Perspectives from the Front Lines of Massachusetts’ Opioid Battle

William N. Brownsberger
Massachusetts State Senator,
Second Suffolk and Middlesex Counties
Dr. Mark Eisenberg
Primary Care Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
Advocate for Safe Injection Facilities
Harvard Medical School ‘80
Alex Hogan
Multimedia Journalist, STAT News
Documentary Filmmaker, “Runnin”
Sheila Burke (Moderator)
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS
Executive Dean, HKS (1996-2000)
Chief of Staff, Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (1985-1996)

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Will Brownsberger is the State Senator for the 2nd Suffolk & Middlesex District, representing Belmont, Watertown, and parts of Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, and Fenway, and has served as Senate chair of the Joint Judiciary Committee since 2014. Prior to his 2011 senate election, Will served as State Representative for the 24th Middlesex District for five years, and before that, as a Belmont Selectman for three terms. From 1992 – 1998, Will served as a Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General under Scott Harshbarger, working as Asset Forfeiture Chief in the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division, and as Deputy Chief Prosecutor in the Public Protection Bureau. In 2001, Will became a defense attorney in private practice, doing a high volume of court appointed criminal defense work. While serving as Assistant Attorney General and through his years as a Selectman, Will taught, consulted, and conducted research on criminal justice issues, holding positions at Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions, Boston University School of Public Health’s Join Together Program, the Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Drugs and Crime, and Harvard’s Interdisciplinary Working Group on Drugs and Addictions.

Dr. Eisenberg is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Harvard Medical School. He performed his clinical training in primary care internal medicine at the University of Rochester and in infectious diseases at Stanford Medical Center.
He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an internist at MGH-Charlestown Health Care Center where he practices primary care, HIV care, and the treatment of patients with substance use disorder. He was the HMS nominee for the  2007 AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award and received the 2015 HMS Charles McCabe Faculty Prize for excellence in teaching. His current focus is on harm reduction including overdose prevention, expansion of treatment for opioid addiction and advocating for the opening of safe consumption spaces for people who use drugs.

Multimedia Journalist Alex Hogan conceptualizes and executes animations and dynamic visuals. Alex previously worked as a motion designer and animator at two of Boston's premier design studios, Powderhouse Productions and Neoscape. Alex enjoys traveling, reading, burritos, the Boston Bruins, tiki drinks, early-mid 1990s hip-hop, skiing, skating, and ice hockey.

Sheila P. Burke is Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy. She served as Executive Dean of the school from 1996-2000. Previously she had been Chief of Staff to former senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (1985-1996), a professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Finance (1979-1982), and Deputy Staff Director of that committee (1982 to 1985). She is a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Academy of Nursing. She serves on the adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and is a Distinguished Visitor at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown Law Center. She serves on several boards including the Kaiser Commission on the Future of Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Partnership for Public Service, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. She served as a member of the Medicaid Payment Advisory Commission 2000-2007, the Kaiser Family Foundation 1999-2008. Burke, who also serves as a Senior Public Policy Advisor at Baker Donelson in Washington DC, is married and has three children. Burke holds an MPA from the Kennedy School, a BS in nursing from the University of San Francisco, and worked as a staff nurse in Berkeley, California.