Board of Directors

Don Hill

President

Don is JP’s father and JPOIAA’s co-founder. For Don, the loss of his son brought an unspeakable sense of loss and sparked a clarion call to action. Not wanting to see others face the senseless loss of a loved one, he and JP’s mother Karen, put their energy and business acumen into creating an organization that would raising awareness about the opioid epidemic and especially the dangers of combining opioids with other medications

Don has a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish from University of Utah and a Master’s Degree in Business. He is the Director of Global Supply Chain for Brinker International and has over 30 years of supply chain and logistics experience in both domestic and global markets.

Karen Hill

Executive Director

Karen is J.P.'s mother and JPOIAA’s co-founder. The loss of her son created a long, dark shadow over Karen’s life and ignited a passion for helping other families recognize that ending the opioid epidemic begins with understanding the safe use, safe storage and safe disposal of opioid prescriptions.

Karen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Social Sciences from Colorado State University and is a Flight Attendant for Southwest Airlines. For 15 years she owned and operated her own medical billing and scheduling company and prior to that she worked as a unit coordinator in emergency rooms in hospitals in both Colorado and California.

Suzi Stolte

Director of Communications and Marketing

Suzi’s youngest daughter, Heidi, died in May 2011 after taking a prescribed benzodiazepine along with a prescribed opioid. Heidi’s death came only six months before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared opioid deaths an epidemic. The gut-wrenching loss of her daughter—to a problem that she did not know existed—motivated Suzi to learn all she could about the issue and to join the JPOIAA board in order to work with others in Colorado who are speaking out about the opioid crisis. She is also active in the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention where she sits on the Public Awareness workgroup.

A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, Suzi, who is retired, spent over 20 years in communications and public relations. She served as the Associate Vice President of Communications and Public Relations at Pinnacol Assurance, the Director of Communications and Special Events at Bonfils Blood Center Foundation and the Director of Communications and Marketing at the Colorado Association of School Executives.

Anna Allen

Pharm D

Anna Allen, Pharm.D., is a pharmacoeconomics and endocrinology clinical pharmacist at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Allen was the 2016 recipient of the JP Opioid-Interaction Awareness Alliance Scholarship and has remained active in the efforts for the JPOIAA ever since. She received a bachelor’s degree in integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2014, and a Pharm.D. degree at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy in 2018. She then proceeded to complete a general post-graduate pharmacy residency at the VA Northern California Health Care System in Sacramento, CA. With both close friends and family having been directly impacted by the opioid epidemic and substance use disorders, JPOIAA’s mission lies close to her heart. Within her population management role at the VA, she advocates for proper storage, disposal, and prescribing of opioids and medications that have lethal interactions when combined.

Geremi Boom

PharmD

Dr. Geremi Boom is the Emergency Department clinical pharmacist at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, CO and was the first recipient of the JP Opioid-Interaction Awareness Alliance Scholarship, joining the board upon graduation. She attended Northern Arizona University where she received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and later attended the University of Colorado and obtained her doctorate in pharmacy. She has completed a general hospital pharmacy residency in Aurora, CO. Geremi has maintained a special passion for opioid use disorders and continues to be an advocate by promoting safe prescribing practices and medication education within the community.

Dr. Marta J. Brooks

PharmD, MS

Dr. Marta Brooks is currently the Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and an Associate Professor at the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions School of Pharmacy at Regis University. Throughout her career she has advanced patient care by delivering quality healthcare education and communications while attending to the needs of the people who develop them—the academicians, the practicing healthcare professionals and her staff. Her areas of research interest include opioid misuse and abuse, matters of policy and healthcare related to pharmacy, and interprofessional education.

Dr. Brooks attended the University of Connecticut at Storrs where she received undergraduate degrees in pharmacy and nutritional sciences. After a general hospital pharmacy residency, she attended the University of Texas Health Science Center where she received her PharmD and then pursued a specialized Nutrition Support residency at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital. Most recently, she completed a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy with the University of Florida.

With close to 20 years in progressively increasing roles of responsibility for delivering healthcare communications and leading multifunctional teams, Dr. Brooks has collaborated with numerous stakeholders across academia, industry and the healthcare community. Her successful career in corporate and academic environments includes diverse areas of expertise including administration, departmental supervision, P&L management, marketing, scientific content development, project management, and mentoring of staff/teams. Prior to joining the Regis University School of Pharmacy, Dr. Brooks was President of ProEd Communications, Inc.® in Beachwood, Ohio for eight years. Prior to this role she spent 10 years with the Centeon Management Group family of companies, where she held leadership positions in Scientific Affairs, Client Services, and Program Management culminating in President of the Genesis Healthcare division located in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Chris Malarkey

Ph.D.

Chris Malarkey, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Regis University School of Pharmacy. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Loyola University Chicago in 2003 and he received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Loyola University Chicago in 2008. In 2008, he moved to Denver where he began his postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He joined the faculty in the School of Pharmacy at Regis University in 2014. Chris’ research focuses on the role of DNA binding proteins in various disease states and he teaches primarily about diseases related to cardiac, renal, and endocrine systems. Chris first became aware of the JP Opioid Interaction Awareness Alliance through his students who received scholarships from the organization.

Dr. Kevin Patterson

DDS, MD

Dr. Patterson has been practicing oral and maxillofacial surgery in Colorado since 1998 and remains dedicated to the well-being and oral health of all his patients. He has a special interest in providing care for individuals who may not have the means to obtain care in regular clinics. He devotes a significant amount of time providing care for children and adults through organizations such as Kids in Need of Dentistry, Colorado Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped, The Metropolitan Denver Dental Foundation Smile Again Program and The Metropolitan Denver Domestic Violence Program.

Dr. Patterson is a member of the Colorado Dental Association, American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, the Colorado Medical Association, the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology and the Colorado Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons where is past president.

Dr. Patterson received his degree in biology from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1983 and continued his education at the University of Colorado School of Dentistry completing his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree in1989 and a General Practice Residency in 1990. From 1992-1998, he attended the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, completing a six-year residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery. While completing his residency, Dr. Patterson received his Doctor of Medicine Degree in 1996 from Mayo Medical School.

After completing his residency program, Dr. Patterson returned to Colorado to begin practicing as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon as well as becoming an associate professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in the Department of Surgical Dentistry and the General Practice Residency Program.

Dominique Ruiz

Dominique is a Colorado Certified Public Accountant with over five years of public accounting experience in Denver, Colorado. She attended Northern Arizona University where she received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and later attended the University of Arizona where she earned her master’s degree in Accountancy. Previously Dominique worked at Deloitte and Touché and she currently is working at Western Union as a Financial Reporting Manager. Dominique is thrilled to be working with JPOIAA because it has been a professional goal of hers to be involved with nonprofit work.

Robert J. Valuck

PhD, RPh, FNAP

Robert J. Valuck is a Professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy, Epidemiology, and Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Schools of Pharmacy, Public Health, and Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Dr. Valuck is Director of the Center for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, a campus wide effort involving all health professional schools, colleges, and programs. The Center develops and implements policies, programs and partnerships to prevent substance use disorders, improve the delivery of medical care for pain and substance use disorders, promotes harm reduction strategies, and increase access to treatment and recovery support services for Colorado citizens. The community engagement core of the Center, the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, has gained recognition as a model for the development of collaborative, coordinated responses to the opioid overdose epidemic in the United States.