Judith Leahy, MPH has been with the Oregon Health Authority since 2009, serving as the Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator with the state’s Public Health Division from 2009 to 2022 before transitioning to the state’s Health System Division to serve as the Harm Reduction and Public Health Intervention Strategist for the State Opioid Response (SOR) grant. In this new role, Judith works with state and local partners to implement harm reduction centered initiatives and interventions, including the Save Lives Oregon/Salvando Vidas Oregon Initiative, the Peer Recovery in Medical Establishments plus HIV/HCV testing and linkage to treatment (PRIME+), Peer Assisted Treatment HIV/HCV and Syphilis (PATHs) and more. Oregon uses a substance use centered syndemic model, working across programs and divisions to integrate and leverage work that address overdoses, infections, and injuries. Judith has been a learner and practitioner of harm reduction since volunteering with outreach and syringe exchange programs in the 1990’s, and working nearly two decades with the California community-based nonprofit organizations, Project Inform and Centerforce. Project Inform was a national community-based non-profit HIV treatment information and advocacy organization. Centerforce was a San Francisco Bay Area non-profit that provided a broad range of health, re-entry, peer and mentoring programs that served people incarcerated within local jails and the California state prison system, their families and loved ones.

Jude has no disclosures to report.