Executive Director
Jodi Manz, MSW
Jodi leads operations of the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction. Prior to her role with the Center, Jodi was the Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Clear Bell Solutions, providing consulting services on behavioral health policy, payment, and practice. Jodi was previously the Director for Behavioral Health, Aging, and Disability at the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), working with state leaders to design policy solutions to complex healthcare delivery challenges. Jodi also served as Virginia’s Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Resources under two consecutive governors. As Assistant Secretary, Jodi coordinated and led the state’s comprehensive opioid and substance use disorder response, using legislative, regulatory, and budgetary levers to address the overdose crisis across state agencies and secretariats. She also oversaw outreach and implementation efforts for Virginia’s federally facilitated healthcare marketplace as part of the state’s Affordable Care Act implementation. With this background in state government and health policy analysis, she has worked across systems to transform opioid and substance use disorder policy, Medicaid payment approaches, and behavioral health system design. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and a Master of Social Work Administration, Planning, and Public Policy, both from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Institutional Partners
Christina Andrews, PhD
Associate Professor, University of South Carolina (USC)
Dr. Andrews is an experienced researcher whose work focuses on the impact of the organization and financing of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment on service access, with a particular focus on public insurance coverage for SUDs. She is currently Principal Investigator on two grants assessing the effects of Medicaid managed care on access to alcohol use and opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment. Dr. Andrews is also a Co- Investigator on two additional NIDA-funded projects: a survey of Medicaid coverage for OUD treatment, and a study of financing for OUD treatment within the criminal justice system as part of NIDA’s Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network initiative. In collaboration with DAODAS, she recently led a project assessing an alternative payment model for financing OUD treatment in the state funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Her work has been published in scientific journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and the American Journal of Public Health. In 2016, she received the Breakthrough Star Award, presented annually for research excellence by the USC Office of the Vice President for Research. She currently serves as Deputy Regional Editor for the Americas for Addiction, the leading journal in the field of addiction treatment, and was appointed to the Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis in 2020. She will coordinate Center of Excellence activities on the USC campus, providing a liaison with the BDHSC, serving as the USC Representative to the Leadership Team, and serving on the Center Steering Committee.
Kathleen Brady, MD, PhD
Distinguished University Professor, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
Director, South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute
Dr. Brady is an experienced clinical and translational researcher and has been conducting scientific investigations and clinical work in the field of addictions and psychiatric disorders for over 30 years. Her research focuses on pharmacotherapy of SUDs, comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and addictions, and women’s issues in addictions. She has received numerous federal research grants and has published over 400 peer-reviewed journal articles and co-edited 10 books focused on addictions. She has collaborated with South Carolina state agencies to bring innovative treatments to front-line setting throughout her career. In 2021, she won the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science for her ongoing collaborative efforts using evidence-based practices to address the opioid epidemic. She is the former Vice President for Research at MUSC and the Director of the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute, making her very familiar with leading large, collaborative, statewide and national initiatives. Dr. Brady will coordinate COE activities on the MUSC campus, serve as the MUSC Representative to the Leadership Team, and serve on the Steering Committee.
Sara Goldsby, MSW, MPH
Director, S.C. Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services
Ms. Goldsby was confirmed as Director of DAODAS by the S.C. Senate in February 2018, after being appointed Acting Director by Governor Nikki Haley in August 2016, then nominated as Director by Governor Henry McMaster in May 2017. As Director, she has led South Carolina’s response to the opioid crisis and currently serves as co-chair of the State Opioid Emergency Response Team. Under her leadership, DAODAS has been instrumental in implementing many substance use prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery strategies statewide. In 2019, Director Goldsby was recipient of the national Ramstad/Kennedy Award in recognition of her leadership and support of recovery programming. She currently serves on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Interdepartmental Substance Use Disorders Coordinating Committee, and on the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Substance Use Advisory Council. In 2021, Ms. Goldsby was elected President of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors. Her agency will house the COE infrastructure, and Ms. Goldsby will serve on the COE Steering Committee.
Alain Harris Litwin, MD, MPH
Professor, Clemson University School of Health Research, University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Executive Director, Addiction Medicine Center, Prisma Health
Vice Chair of Academics and Research, Department of Medicine, Prisma Health – Upstate
Dr. Alain Litwin is the Vice Chair of Academics and Research in the Department of Medicine at Prisma Health and University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Greenville where he leads the training and research programs across 19 divisions. Dr. Litwin is Professor of Medicine at University of South Carolina and Professor of Psychology at Clemson University and serves as the Executive Director of the Prisma Health Addiction Medicine Center and Co-Director of the Clemson Center for Addiction and Mental Health Research. He is board certified in addiction medicine and internal medicine and has been providing substance use disorder and medical care (including HIV and HCV care) to people with substance use disorders and complex social, psychiatric, and medical needs within integrated primary care and substance use treatment programs for 20 years. With funding (> 50 million dollars) from National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Bureau of Justice (BOJ), Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), New York City (NYCDOHMH), New York State (NYS), South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Services (DAODAS), SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare, South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund (SCORF) and industry, his research, clinical and mentoring activities focus on developing and studying models of care for patients with substance use disorders. He co-leads the Opioid Council for Prisma Health, the largest health system in South Carolina, and oversee taskforces focused on opioid stewardship, pain management, and addiction treatment. He serves on SC’s Governor’s Opioid Task Force and co-leads the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction. He leads an early career NIH research accelerator program, and has an extensive history of mentoring, leading to 11 career development awards and 9 R01s, and served as the Principal Mentor on three NIDA career development awards and Co-Mentor on two additional NIDA/NIMH awards. Dr. Litwin is an expert in conducting stakeholder-engaged and informed research including engaging people actively using drugs and is the Principal Investigator of PCORI-funded HERO national trial which has 8 local stakeholder groups across 8 states and 1 national stakeholder group. He is leading or collaborating on 5 current NIH trials that focus on peer recovery support specialists. Dr. Litwin is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Health Innovators Fellowship and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He will coordinate COE activities on the Clemson campus, serve as the Clemson Representative to the Leadership Team, and serve on the Steering Committee.
Edward Simmer, MD, MPH, DFAPA
Director, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC)
Dr. Simmer was confirmed as Director of DHEC by the S.C. Board of Health and Environmental Control in February 2021. As Director, he leads the agency’s response to COVID-19 and is now leading efforts to eliminate health and environmental disparities across South Carolina. His agency is responsible for the state’s prescription management program, licensing for controlled substance prescribing, making naloxone available to first responders, and also providing opioid overdose kits through health departments in every county. Dr. Simmer is a board-certified adult and forensic psychiatrist and has experience leading a medication-assisted therapy clinic for those with OUD. Prior to being confirmed as DHEC Director, Dr. Simmer served for over 30 years on active duty in the U.S. Navy. In his most recent assignment, he served as the first Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for the TRICARE Health Plan at the Defense Health Agency in Falls Church, Va. Dr. Simmer will serve on the COE Steering Committee.
