Josh Blum (he) treats clients with substance use disorders at Denver Health.  He loves hearing each patient’s unique story and cheering them on towards triumph, and is driven by the belief that no individual is beyond hope or redemption.  He is grateful to work alongside such committed, devoted, and talented colleagues, and is devoted to provider education. Dr. Blum was drum major of his high school marching band. The clear organization and structure of the band left him woefully unprepared for leading a department of behavioral health clinicians.

John Mills (he/him/his) leads project planning and implementation with CAM Academy. He considers himself somewhat of a weaver, piecing together different ideas, partners, and systems into one unique deliverable to achieve a specific goal. His commitment to Racial Equity has always been a part of his life, now he simply has the tools to name and promote it. His ability to connect with people from all disciplines within the healthcare workforce drives his work. Outside of CAM Academy, he enjoys spending time playing uncle to his nieces and nephews, hanging out with friends, and concert going around town. If he could be anything in the world it would be a Zookeeper, minus picking up the poo!

Judy Shlay (she, her, hers) is the Associate Director of the Public Health Institute at Denver Health and the Medical Director of the Center for Addiction Medicine (CAM). Her passion is to ensure that the work of CAM is operationalized at Denver Health and the learnings from the organization are shared with others locally, regionally, and nationally. Becoming a physician has been a tremendous accomplishment. Additionally, Judy is very proud of leading the HIV prenatal program at Denver Health where no baby has been perinatally infected with HIV. Judy likes to work collectively with others to solve problems and improve processes. She has a strong believe that we must always give each person the benefit of the doubt and that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. If she wasn’t doing her current job, she would be a park ranger because she loves the outdoors and wants to share that feeling with others.

Brooke Bender (she/her/hers) leads the Center for Addiction Medicine and its Academy in strategy, implementation, and sustainability. Brooke also leads the PRIDE Employee Resource Group at Denver Health to advocate for LGBTQ+ staff.  She strives for justice, innovation, and excellence by modeling transparency, collaboration, patience, reflection, and learning. Her favorite aspect of her job is hearing from community members how her efforts benefit people from marginalized communities. Volunteering in the Peace Corps in South Africa from 2003-2005 changed Brooke’s life and taught her many lessons and led her to do the community-based community-led programmatic work she loves doing today. In her free time, Brooke enjoys going to the mountains, snuggling her dogs, practicing yoga, connecting with people, and laughing – all of which feeds her soul.

Helen Burnside (she/her/hers) is honored to provide programmatic oversight of the Denver Prevention Training Center’s training and technical assistance programs and guidance to its program managers. Helen started her second career with a master’s degree in Community Health after reading Paul Farmer’s Mountains Beyond Mountains in Bolivia and has focused her work on HIV and STI prevention ever since. Helen is committed to advancing racial equity in health systems and believes that we can end the HIV epidemic by creating brave spaces for communities and healthcare providers to plan prevention strategies. She enjoys the people and the dynamic, changing nature of her work. Helen appreciates that she can solve complex problems by talking to her backyard bees, or hiking in the Flatirons, and still dreams of being a backup singer in a female jazz band.