Scott Nolen has been named Director of the Drug Addiction Treatment program at the Open Society Institute-Baltimore. Nolen is an attorney who has worked on health disparity issues at the National Institutes of Health and holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
Nolen joins OSI-Baltimore as it continues its commitment to providing access to high-quality drug addiction treatment to all those who need it. The program aims to increase the availability of such treatment for uninsured and underinsured people, in Baltimore and across the state. It uses a multi-pronged, strategic approach that includes building on opportunities created as a result of health care reform, supporting the availability of addiction services not covered by health care reform, decreasing the harms of drug use, creating access to innovative treatment that has been used effectively elsewhere, and reducing the stigma associated with addiction.
Nolen has held a variety of research, legislative and advocacy positions in the public health and juvenile and criminal justice fields. Most recently, he worked as a health scientist in the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Strategic Planning, Legislation and Scientific Policy. As a part of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, Nolen led a project focused on driving the national discussion on health disparities. Prior to that, Nolen was the Director of the Equal Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, which allowed the health care and criminal justice advocate to combine his legal training with his background in social science research.
From 2008 to 2009, Nolen served as a Congressional Fellow focusing on health care for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As a Child Psychology Fellow for the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Nolen conducted and published research on mental health and juvenile justice issues and led probation officer training on identifying suicidal youth. And as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital Adolescent Medicine Clinic, Nolen provided mental health services to youth in schools, emergency rooms and outpatient clinics.
Nolen holds a law degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duke University.
