The Policy Advisory Board, led by Node Core Investigator Dr. Mary Brunette, will help to identify legislative and/or regulatory actions as well as payer policies that could best support implementation of state-of-the-science treatments for substance use disorders – with a particular focus on scaling-up and sustaining best practices. Members of this Board include local payors and state policy makers from each of our Node’s three states. The Northeast Node seeks input from this board on concept proposals for new research projects we could propose to conduct within the CTN in collaboration with other Nodes that may impact state/regional/national policy and/or models of payment for substance use disorder treatment as well as new community initiatives and interventions to meet the unique rural needs of providers and participants.

Mary F. Brunette, MD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Medical Director
Bureau of Behavioral Health, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Mary F. Brunette is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and the Medical Director of the Bureau of Behavioral Health within the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. As a board-certified addiction psychiatrist, she has been involved with research and clinical care of patients with severe mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders for over 15 years. She has been active with both psychosocial research and clinical trials studying treatments for people with these co-occurring disorders.

Tiffany L. Pierce, MD, MS

New England Market Medical Executive
Cigna Health Care

Tiffany L. Pierce, M.D., M.S. is a board-certified internal medicine doctor who serves as the New England Market Medical Executive at Cigna Health Care. She leads their value-based initiatives working directly with clients and through partnerships with doctors in the community.

In her previous roles at Cigna, Dr. Pierce had responsibility for educating medical directors and nurses to enhance their quality and effectiveness through proactive medical management, she led their complex and catastrophic case management team for the East Region, helped developed the medical program for their individual and family plan business that is on the exchange and co-chaired our Quality Management Governing Body. She also serves as a board member for Malta House of Care, which provides free medical services to individuals without medical insurance. Prior to joining Cigna, Dr. Pierce worked as the lead hospitalist for Dartmouth-Hitchcock and spent time working in hospitals in Africa.

Lisa Letourneau, MD, MPH

Senior Advisor for Delivery System Change
Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Lisa Letourneau, MD, MPH is a board-certified internist and public health advocate, and currently serves as Senior Advisor for Delivery System Change for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner’s Office. She is a physician leader and passionate advocate for health care system delivery change, with a particular interest in advancing primary care and public health efforts. Lisa previously served as Executive Director of Maine Quality Counts, a regional health improvement collaborative, where she led several quality improvement efforts including the Maine Aligning Forces for Quality initiative and the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Pilot.

Jonathan R. Ballard, MD, MPH, MPhil

Chief Medical Officer
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Community and Family Medicine, and the Dartmouth Institute
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Jonathan Ballard, MD, currently serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He works closely with Commissioner’s Office, the DHHS Executive Team, and other key members to ensure cost-effectiveness, compliant and high-quality programs, services, and operations system-wide. Jonathan oversees the clinical implementation of quality improvement efforts designed to improve clinical and quality performance and maintain compliance with JCAHO, HIPAA, and other accreditation standards as well as evaluate developments in medical care, health services administration, health insurance programming, including managed care, and make recommendations for new practices, policies and procedures.

Beth Tanzman, MSW

Former Executive Director
Vermont Blueprint for Health

Beth Tanzman is the former Executive Director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health. The Blueprint for Health reforms Vermont’s health service delivery network by developing patient-centered medical homes, community health teams, health information systems, alternative payment models, and networks of community-based collaboratives. In addition to supporting the statewide expansion of the Blueprint, Ms. Tanzman led the Hub & Spoke program for opioid addiction for the Department of Vermont Health Access (Medicaid Agency). Prior to joining the Blueprint, Beth served as Vermont’s Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health leading the planning to replace Vermont State Hospital, supporting the development of intensive services for children and families, and the implementation of evidence-based services for adults with mental illness.

Kim Trvalik, RN, MS

Behavioral Health Program Director
Boston Medical Center Health System
Well Sense Health Plan

Kim Trvalik, RN, MS, has 30+ years of experience as a nurse and has worked in a variety of behavioral health settings. Kim has a Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration.  In addition to direct care, she has held several leadership positions and currently works as the Behavioral Health Program Director for Boston Medical Center Health System, Well Sense Health Plan.  She has a strong interest in the treatment of substance use disorders and lived experience with family members.

Donald McNally, DO

Medical Director of Behavioral Health/Interim Chief Medical Officer
AmeriHealth Caritas New Hampshire

Donald McNally, DO, is a board-certified addiction and general psychiatrist and currently serves as the Medical Director of Behavioral Health at New Hampshire Healthy Families. In addition to his several years of administrative work he has provided care across several behavioral health clinical settings and has participated and contributed to research and publications in the fields of psychiatry and substance use disorders. In his current role at NH Healthy Families, he works as part of a multidisciplinary team engaged in program development, training, quality improvement, and advancing behavioral and physical health equity in New Hampshire.  Dr. McNally continues to be an active advocate for mental health and substance use disorders as an active member of several committees, in both New Hampshire and Maine, including the Maine Medical Professionals Health Program Advisory Committee and serving as Treasurer for the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians.

Jessica Rubinstein, MD, MHCM

Medical Director, New Hampshire

Well Sense Health Plan / Boston Medical Center

Healthnet Plan

Jessica Rubinstein, MD, MHCM is the Medical Director for Well Sense Health Plan since June 2021. After 28 years of combining primary care pediatric practice with practice management, Jessica began her health plan career at Tufts Health Public Plans in 2017 where she held the positions of Medical Director and Interim Chief Medical Officer.  Jessica is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and did her pediatric training at Boston Floating Hospital (now Tufts Medical Center).

Sandrine Pirard, MD, PhD, MPH

Vice President, Medical Director

Beacon Health Options

Dr. Pirard is a Vice President and Medical Director at Beacon Health Options. She is board-certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine with clinical, research, public health, and managed care expertise. Dr. Pirard has held clinical positions at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the University of Maryland Health Center and has worked for the US Department of Human and Health Services (HHS) at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Pirard has been actively engaged in various initiatives to address the opioid crisis and is a member of the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Policy Council (ADPC), American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Quality Improvement Council and ASAM Science Initiative Subcommittee.