Speaker Bios – St. Joseph’s Health Foundation

Mark Rosenberg, DO, MBA, FACEP, FAAHPM

Dr. Mark Rosenberg, DO, MBA, FACEP, FAAHPM, is Chairman of Emergency Medicine at St Joseph’s Health in Paterson, New Jersey, The Emergency Department is one of the nation’s busiest seeing more than 170,000 adult and child visits annually. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine as well as Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Currently, Dr. Rosenberg is a Board Member and Secretary-Treasurer for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and a Board Member and Secretary-Treasurer of Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF). As an innovator, Dr. Rosenberg has created many new and successful innovations such as an Emergency Department Palliative Care program called LSMA, Life Sustaining Management and Alternatives; the first Geriatric Emergency Department and is principal author of the Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines and the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program. He has written many articles and chapters on Emergency Department Innovations and other topics, and has lectured internationally.

In 2014, Dr. Rosenberg developed an Emergency Medicine Acute Pain Management Fellowship program. His first fellow graduated in the spring of 2015. In January of 2016, he opened the nation’s first Alternatives to Opioids Program (ALTO). This is a multidisciplinary, multimodal acute pain management program that not only helps patients with painful conditions without using opioids, but also helps those patients with drug dependency and addiction. He serves on several national task forces for Opioids including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center of Disease Control (CDC), and the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

In July 2018, Dr Rosenberg started another innovative fellowship in ED Mental Health and Addiction.

Alexis M. LaPietra, DO, FACEP

Dr. Alexis LaPietra is the current Chief, Pain Management/Addiction Medicine at St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson, NJ. She is the founder and creator of the Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO ^SM) program and the Chair, Pain Management and Addiction Medicine Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

In 2016 she received the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award from George Washington University Center for Healthcare Innovation and Policy Research as well as the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians Practice Innovation Award. The ALTO^SM program was awarded the NJBIZ Healthcare Heroes Innovation Award for 2017. Dr. LaPietra’s work has been highlighted nationally in The Annals of Emergency Medicine, NPR, NBC, The New York Times, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. Her work was the basis for the “ALTO in the ED Act,” part of the legislation included in the H.R.6- SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act signed into law by President Trump in October 2018.

Leslie DeBlasio, LPC, LCADC, NCC, ACS, CCS, CCTP

Leslie oversees the structure and integration of Eva’s clinical and recovery support services, including substance abuse, mental health counseling, primary medical and psychiatric care, with the goal of offering a “Recovery Oriented System of Care” to the community. Leslie also serves as a Clinical Administrator at Eva’s, overseeing the daily operations and development of programming in Eva’s Halfway House Programs for Women and Mothers with Children; Transitional Housing for Parents; Family Shelter; Outpatient Mental Health Department; and Criminal Justice Department. She has worked in a variety of substance use disorder treatment and mental health settings including OMT, detox, hospital-based access, short-term residential, long-term residential, intensive outpatient, mental health outpatient, psychiatric screening, and JJC evaluation for NCADD. Leslie has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling.

Joseph Rivera, CPRS

Joseph Rivera is a person who is in long term recovery. He works on the front line as a Recovery Specialist in the Opioid Overdose Reversal Program of Passaic County through Eva’s Village, which he considers an honor and a privilege. Joseph is also a full-time student at William Paterson University working towards a Bachelors in Psychology.