Trainings & TA

The Harm Reduction Knowledge Hub maintains an offline database of trainers and technical experts.  To submit your CV to the HRKH database please send it to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 

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Sophie Pinkham

 

Sophie Pinkham is an independent consultant and specialist on women's health, harm reduction, and drug policy.  She has worked with a number of organizations, including EHRN, AIDS Project Management Group, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, and Harm Reduction International. As a Fulbright fellow, she conducted ethnographic research on Ukraine's AIDS, harm reduction, and women's rights movements and produced a documentary on women drug users in Ukraine. She worked for several years at the Open Society Institute, where she coordinated a project to develop gender-responsive harm reduction programs in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Thailand, and Indonesia. She holds a BA in English literature from Yale University and is pursuing an MA in Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies from Columbia University.

 

 

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Katya Smirnova

 

Katya Smirnova has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, philology and teaching,

received in the Moscow State Teachers’ Training University (1998), Department

of Foreign Languages. After graduation, Katya worked in ITAR-TASS as editor,

and later joined Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – Holland, where she was

responsible for translations and coordination work related to the ‘Health

Promotion in Russian Prisons’ project. In 2001, when MSF’s office in Moscow

founded an NGO AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW), Katya joined the AFEW’s

Information Materials Development Department, where she worked as editor and,

later, as manager. Katya has been working with AFEW for more than 10 years,

and her area of expertise includes English-Russian and Russian-English

translations and other language-related work, coordinating material development

process, updating glossaries, working on the website, assessing the quality

of translation and editing, providing technical support to regional offices and

language services to partner organisations.

 

 

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Leah Utyasheva

 

Leah Utyasheva is an independent consultant working in the area of human rights,

harm reduction, gender mainstreaming and drug policy. Leah has worked in the area

of human rights and law in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia for more

than 10 years. In 2006-2009, she worked as a Senior Policy Analyst with the Canadian

HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Toronto, Canada.  In this capacity she specialised in human

rights of people living with HIV, people who use drugs and prisoners in Eastern Europe

and Central Asia. She also previously worked at the American Bar Association's

Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) in Moscow and Public

Interest Law Initiative (PILI) in Budapest.  Born in Ufa, Russia, Leah has a law degree

from the Bashkir State University. She holds an LL.M. in Comparative Constitutional

Law from the Central European University, Budapest, and a Ph.D. in Human Rights

Law from the University of Newcastle, United Kingdom.

 

 

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Dave Burrows

 

Dave Burrows is a Director of AIDS Projects Management Group and has worked

on HIV and drug issues since 1987, working internationally as a consultant on these

issues for the past 14 years. He has worked in 45 countries to assist all relevant UN

and global organisations, several bilateral government aid agencies and many

international non-government organisations in a wide range of tasks including

program design and evaluation, capacity building, managing program

implementation, negotiation with key stakeholders and documentation.

He was an HIV Expert on the Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund to fight AIDS,

Tuberculosis and Malaria for Rounds 4 to 6.

 

He is the author of several books and major reports on HIV/AIDS and drug use,

including A Best Practice Model of Harm Reduction in the community and in prisons

in Russian Federation. Final Project Report (Health Nutrition and Population

Discussion Paper World Bank. Washington 2001), Starting and Managing

Needle-Syringe Programs (WHO Geneva 2007) and High Coverage Sites:

HIV Prevention among Injecting Drug Users in Transitional and Developing

Countries. Case Studies (UNAIDS Geneva 2006).

 

 

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Emilis Subata

 

Emilis Subata (born 1957) is a psychiatrist, Doctor of Medicine (1993). Graduated

Vilnius University Medical Faculty in 1981, worked as a researcher and practitioner

on substance dependence in Public Health Institute of the Ministry of Health

of Lithuania 1982-1991 and various treatment centres. Since 1992 works is a

Director of Vilnius municipal Centre for Addictive Disorders. Since 1998 is an

Associate Professor of Vilnius University Medical Faculty Psychiatry Clinic and

is involved in post-graduate training.

 

Since 1999 Dr. Emilis Subata has served as an adviser and consultant for WHO,

UNODC, Open Society Institute (IHRD OSI), Eurasian Harm Reduction Network

(EHRN) in training of specialists and evaluation of pharmacotherapy of opioid

dependence in Belarus, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Russian Federation,

Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 2003-2006 he was a Principal Investigator

of the WHO Collaborative Study on substitution therapy of opioid dependence and HIV.

