SBIRT Staff

The St. Elizabeth's Medical Center-Boston College SBIRT Collaborative is a volunteer-based strategic partnership between two premier Catholic institutions: the flagship hospital of New England's largest community-based accountable care organization and one of the nation's most prestigious universities. We believe that the Catholic principles inherent in both institutions such as "men and women for others," "care for the whole person," and "compassion, accountability, respect, excellence" are completely in accord with a public health mindset and a values-neutral recognition of the impact of effective communication skills in a clinical setting. We are a diverse group: pre-clinicians, clinicians, and non-clinicians who come from many backgrounds with widely differing life experiences. Our emphasis on qualitative cooperation has allowed us to achieve the functional synthesis which makes our cutting-edge experiential learning/research program possible.

Screener Leadership

    

 Teja Ganta

Boston College Class of 2012

Lead Screener

Teja Ganta is a Boston College undergraduate pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry along with an additional Faith, Peace and Justice minor. After growing up in Plainsboro, NJ, Teja opted to attend BC in order to pursue a well-rounded liberal arts education in the Jesuit tradition before applying to medical school. After completing his studies, he hopes to work as an oncologist, dividing his time between patients and medical research. Teja has completed undergraduate medical internships at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Drexel University School of Medicine, and Damon House Drug Rehabilitation Center in New Brunswick, NJ. Teja views Boston College’s SBIRT Collaborative partnership with St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center as a much-needed student leadership response to the national health care issue of substance use that allows him and his fellow volunteers to live out the Boston College tradition of “men and women for others” through regular patient contact opportunities.  

    

 Dan Paz de Araujo

Boston College Class of 2013

Best Practices Manager

Daniel Paz de Araujo is a Biology B.S. and Theology B.A. double major at Boston College who has served as an active SBIRT Collaborative screener since the spring of 2010. He has played a key role in the refinement of the SBIRT training curriculum including the development of role-play scenarios and continuing education presentations. Dan has represented the SBIRT Collaborative in on-campus publications as well as live presentations at the CHAUSA’s 2010 National Catholic Health Assembly in Denver, CO and the 2011 NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Conference in Miami, Florida. Dan is a certified EMT-Basic in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is an active member of Boston College’s Eagle EMS which provides volunteer emergency services during on campus events. He has also served as a volunteer technician at Audobon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, CO. Prior to his involvement in the SBIRT Collaborative Dan led a research effort focused on low impact biofuel production through genetic modification of S. cerevisiae yeast at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Dan recently completed a summer internship at the National Cancer Institute as well as a medical mission to Uganda. 

Greg Kirby

Boston College Class of 2012

Technology Coordinator

Gregory Kirby is pursuing a B.S. in Chemistry at Boston College with a minor in Mathematics and plans to attend medical school after graduation.  As a Massachusetts certified EMT-Basic, he frequently volunteers for on-campus event coverage with Eagle EMS.  During the summer months, Greg pursues his passion for being on the water through his work as a lead instructor and organizer of a Connecticut-based junior sailing program.  When not working, he volunteers with the sailor-athletes of the Pilot Point Pirates as a Special Olympics sailing coach. Greg joined the SBIRT Collaborative in order to gain meaningful patient contact experience and build on his pre-hospital EMT role.  He sees SBIRT's brief intervention approach as a chance to help patients, including many peers, become cognizant of their current substance use behaviors and encourage long-term decision making with their future aspirations in mind.

Doug Brown

Boston College Class of 2013

Project Manager

Douglas Brown is an honors track Biochemistry major at Boston College. As a committee member of BC’s Mendel Society Global Health Initiative, he regularly helps the pre-medical student organization sponsor on-campus speakers to raise awareness and promote worldwide social justice in medicine. He is an active EMT-B certified member of Eagle Emergency Medical Services and also serves on the AIDS Awareness Committee. Doug’s passion for teamwork and innovative medical responses to age-old health care issues eventually led to him to the SBIRT Collaborative, where he volunteers as a screener in addition to coordinating the program’s biweekly Roundtable Sessions. He plans to attend both medical school and graduate school and anticipates a lifetime of work helping society overcame barriers to accessing effective, affordable health care. Doug is a proud member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society. 

