In collaboration with the Southeast PTTC, Center for Advancing Alcohol Science to Practice, and the US Alcohol Policy Alliance, interactive webinar #1 will detail the benefits of working on evidence-based, population-level strategies to make the largest impact on community-level harms associated with alcohol. Presenters will discuss the science that guides effective strategies and how the science relates to communities working on alcohol-related issues.
In this webinar, participants will explore:
Recording for Webinar 1: The Why - Alcohol Policy: A Community Approach to Reduce Community Harms
Local Alcohol Policy Exploration Worksheet
Michael Sparks is an Alcohol Policy Specialist and President of Sparks Initiatives. His primary interest is in assisting communities to implement evidence-based environmental strategies to reduce alcohol and other drug problems. Among others, Michael is currently working with Wake Forest University, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation and Health Foundation of South Florida on a range of public health issues. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the US Alcohol Policy Alliance.
Sara Cooley Broschart leads the newly established Center for Advancing Alcohol Science to Practice. Sara is a public health leader with over a decade of experience in substance use prevention at local, regional and state levels. Contribution to community has been a driving value, and she is thrilled to work with communities nationwide in her new role. Her experience includes advising alcohol and marijuana regulators on policy and best practices, developing innovative methods to engage community voices in policy making activities, building a statewide alcohol policy alliance from the ground up, and establishing a health network in rural Nicaragua. Sara has done extensive graduate work in Cultural Anthropology and Public Health at the University of Michigan and holds a BA in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Virginia.
Liz Parsons joined the Center as Associate Director this spring. She has worked in the youth and community health field for 20 years, specializing in youth substance use prevention for the last 14 years. She has led local youth substance use prevention initiatives in several communities in Massachusetts and was a leader in the public health response to Massachusetts’ review of alcohol laws. Liz has presented about local and state alcohol policy implementation at local and national forums. She especially enjoys supporting public health professionals in their efforts to increase awareness and knowledge about impactful alcohol policies and connecting alcohol policy research with practitioner efforts in communities. Liz has a master of education from the University of Bristol, UK.
Snigdha Peddireddy is a Fellow currently supporting the Training and Technical Assistance Center and Alcohol Action Network. She is an early-career alcohol and other drug policy researcher with expertise in policy evaluation and statistical modeling methods. Broadly, Snigdha studies the impacts of structural determinants on inequities in substance use-related harms. She is a current PhD student at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Snigdha also holds an MPH in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in Neuroscience from Duke University.
Izabelle Wensley is the joint Project Coordinator for the Center for Advancing Alcohol Science to Practice and the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance. She is an experienced public health advocate and activist. She started her advocacy career at the age of 13 with Dover Youth to Youth, a non-profit program that specializes in drug and alcohol prevention through youth empowerment. She has conducted trainings in over a dozen states, engaging youth across the country. Her desire to make a difference through advocacy led her to pursue higher education in public health. Izabelle graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 2022 with a B.S. in Public Health where she helped establish the Undergraduate Research Center. Izabelle looks forward to continuing to develop her knowledge and skills in the alcohol prevention field.
Contact Britany Wiele ([email protected]) if you have additional questions about the content related to this webinar.