 

 

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Tomas Zabransky

 

Tomas Zabransky M.D., Ph.D., works at the First Medical Faculty of Charles

University in Prague where he is responsible for research and development

programs in the Centre of Addictology. In parallel, he works as expert in drug

epidemiology and drug situation monitoring in several UN and EU projects

in fSU and in EU Member- and Candidate States. His main research interests

include blood-borne infectious diseases and mortality of drug users, and

modeling of drug markets and drug policies. Tomas is member of editorial

boards of Journal of Drug Issues, Harm Reduction Journal, and Adiktologie,

member of several Czech and international professional associations,

and member of committee of the International Society for Study of Drug Policy.

 

 

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Anya Sarang

 

Since 1998 Anya Sarang worked with Medicines Sans Frontiers in Moscow,

developing and supporting emerging harm reduction activities in Russia

through the training program and networking. She now works as an

independent consultant, after 6 years of involvement as a Program Director

of the Russian Harm Reduction Network which she and her colleagues

founded in 2003. Anya has been closely involved with harm reduction

development in the region of Eastern Europe/Central Asia as a member

and expert of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network. She has also been

involved in various research on the issues around drug use and HIV,

including epidemiological and behavioral studies and qualitative research

on such issues as barriers of accessing and using harm reduction services,

police and human rights, adherence to ART, management of drug use,

prisons etc.

 

 

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Olga Belyaeva

 

Olga Belyaeva – president of the public organization “Association of the

replacement therapy program participants in Ukraine” and has been

engaged in advocacy and aid to drug users for over 10 years. She is

a founder of the charity fund ”Virtus” and a member of the Regional

Coordinating Committee on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. Olga is a brilliant

speaker and trainer in the field of community involvement and service

providing.

 

 

 

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Jean-Paul Grund

 

Jean-Paul Grund is a researcher in the area of drug policy and public health

at the Center for Addiction Research in Utrecht and The Hague Department

of Public Health. Since 1995 he has been working in the Eurasian region

on harm reduction research, programming and policy development.

 

 

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Neil Hunt

 

Neil Hunt is a researcher and activist in the drugs field. He works part time

as Director of Research for KCA, which provides a wide range of drug

services in South East England. He has honorary academic posts at both

the University of Kent and University of London and was a founding director

of the UK Harm Reduction Alliance.

 

 

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Tatyana Afanasiadi

 

Tatyana Afanasiadi is a highly experienced trainer with an extensive

background in harm reduction, training of trainers, and palliative care

for PLWHA in Ukraine. Since 2007 she has served as Chair of the Board

of 18 Odessa Region Anti-HIV/AIDS Associations (NGOs) “Together for life”.

 

 

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Wyndi Anderson

 

Wyndi Anderson is a social justice advocate and educator who has been

working for the civil rights of pregnant and parenting drug using women for

over 10 years in the United States. Ms. Anderson has over 20 years

of experience in the field of addiction, both personally and professionally,

and works as a consultant based in Washington, DC.

 

 

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Katarina Jiresova

 

Katarina has been working in drugs field for 14 years. In 1995 she started

work in the primary prevention programs. In 1997 Katarina was the pioneer

in the establishing harm reduction program and since then she is a president

of NGO Odyseus (with a year break in 2008 - sabatical), which carries out

outreach work with needle exchange for injecting drug users and street sex

workers, sustains low-threshold club for sex workers and provides information

about drugs and sex at open-air festivals.

Katarina works as an expert in HIV/AIDS, drug use, sex work and other fields

in a number of projects. She is a member of National Committee on HIV/AIDS

Prevention in Slovakia. She is a member of the Network's Steering Committee

(since 2000), a member of EU HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum.

 

 

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Katya Burns, Ph.D.

 

Katya Burns is an independent consultant with an expertise in HIV, harm

reduction, monitoring and evaluation, women and gender issues, and

children in families affected by drug use and HIV. She has completed

multiple project and programme evaluations in Eastern Europe and

Central Asia. She has worked with the International Harm Reduction

Development Programme at the Open Society Institute to support grantees

in Russian, Ukraine and Georgia conducting assessments of women

and drug use, and to compile findings from these three countries in

combination with OSI supported studies in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan

into a report entitled Women, Harm Reduction and HIV: Key Findings

from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine,

(IHRD October 2009); with UNICEF CEE/CIS to develop a study of best

practices in PMTCT for women who use drugs and facilitate a high-level

Consultation on Drug Use, Pregnancy and PMTCT; with the Eurasian Harm

Reduction Network to develop a module on drug use and PMTCT as part

of the EHRN Training on women and drug use; with the HIV/AIDS Alliance

Technical Support Hub in Delhi to develop and lead trainings in India and

Bangladesh on gender-responsive harm reduction and working with the

spouses of male IDU; with UNODC in Islamabad to develop and lead a

training on women, drug use, and female prisoners; and with GTZ Morocco

to conduct a study of women drug users' needs in Tangier and Tetouan.

