Christopher W. Shea Joins OSI-Baltimore as Tackling Drug Addiction Program Officer

BALTIMORE—Christopher W. Shea, former clinical director of Father Martin’s Ashley, has been named program officer for the Tackling Drug Addiction initiative at the Open Society Institute-Baltimore.

Shea joins OSI-Baltimore as it continues its commitment to providing access to high quality drug addiction treatment to all those who need it. The Tackling Drug Addiction aims to increase the availability of high quality drug addiction treatment for uninsured and underinsured people using a set of integrated strategies, including mobilizing community and business leaders and public policy makers to embrace a public health approach to drug addiction and removing barriers to treatment for those who receive public assistance.

“Christopher Shea has exceptional experience in providing clinical care and advocating for expanded addiction treatment,” said Diana Morris, director of OSI-Baltimore. “Healthcare reform provides us with a unique opportunity to ensure that addiction treatment is readily accessible and becomes more integrated into primary care, building healthier families and communities in the process.  Christopher has the knowledge and skills to help us and the larger community take full advantage of this opportunity.”

Shea, of Towson, spent six years as director of Father Martin’s Ashley, a private, Maryland-based alcoholism and drug addiction treatment center, rounding out his 16 years of work in the addiction field. In his latest position as clinical director, Shea oversaw treatment programs and provided educational lectures to the patient community. He has presented seminars to a wide range of audiences and has been published in medical journals. Currently, Shea is chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence of Maryland (NCADD-MD). He is vice-president of the Maryland affiliate of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) board of directors and serves on the NAADAC Public Policy Committee and the Health Information Policy Board for Maryland. Shea also teaches at Towson University as an adjunct professor in the department of Family Studies and Community Development. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Hyacinth College and a master’s degree from Washington Theological Union.

Shea will work closely with Dr. Kimá Joy Taylor, who continues to be based in the Baltimore office and is now the National Addiction Treatment and Harm Reduction Program Director for the Open Society Foundations. In her new position, Taylor’s work will include overseeing the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative, comprising nine local sites working to expand drug addiction treatment as well as a national campaign. The initiative implements a variety of strategies using advocacy and communications to ensure that high quality treatment is available in local communities for all who seek it.

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The Open Society Institute-Baltimore was started in 1998 by philanthropist George Soros as a laboratory to better understand and solve the most intractable problems facing urban America. OSI-Baltimore is a private operating foundation that focuses its work exclusively on the root causes of three intertwined problems—drug addiction, an over-reliance on incarceration, and the obstacles that keep youth from succeeding inside and outside of the classroom. OSI-Baltimore also sponsors the Baltimore Community Fellows, now over 100 members strong, who work to create opportunity and bring justice to people in the city’s most underserved neighborhoods. The office is part of the Open Society Foundations, which aims to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Working with local communities in more than 70 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education.