Craig Polizzi, PhD, is an Interprofessional Advanced Addictions Fellow at the VA Boston Healthcare System. He earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from Binghamton University (SUNY) and completed his predoctoral internship with the VA Boston’s PTSD Clinical Team. Dr. Polizzi’s research focuses on coping mechanisms in the context of trauma and resilience, aiming to enhance current interventions and identify novel treatments. Specifically, his work examines self-regulatory coping strategies (e.g., mindfulness, emotion regulation, resilience factors) as moderators and mediators in the treatment of co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, Dr. Polizzi is dedicated to developing, refining, and evaluating adjunctive interventions that can optimize the efficacy of evidence-based treatments by targeting comorbid conditions, including PTSD, SUD, and depression.
Lauren Loeffel, PhD
Lauren Loeffel, Ph.D., is a second-year postdoctoral fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment within the VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Loeffel completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Emory University and her predoctoral internship at the NYU Langone–Bellevue Clinical Psychology Internship Program. Her research primarily focuses on the biological and psychosocial mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of substance use disorders, using a combination of longitudinal modeling and statistical genetics. Currently, she is working to refine our understanding of the interface between substance use disorders and other forms of psychopathology, especially PTSD. Having provided addiction recovery across various setting, she has witnessed first-hand how stigma and structural barriers impact patient care and, in turn, is also interested in improving patient outcomes through substance use-related policy research. Overall, she is eager to reduce suffering among veterans and their families through her research and clinical work.
Lauren McClain, PhD
Lauren McClain, Ph.D., recently finished her Clinical Psychology Internship at VA Boston, completing her graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington under the mentorship of Dr. Mary Larimer. Lauren’s research involves ecological momentary assessment of drinking to cope with emotional distress, and how drinking to cope predicts negative consequences from alcohol use. As a clinician, Lauren is interested in substance use treatment for clients with comorbid PTSD, and how building mindfulness and emotion regulation skills can increase resilience for these clients.
Maya Zegel, PhD
Maya Zegel, Ph.D., is an Interprofessional Advanced Addictions Fellow within the VA Boston Healthcare System. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Bedford, MA and received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Houston under the mentorship of Anka Vujanovic, Ph.D. Her research explores mechanisms that underly PTSD and alcohol use, particularly distress tolerance/overtolerance and drinking to cope with negative affect. She aims to continue working with couples and first responder populations through her clinical research.
Madison Fellows
Jennifer Betts, PhD
Jennifer Betts, Ph.D. (she/her) is an Advanced Addictions Fellow at the Madison VA and the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. She graduated in 2022 with her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University at Buffalo under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Tiffany. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Boston VA in the Addiction and Co-Occurring Disorders track. Dr. Betts’ research focuses on understanding the relationship between motivational factors, such as craving and reward processes, the use of tobacco and electronic cigarettes, and clinical outcomes. On fellowship, one of her projects seeks to understand how anhedonia relates to nicotine withdrawal and smoking treatment. She is also investigating proximal motivational factors of dual use of tobacco and e-cigarettes, and associations with changes in dual use over time. Dr. Betts is interested in the co-occurrence between tobacco use and substance use disorders, and in particular, Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). She is currently applying for a VA Career Development Award to develop tobacco treatments for individuals with OUD who smoke. At the Madison VA, Dr. Betts works with patients through the Addictive Disorders Treatment Program and the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Clinic.
San Diego Fellows
Alexandra Klein, PhD
Dr. Alexandra Klein completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Case Western Reserve University and her predoctoral internship at VA San Diego/University of California, San Diego within the PTSD Clinical Team and Mood Disorders Clinic. Her program of research is motivated by her clinical observation that despite effective treatments for PTSD and its common comorbidities, many patients either do not receive these treatments or fully recover after an episode of care. Dr. Klein’s research is “in the clinic” and is primarily focused on improving engagement in and clinical outcomes following empirically supported treatments for PTSD. She is particularly interested in developing a systematic, easily implemented approach to personalizing psychotherapy that focuses on each patient’s unique functional goals in addition to symptom reduction. Dr. Klein is passionate about disseminating and supporting clinicians in implementing evidence-based practice. She is a trained prolonged exposure therapy (PE) consultant and currently provides consultation on two multisite, DoD-funded clinical trials. Clinically, Dr. Klein specializes in treating PTSD and co-occurring psychological problems in outpatient settings. She is trained as a clinician in PE, cognitive processing therapy, written exposure therapy, and trauma-informed guilt-reduction therapy.
