, and a researcher with READU. She works closely with Public Health Seattle & King County and other local partners on practice-based research that centers equity for people who use drugs. In the past, Jenna has conducted evaluations as a consultant for a range of community-based organizations, local and national government agencies, and international non-governmental organizations. Her mixed-methods research and evaluation work often includes the perspectives of people with lived experience through participatory approaches. When she isn’t doing research or teaching at the UW, she is hanging out with her chickens: Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morisette, Carley Rae Jepsen, and Shania Twain and puttering around her garden. She loves board games, cooking, and arts and crafts.
Nathan Holland
Co-researcher
Nathan (he/him) is a co-researcher on the Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU) team and worked on the King County opioid settlement community consultation project, the law enforcement regional co-design project, and the King County emergency medical services strategic plan. Nathan is a harm reduction advocate and advocate for youth in foster care and has co-authored several papers and conference presentations on drug user health equity. Nathan has 16 years of lived experience in the foster care system and has experienced homelessness and uses his lived experience to inform his research and advocacy. Nathan seeks to continue his advocacy by serving on an advisory board of
former foster care youth. He enjoys playing video games, listening to country music, and jumping in his pool on a hot summer’s day.
Rachel Esther Rourke
Co-researcher
Esther (they/them) is a harm reduction consultant with lived experience in drug use and sex work. Currently working part time at the UW with READU research with expert advisors on drug use. Rachel has a uniquely wide range of expertise in overdose prevention work in national user union organizing as well as local frontline outreach alongside people facing houselessness while battling stigma to overcome mental health and substance challenges. Rachel is grounded in this work as a drug user themselves, meeting people where they are within community spaces seeking to help people prioritize what they want by building empowerment to gain access to the resources needed to reach their self identified goal. In addition to their work, Rachel has many years volunteer experience at People’s Harm reduction alliance syringe exchange and recently trained as a drug checking technician using FTIR spectroscopy to test individual drug samples. As a person who is part of the community in which they serve believes strongly in uplifting the voices of other drug users and centering ourselves in the safe supply and overdose prevention activist movement. Rachel is currently working to develop educational materials and trainings to support people who use drugs and sell sex under guidance through a mentorship of CARAS The Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities.”
Robert Pitcher
Co-researcher
Rob (he/him) is a co-researcher on the Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU) team, working on the King County opioid settlement community consultation project, the law enforcement regional co-design project, and the King County emergency medical services strategic plan. Robert is also a peer educator with King County Public Health and has volunteered at Project Neon. His work is deeply rooted in harm reduction and outreach to underserved and at-risk communities, with a focus on HIV prevention. In his free time, you can find Robert in the garden with his dogs Pinky and Toast.
Courteney “Cece” Wettemann
Research Coordinator
Cece (they/them) is the research coordinator on the Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU) team. Cece brings several years of experience with direct service at harm reduction organizations, focusing on overdose prevention and response, safer use strategies, and the intersection of gender, sex work, and harm reduction. Cece is often found working alongside their dog, Rascal.
Tessa Frohe
Assistant Professor
Tessa Frohe (she/her) is a harm reductionist and Assistant Professor at the University of Washington where she serves as a full-time faculty member with the Harm Reduction Research and Treatment (HaRRT) Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Tessa has been a member of the Research with Expert Advisors on Drug Use (READU) since it formed in 2021. Her interests are informed by 10-years of substance-related research and clinical experience involving diverse topics with substance use and chronic pain, as well as her own lived experience and unfortunate loss of loved ones due to overdose related deaths. Tessa’s core values in research are to work collaboratively with people who use drugs, community members, and organizations to develop, conduct, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based interventions that help reduce substance-related harm and improve quality of life for affected individuals and their communities. Outside of research life, Tessa enjoys hiking, doing yoga, cooking, and listening to live music.
Callan Fockele
Assistant Professor
Callan Fockele (she/her) completed training in emergency medicine, population health research, and addiction medicine at the University of Washington (UW). She is a physician who works in the Harborview Medical Center Emergency Department and Hobson Clinic. She also staffs the UW Department of Emergency Medicine’s 24/7 Tele-buprenorphine Hotline (206-289-0287) and provides clinical support for the Seattle Fire Department’s field-initiated buprenorphine program.
Taylor C. Ryan
Research Assistant
Taylor is currently a PhD student in the department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Taylor’s research interests are suicide prevention, particularly youth suicide prevention, mental health stigma, and access to behavioral health care. She is particularly interested in how to use research to inform policy to reduce the risk of suicide, mental health stigma, and ultimately disparities and barriers to accessing behavioral health care. Taylor received her master’s degree in Human Development and Family Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Human Services from the University of Delaware. Taylor spent two years at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health working as the lead study coordinator for a SAMHSA funded project focused on improving mental health outcomes for youth seen in the pediatric emergency department for suicide risk, she also worked closely on a project focused on suicide risk screening for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disabilities and related disorders with colleagues at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Following her time at Johns Hopkins, Taylor worked as an Evaluation Specialist for Forefront Suicide Prevention at The University of Washington. Taylor is currently conducting her dissertation work under the mentorship of Dr. Jenna Van Draanen.
Germaine Billingsley
Co-researcher
In loving memory of READU member Germaine Billingsley, who was a passionate advocate for harm reduction and an irreplaceable members of READU . Germaine demonstrated his commitment to drug user health equity with his many contributions to READU and his work in the community. Outside of READU, Germaine did outreach as a volunteer for Project NEON. Germaine’s strength and compassion lives on in our work. Our ORCID project is named for Germaine, after his favorite flower, the orchid.