Overview

June 21

The opioid crisis is shifting, not ending. The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics estimated that more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States between April 2020 to April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the same period the year before. As states continue to clamp down on abuse of legal prescriptions, the prevalence and variety of opioids and other illegal drugs continues to grow. These drugs and associated drug incident data pose increased challenges for public safety and public health agencies alike. Some states and localities are successfully using data analytics and dashboards to combat the opioid crisis – linking public health and public safety data to gain understanding and inform operational and policy decisions.

To better understand how evidence-based decision-making can transform the public health response to opioids and other drugs, Governing and SAS are hosting a 30-minute webinar on this vital topic on June 21 at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern.

Whether you're a health and human services leader, a law enforcement official, or an IT strategist, this webcast will be an important opportunity to understand how better data and analytics can be used in the fight against opioids.

Speakers

Shaun Barry

Global Director, Fraud & Security Intelligence Division, SAS

Shaun Barry is a renowned expert in fraud and integrity, with a specific focus on government and healthcare. Shaun has worked globally with governments (central, state/provincial, and local levels), healthcare payers, and other organizations for 25 years to foster innovation and efficiency. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, and he has testified before legislative bodies for numerous governments. Shaun has also served on advisory boards that provide citizen oversight to the US Internal Revenue Service. Presently, he oversees a team of 25 experts who use data and analytics to help government and healthcare organizations work better. Prior to joining SAS, Shaun was the Global Fraud Solutions Executive for one of the world’s largest technology firms. In this capacity, he led a global team of fraud and technology experts to implement anti-fraud solutions for both public and private sector organizations. He also has worked as a public servant for US state government agencies in Ohio and South Carolina. For the state of Ohio, he served as the top aide to Tax Commissioner Roger Tracy and was responsible for replacing the IT systems that supported the Department of Taxation. Shaun holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Public Policy degree from Duke University. He and his wife Kristen have two children and reside in New York.

Juan Colon

National Director of Opioids and Illegal Drug Solutions, SAS

Juan Colon is the National Director of Opioids and Illegal Drug Solutions for the SAS Institute. He serves as an industry consultant responsible for pre-sales functions for the Law Enforcement Solutions Product Line in the Americas and the Caribbean. He facilitates the development of various technologies around public safety matters such as the opioid crisis, gangs, homeland security, and police reform. This includes the development of marketing material and thought leadership communications related to public safety. Prior to joining SAS, Colon retired in 2018 at the rank of Major after serving 25 years with the New Jersey State Police. Throughout his career, Colon served in several assignments including New Jersey Attorney General’s law enforcement drug policy advisor, fusion center commander, intelligence officer, gang expert, and drug interdiction officer. Through these experiences, he gained insights into the challenges that fusion center face in meeting their homeland/hometown security missions, law enforcement and public health information security and handling regulations and practices, interoperability, requirements management, intelligence production, and how to leverage data to support field operations as well as policy development at all levels of government. Colon’s experience enables him to ensure that SAS’s technologies are developed to meet the various public safety and homeland security demands.

Otto Doll — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

As the Minneapolis CIO for seven-plus years, Mr. Doll was responsible for all city IT services. He also served as South Dakota's CIO for 15 years with responsibility for all state government computing, telecommunications, radio, and public broadcasting. While with IT research firms, Mr. Doll has advised Fortune 1000, federal, state, and local government CIOs on information technology assessment and alignment to business needs. He has served as a director with the United States General Services Administration, developing information technology strategic plans and oversight policy. Mr. Doll received his computer science degree from Virginia Tech and is a senior executive fellow of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a past president of NASCIO — a national organization of state CIOs. He also is a past president of the Metropolitan Information Exchange (MIX) — a national organization of city and county CIOs. Mr. Doll was named to Government Technology's 2004 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers.

Webinar

How Can Data Help Fight America's Continuing Opioid Crisis?