Terrell Hicks, PhD
Dr. Terrell Hicks earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Hicks completed his pre-doctoral internship at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California San Diego Psychology Internship Program within the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program and PTSD Clinical Team, which solidified their interests in addiction and post-trauma psychopathology research. Dr. Hicks’ research specializes in the intersection of behavioral medicine and psychiatric, behavioral, and statistical genetics, with a primary focus on understanding the developmental relationship between PTSD and co-occurring alcohol and substance use disorders. Dr. Hicks received a prestigious National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which supported his dissertation research on the "Genetics of Cannabis Use and Trauma-Related Phenotypes.” Dr. Hicks’ primary objective within the VA Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment is to deepen his understanding of addiction and PTSD treatment, with a specific focus on applying their knowledge of the phenotypic and genotypic etiology of co-occurring alcohol and substance use disorders and PTSD. Through this work, Dr. Hicks aspires to make significant contributions to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of these commonly occurring mental health problems.
Cecilia Nunez, PhD
Dr. Cecilia Nunez is a first-year postdoctoral fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago and completed her predoctoral internship at VA San Diego/University of California San Diego, within the Dual Diagnosis Recovery Program and PTSD Clinical Team. Her research interests include applying behavioral economics principles (e.g., demand analysis) to understand drug use and other risk behaviors, harm reduction, and contingency management. Some of her research has used behavioral economics to understand how possible fentanyl adulteration affects the perceived value of cocaine, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. Additionally, her dissertation tested the impact of a brief fentanyl education intervention among people who use stimulants. Dr. Nunez is enthusiastic about continuing harm reduction-related research during fellowship and is excited to contribute to the advancement of harm reduction services offered to Veterans.
West Haven Fellows
Scott Matthews, MD
Scott Matthews MD FASAM is a 2023 IAFAT based at the West Haven Connecticut VA Medical Center. Dr Matthews is board certified in Addiction Medicine and completed an Addiction Medicine fellowship at SUNY Buffalo. His research interests include non-invasive brain stimulation, psychedelic therapies targeted to substance use disorders, use of virtual reality as a treatment and training modality, controlled release drug delivery, and the role of the gut microbiome in alcohol use disorder. A physician, scientist, and inventor trained at Yale University and the University of Rochester, his patents include the first successful application of controlled release technology to infectious disease prevention.
Polly Ingram, PhD
Polly Ingram, Ph.D., is a first-year postdoctoral fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment within the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Ingram received her doctorate in Clinical Science from Indiana University after completing her doctoral internship at VA Connecticut. Dr. Ingram’s clinical and research interests focus on the treatment of Veterans with substance use and co-occurring disorders using evidence-based psychotherapies and the role of self-concept in substance use and related outcomes.
Reanne Chilton, PhD
Reanne Chilton, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine/Connecticut VA in the Advanced Fellowship in Addictions Treatment program. Dr. Chilton completed her clinical internship at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance in the Population Health track during which time she also earned a certificate in Clinical Effectiveness Research from the Harvard-Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Chilton served in numerous leadership and advocacy roles including as the governor-appointed student regent, the President of the graduate student body and as a VP for the largest student lobby in WA state. She is passionate about examining policies and laws that uphold systems of oppression. Her research integrates passion for policy and advocacy with a love of clinical work— implementing and evaluating large scale interventions/programs that meaningfully improve the lives of underserved communities especially at the intersections of disability, substance use, and aging.
Therese Gonley, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC
Therese Gonley, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, is a first-year postdoctoral fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment within the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Gonley received her doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) from Fairfield University in 2023, where she focused extensively on addressing the mental health needs of individuals across the lifespan. Prior to completing her DNP, Dr. Gonley worked as an oncology nurse for 9 years at Yale New Haven Health. After completing her DNP, Dr. Gonley pursued a one (1) year Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) residency at VA West Haven where she had the opportunity to provide direct patient care in a variety of clinical settings. Dr. Gonley’s clinical and research interests focus on the treatment of Veterans with chronic pain and the intersection of pain, Opioid Use Disorder, and harm reduction strategies. It was this interest that motivated her to pursue the VA Connecticut Healthcare System Interprofessional Fellowship program that advances clinical care in Addiction Treatment through research, education, and mentorship.
Pittsburgh Fellows
Roisin Sabol, PharmD
Roisin Sabol, PharmD (she/her) is a first-year postdoctoral Addiction Treatment Fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment within the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Dr. Sabol earned her PharmD with a concentration in Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in April 2022, followed by clinical residency training in Pharmacy Practice and Psychiatric Pharmacy at VA San Diego Healthcare System. Her research interests broadly include improving access to quality medication treatment for Veterans with substance use disorders, with a focus on social determinants of health, precision care, and suicide prevention. She hopes to gain experience studying population-level datasets using machine learning, as well as implementing and evaluating sustainable, evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for Veterans with co-occurring substance use disorders and serious mental illness.
