Our Board of Directors
Nzinga Harrison, M.D., D.F.A.P.A., F.A.B.P.M.
Dr. Harrison is passionate and outspoken about the need to expand the addiction medicine workforce. She serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Eleanor Health, an innovative mental health and addiction treatment company, and has more than 15 years of experience practicing medicine. She is a double board-certified physician with specialties in general adult psychiatry and addiction medicine. She completed undergraduate training at Howard University in Washington DC, medical school at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and residency training at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Harrison has spent her career as a physician treating individuals from marginalized communities with substance use and other psychiatric disorders. As a physician executive, she has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, roles committed to creating and improving systems-based delivery of psychiatric and substance use disorder care. She is a vocal advocate for stigma reduction and is passionate about the necessity for whole-person care as individuals and communities seek to recover from and prevent substance use disorders. You can read more about these issues in her new book, Un-Addiction: 6 Mind-Changing Conversations That Could Save a Life. She also appears in the award-winning documentary Tipping the Pain Scale, which addresses the crisis of addiction in America. Dr. Harrison holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Morehouse School of Medicine and sits on the Practice Management and Regulatory Affairs Committee for ASAM.
Ruth Mondolfi, D.O., M.P.H. - Board Chair
Dr. Ruth Mondolfi is a Board-Certified Physician Psychiatrist passionate about treating the underserved and the most vulnerable patient populations with Serious Mental Illness, Substance Use Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Intellectual Disabilities. She has vast experience in treating patients in a variety of settings and geographies, these experiences make her perspective on the board a vital asset to the diverse people and places we serve.
She prides herself on practicing evidence-based medicine, minimizing polypharmacy, and optimizing medication regimens while coordinating care with primary care teams, families, team social workers, CA Regional Centers, and BCBAs.
Along with being a highly skilled physician, Dr. Mondolfi has a great gift for connection – with patients, families, and communities regardless of the medium or location.
Beth Nauman, Ph.D., M.P.H.
As Managing Director at Louisiana Public Health Institute, Dr. Naumen leads the organization's health services research, community-based research, and program evaluation teams.
As Research Director of REACHnet (a PCORnet Clinical Research Network), she works with multi-institutional teams to develop and optimize research technologies, data infrastructure, and stakeholder engagement to facilitate efficient, multi-site research integrated into healthcare delivery systems. She collaborates with investigators across partner health systems and academic institutions to develop and implement patient-centered research initiatives and produce real-world evidence to inform improved healthcare delivery. She also works nationally through the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) to implement large, multi-site pragmatic trials.
Beth received her M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees from Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine and holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences.
Kathryn Walker, J.D., M.P.H.
Kathy Walker is a disability rights attorney with a strong commitment to community inclusion. She is a senior attorney with the Center for Public Representation and has worked with people with disabilities throughout her career in various capacities. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a JD/MPH from the University of Miami. Kathy has worked for The Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability as a criminal justice fellow, for the Department of Justice as a trial attorney, and for Pisgah Legal Services as the Director of Medical Legal Partnerships. In her Medical Legal Partnership role, Kathy worked directly with Western North Carolinians experiencing substance misuse and other mental health crises to help people secure needed benefits and services. Kathy believes resource availability should not be conditioned upon recovery. She believes in stigma reduction for all types of disabilities and believes that people with disabilities must be afforded the same rights, choices, and opportunities as everyone else.