Dr. Danica Love Brown, Birdie Wermy, Dr. Ben Smith, O'Nesha Cochran-Dumas

Danica Love Brown, MSW, PhD, is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, born and raised in Northern New Mexico. She currently is the Behavioral Health Manager at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and has worked as a mental health and substance abuse counselor, social worker and youth advocate for over 20 years. She has a history of working in the areas of prevention, drug and alcohol/mental health treatment, community and restorative justice, and sexual health with Native American and adjudicated youth, families and women. She specializes in working with culturally and socioeconomically diverse populations and Tribal communities, utilizing a trauma informed care framework.

Birdie Wermy, MPH, is the Behavioral Health Project Manager at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). She has worked at NPAIHB for over 10 years, on a variety of projects including substance use disorder and cancer prevention.

Ben Smith, MD, MPH, is a Harvard-trained primary care doctor and addiction specialist who works at Central City Concern, an inner city  health center and treatment center based in Portland, Oregon. Ben supervises Addiction Medicine Fellows at Oregon Health and Science University and consults on the Substance Use Warmline based at UC-San Francisco.

O’Nesha Cochran-Dumas, BSW, CRM, is an Afro-Indigenous member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. She is currently a Recovery Mentor Consultant for the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. She was the first Certified Recovery Mentor at Oregon Health and Sciences University on the IMPACT Medical Team. Became a Peer Trainer for the Mental Health Addiction and Certification Board of Oregon and Managed the Diane Wade House, a 38 bed reentry program for Afrocentric women.