  

Katie Czepiel

Boston College Class of 2013

Outreach Manager

Kathryn Czepiel studies Sociology and Biology at Boston College with a concentration in the pre-medical sciences.  Katie joined the SBIRT Collaborative in October 2010. She was certified as a Massachusetts EMT-Basic in September 2010 and has been an active member of Eagle EMS ever since. Katie is also an active member of the volunteer group 4Boston on campus. She has additional volunteering experience as an ESL tutor at Rosie’s Place on Harrison Avenue as well as an after-school program sponsored by the Commonwealth Tenants Association. Katie shadows an attending physician at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence during school breaks. She works as an SAT instructor for Scholars for Students and also picks up additional hours at Shaw’s Supermarkets. For enjoyment, Katie supports BC’s Real Food movement, is an avid runner and likes to cook in her spare time. She and her family are from North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Katie is a proud member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society. 

  

Min Jee Kim

Boston College Class of 2013

Boston College Liaison

Min Jee Kim is a pre-medical undergraduate studying Biochemistry at Boston College. As a certified EMT-B in the state of Connecticut, she came across the SBIRT program her freshmen year as she sought opportunities to exercise her emergency responder skills. She especially enjoys engaging patients on health care issues as she considers SBIRT the ideal real-life preparation for her goal of becoming a physician. Min Jee has also volunteered additional time to support the on-campus student referral process with BC’s Alcohol and Drug Education (ADE) program. She hopes to share constructive feedback from patients to her fellow SBIRT screeners in order to improve the brief intervention process. Min Jee’s other extracurricular activities include her PULSE student mentoring placement at the Commonwealth Tenants Association in Brighton, Massachusetts. Min Jee has also performed bioinformatics data analysis as part of a recent Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons research study into the genetics of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

    

Active Screeners 

 Jenny Choi

Boston College Class of 2012

Jenny Choi is a double-major in English and Biology at Boston College with a pre-medical concentration. She joined the SBIRT team in Fall 2010. Jenny is a certified EMT-B from New Jersey who volunteers for  Eagle EMS. She is also an active member of Loyola Volunteers, through which she volunteers at the Crittendon Women's Union in Brighton, Massachusetts. Jenny has completed internships with the Mount Sinai Medical Center's Visiting Doctors Program, the Children's Environmental Health Department, and the Project Bread Food Source Hotline. She plans to pursue a career in medicine as a primary care physician.

  

David Brown

Boston College Class of 2013

David Brown is a northern California native and a Boston College undergraduate who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. David has been an active screener with SBIRT since the spring of 2011. He is a Massachusetts EMT-B who volunteers with  Eagle EMS, BC's nonprofit emergency response team, and works with athletes training for the Special Olympics on weekends. In his free time David plays for BC club rugby and enjoys outdoor activities from snowboarding to rock climbing, depending on the season. He is a believer in the development of preventative medicine as well as the importance of encouraging healthy and active lifestyle choices.

  

Screener Support

Barbara Herbert, MD 

 Executive Director, SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative

Dr. Barbara Herbert is the Chair of Addiction Medicine for St. Elizabeth’s Comprehensive Addiction Program (SECAP), a practicing Emergency Medicine physician, and the hospital’s Director of Community Based Emergency Department Initiatives. She also serves as co-chair of St. E's Maternal Comprehensive Health and Addiction Treatment (M-CHAT) program which provides interdisciplinary care and supportive services to addicted pregnant mothers and their newborns. Independently from her medical responsibilities at St. Elizabeth’s, Dr. Herbert serves as Assistant Medical Director of the Narcotic Addiction Program at the Boston Public Health Commission, a community-based project involving intervention with Narcan among community opiate users. As the Executive Director of the SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative, Dr. Herbert has authority for visioning the SBIRT program, integrating the program into broader care within the hospital and negotiating with our collaborating partner institutions. Dr. Herbert oversees selection and recruitment of screeners as well as overall evaluation of the program with responsibility for the continued growth, its improved integration into broader SAMHSA models, and its links with other community programs.

   

Aaron Lemmon

Manager, SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative

Aaron Lemmon is Coordinator of Intepreter Services for Steward Health Care, New England's largest community-based hospital network. As Manager of the SBIRT Collaborative, Aaron manages logistics for administrative, scheduling, training, and assessment activities, including on-call status for screener encounters, transportation, or personal emergencies. A cum laude Boston College graduate with Bachelor’s degrees in both Communication and Theology, Aaron has utilized his considerable tutoring and media expertise to craft informational/training materials for prospective screener recruits. He is also responsible for updating the content of the SBIRT Collaborative web page, processing candidates through our online application system, and ensuring that collected screening encounter data is secured and collated. Aaron hosts SBIRT Roundtables on a biweekly basis to enable screeners to discuss case specifics and outcomes in a confidential peer education setting which hones their analytical skills.  He also assists screeners in conducting patient call-backs when patients consent to a three-month post-encounter follow-up telephone interview.

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