Dr. Burns speaks, reads and writes five languages: English, Russian, French,

Chinese and Japanese. She is a member of the Global Fund Technical

Review Panel Support Group, where she is a gender, HIV and harm reduction

specialist. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology and lives in New York City and in Mysore, South India.

 

 

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Natalya Kitsenko

 

Natalya Kitsenko is the director at the HIV/AIDS and Drug Issues Department

in Odessa Charity Fund "The Way Home". Natalya has been involved in harm

reduction activities since 1996. She was a part of the action team, which

participated in the establishment of the first pilot harm reduction project in

Odessa (Ukraine). Since 2003 Natalya conducts various trainings and

coordinates projects associated with harm reduction ( "HIV/AIDS response

in Odessa region", "Harm Reduction in Prison" and others), and also is

engaged in research work in Ukraine and other countries of CIS.

 

 

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Azizbek Boltaev

 

Azizbek Boltaev is licensed medical doctor specializing in addictions and has

over 10 years professional experience in public health, including HIV/AIDS policy.

He is experienced in the development of health care services for drug users,

particularly those who inject drugs.
In addition to medical experience, Azizbek has experience in providing technical

assistance to harm reduction projects in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan through the work with DFID, USAID and UN.

He has also been involved in the design and implementation of several

researches focusing on epidemiology of drug use and HIV; effectiveness

and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions targeting injecting drug

users; access to health services in the region of Central Asia.

 

 

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David Otiashvili

 

David is a chair of NGO "Alternative Georgia". He also was elected as

a chairperson of the Board of the Georgian Harm Reduction Network (GHRN),

which unites 21 non-governmental organizations from all regions of the country.

David is a psychiatrist by education. For ten years (1993-2003) he was

a clinician in Georgian Research Institute on Addiction and was responsible

for treatment of drug dependent people and those with alcohol addictive

disorders, carried a number of detoxification procedures and was involved

in rehabilitation. In 2003-2004 after he received a Hubert H. Humfry

scholarship, David conduced a post-graduate studies program at Bloomberg

School of Public Health of John Hopkins University. David participates in

a number of scientific research projects as an expert and researcher.

In 2004-2005, David was a member of the Advisory Council on Drug Policy

formed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs of Georgia.

 

 

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Luciano Colonna

 

Luciano Colonna is a Research Associate in the Department of Psychology at

New York’s Columbia University. Luciano is also an international consultant in

public health and policy, currently conducting research, developing interventions,

and providing technical assistance on projects in Eastern Europe, South East

Asia, and North America. In addition to founding the SafeGames Project,

Mr. Colonna has organized and implemented the 2005 and 2007 US National

Conferences on Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis, and the 2008 Global

Conference on Methamphetamine in Prague, Czech Republic.

 

 

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Liudmyla Shulga

 

Liudmya Shulga, MSc in Global Health Science, University of Oxford, is currently

employed with ICF “International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine”. Liudmyla is

actively involved into development and testing of innovative interventions for drug

using population in Ukraine. During more than five years in Harm Reduction

Liudmyla has been involved into various research on the issues around drug

use and HIV, including epidemiological studies and qualitative research on

such issues as stimulant use, overdose prevention and women injecting

drugs etc. Liudmyla has several publications and is a co-author of several

training modules.

 

 

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Vsevolod Lee

 

Vsevolod Lee is an independent consultant working in the area of harm reduction,

HIV counseling, and HIV prevention in penal system. He has a master's degree in

epidemiology from Moscow Medical Academy. On completing his internship,

Vsevolod worked at the Moscow Center of sanitation and hygiene. Since 2001,

he's been working in the field of HIV prevention: Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland

(trainer/harm reduction), AIDS Foundation East-West (liaison officer/ harm reduction;

project manager/HIV counseling), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

(national program officer/HIV prevention in penal system), International Charity

Foundation "Steps" (head of therapy programs/addicts rehabilitation). Vsevolod

has a solid expertise in developing educational training programmes and working

as a trainer; project management; conducting needs assessments, field and desk

research; assessment of grant applications; assessment of Harm Reduction.

 

 

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Danny Morris

 

Danny Morris is a consultant and activist in the drugs field. As an experienced

freelance trainer he specialises in approaches that support the delivery of effective

harm reduction interventions with an emphasis on safer injecting practices, BBV

reduction and overdose prevention.

 

He works part time as development manager for an UK NHS drug treatment

service with development responsibility for a range of practical, social care,

health and therapeutic interventions for drug users. He is an associate lecturer

at University of Worcester, UK where he teaches on harm reduction and was

previously a director of the UK Harm Reduction Alliance.