​Yale University

I have contributed many hours in the past two years tutoring and mentoring children in literacy and academic development through various community organizations in New Haven, CT. At New Haven Reads, a literacy center in New Haven, I worked closely with students who aren’t at their reading level to build their reading and comprehension skills and helping them gain confidence in their reading abilities. Additionally, I volunteered with Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) in an after-school program designed for recently resettled refugee children, where I provided one-on-one tutoring and academic support to help ease their transition into the school system and support their adjustment to their new environment. Through the United Way of Greater New Haven, I also had the rewarding experience of reading books to elementary school students, which allowed me to inspire younger children by engaging them with stories, enhancing their listening skills, and nurturing an early enthusiasm for reading. These experiences have strengthened my commitment to education and my belief in the transformative power of community-driven support for youth development, which is just one key piece of improving education and public health.

​ALA BioPharma, LLC

Since the early 2000s, I initially and somewhat selfishly decided to volunteer my time to various hospice organizations in order to "get out of my own head", as it were, and focus upon something more important than the demands of high-responsibility, low-reward Pharma positions. I have continued this service to this day, as it remains an extremely underserved area of medicine.   I've helped both patients and their families by doing housework, shopping, identifying and playing music, movies, and conversing, up to and including taking patient biographies.  This leaves patients with a sense of fulfillment that they otherwise may not have in the last months of their lives.  In doing so, I've been able to educate families, other volunteers, and paid caretakers on tailoring an appropriate approach for each individual patient.  Sharing best-practice from one nursing home or hospice organization to another has been an important, ongoing part of this work.  

​Hermitage Road Historic District Association

The principal mechanism for historic preservation in the city of Richmond, Virgnia is through the designation of Old and Historic Districts. The Hermitage Road Historic District Association is an organization of residents of this old and historic district that fight to maintain the historical character of the community through advocacy and monitoring construction plans.

​Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

I have always enjoyed volunteering in activities I believe in and feel passionate about. I currently volunteer with HEAL Refugee Health & Asylum Collaborative, a collaborative based in Baltimore, MD providing healthcare and social services for immigrant survivors of torture and trauma seeking U.S. humanitarian protection. I provide pro bono forensic psychological evaluations to assist clients with their cases in immigration court. I encourage those with an active mental health or medical license to consider this work, as these evaluations greatly increase a deserving person’s chances of securing asylum and are quite literally life changing. I find a lot of value in mentorship as well: I participate in Project SHORT, a non-profit organization providing free application review, practice interviewing, and networking opportunities for graduate and medical school applicants from underrepresented backgrounds. It is very rewarding to contribute my time towards the larger social goal of increasing the socioeconomic diversity within science and healthcare professions.

​National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC)

As someone deeply engaged in both research and community service, I am dedicated to enriching leadership and advocacy efforts in substance use disorder treatment and community engagement. I volunteer with the NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA) on the Constitutional Review Committee, advocating for harm reduction and equitable health services for people who use drugs. In my role on the Fair Treatment Reference Group, I contribute to drug policy reform and provide advocacy for marginalized communities, including input for the upcoming NSW Drug Summit. Additionally, I volunteer as an expert advisor for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), mentoring students in evidence-based advocacy strategies and helping to build their position statements and submissions to key NGOs, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. My volunteer work with The Loop Australia’s Research Action Committee focuses advocation for harm reduction initiatives, including volunteering at one of the first 'pill testing' trials in Australia. Additionally, through my mentoring roles with CPDD and UNSW, I aim to support the next generation of researchers and advocates, integrating research with community service to amplify the voices of marginalized populations and promote evidence-based health policies. Finally, I volunteer as Co-Chair of the NDARC Early Career Research (ECR) Group, where I mentor early-career researchers and promote community engagement through trainings and resources for colleagues regarding community engagement. Through my mentoring roles with CPDD, community groups and UNSW Sydney, I strive to integrate research with community service, amplifying the voices of marginalized populations and advocating for evidence-based health policies.

​Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Jesse has been volunteering with syringe service programs in New Hampshire over the past three years. She is one of the many faces clients saw coming to pick up supplies at the Queen City Exchange in Manchester, NH and currently she volunteers with the HIV/HCV Resource Center in Lebanon, NH. In this role she prepares safe injection and wound care kits, delivers naloxone and syringe orders to clients across the Upper Valley and helps with center inventory data management. Coming to Dartmouth College as a PhD student, it was important for Jesse to find a community organization which supports people who use drugs and in the harm reduction community she has found just that: people who love their neighbors who use drugs without qualifications.

University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Teri Franklin volunteers time, energy and expertise in scientific writing to Dr. Schroeder an orthopedist who has observed dramatic improvement or resolution of chronic localized or systemic symptoms following removal of metal (i.e., screws/plates) from the foot and/or ankle. These symptoms include chronic fatigue- and fibromyalgia-type symptoms; back and/or neck pain; headaches; brain fog; anxiety; gastro-intestinal issues including diarrhea and IBS; cardiac issues; arthritis symptoms; edema issues; hair loss; muscle spasms; and temporary episodic paralysis. Resolution of pain and restoration of function also occurs in sites of the body remote to where metal had been removed. Dr. Franklin assists with writing case studies to contribute to the accumulating evidence that various metals placed within the body of individuals who have become hypersensitive or allergic to metals can result in systemic illness, and further, that the removal of such metals can ameliorate pain and restore function. The goal of Drs. Schroeder and Franklin is to alert orthopedists to ‘Be Metal Aware’ that allergies to metals occur commonly and people are suffering needlessly.

University of Texas Health Science Center

Prior to moving to San Antonio, Dr. Galbo-Thomma was a volunteer for 5 years at Twin City Harm Reduction Collective, a syringe service program located in Winston Salem, NC. She also volunteers with the non-profit, This Must Be The Place, distributing naloxone and providing overdose reversal training to music festival attendees. Dr. Galbo-Thomma is a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), an international non-profit organization that advocates for practical drug policy reform. With SSDP, Dr. Galbo-Thomma co-founded the Science Policy Committee and, alongside her colleagues, organized lobby days, published action alerts and submitted a hearing request to the DEA opposing the scheduling of two important preclinical psychedelic research drugs, DOI and DOC. Dr. Galbo-Thomma is the current Biomedical Research Awareness Day Fellow and has participated in and organized several events educating scientists and the public about the importance of animals in biomedical research. And, last but not least, she is the proud Dog Mom of Elliot, a purpose-bred research beagle she adopted 9 years ago.

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC)

Dr. James Rowlett is an extremely active advocate for biomedical research in general, having participated in several advocacy visits to D.C. through CPDD and other organizations and engaging the local political leadership in Mississippi to gather support for the UMMC research community. He often hosts and engages with local Mississippi political leaders to showcase the importance of the substance use disorders research being conducted at UMMC, and he is a strong advocate for animal biomedical research, particularly with nonhuman primates.