Polly Faust, joined the New York/New Jersey HIDTA and CDC Foundation Overdose Response Strategy in May after two years at the Office of Drug User Health of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. As ORS Public Health Analyst, Polly will work with the Office of Drug User Health and the Office of the County Medical Examiner of New York City, where Polly was born and raised. Polly holds a BA in English and Russian Literature from the University of Chicago and a Master of Public Health with a specialization in Maternal, Child, Reproductive and Sexual Health from the City University of New York School of Public Health. She has over twelve years of experience in reproductive health, rights, and justice activism in New York City and Chicago. On evenings and weekends, she is a visual artist and musician.

Shannon Oberlin joined Bismarck HIDTA as the DIO in May 2021 following a 10-year career as a Naval Cryptologic Technician specializing in intelligence analysis for Pacific Fleet. Shannon comes to the North Dakota HIDTA with a diverse background in Homeland Security, cyber forensics, toxicology, and linguistics. She dedicated her military career to building Tenth Fleet’s cryptologic warfare groups and cyber mission teams out of Hawai’i as both a tactical targeting specialist and instructor. Her current studies have focused on drug trafficking out of Asia and the online world of human trafficking while working on a master’s in Forensic Sciences at Emporia State University.  Shannon hopes this skillset can provide a unique perspective as North Dakota’s DIO and looks forward to collaborating with the team. In her free time, Shannon enjoys the outdoors with her pups and playing video games with her beloved husband MA2 Brian Oberlin, who is currently deployed.

Wyoming DIO Casey Patterson recently retired as a detective with the Cheyenne, Wyoming Police Department, after serving with that agency for over 15 years. Prior to that, he served as a deputy sheriff with the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, also in Wyoming. Casey also served as a corrections officer with the Tennessee Department of Corrections and the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office in Nashville. As a police officer, Casey held collateral duties as a crisis/hostage negotiator, a field training officer, firearms instructor, an operator with the regional SWAT team, and was a member of the Cheyenne Area Gang Enforcement team, or CAGE. During his tenure as a police detective, Casey learned to rely on intelligence and the value it brings to large, multijurisdictional investigations. Casey lives in Cheyenne with his wife, Theresa, who is a deputy coroner with the Laramie County Coroner’s office, the busiest office in the state. Casey and Theresa have four children, Audrey, who is a police officer with Cheyenne PD, Allan, who works as a security officer for Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Andrew, who starts college in the fall, and Kasey, who is starting his senior year of high school in August. Casey also has a grandson, Dean, who enjoys weekends with Grandma and Grandpa. Casey is a self-proclaimed shady-tree mechanic and enjoys spending time with family while exploring the great outdoors.

Doug Poole joined the Gulf Coast HIDTA as the ORS Analyst for the State of Alabama in May 2021. Doug retired as the Chief of Intelligence, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in September 2018 after 35 years of Federal government service, including six years in the U.S. Navy. As Chief of Intelligence he directed DEA’s world-wide Intelligence Program, including the El Paso Intelligence Center. Doug also was the DEA Senior Officer to the United States Intelligence Community and the senior DEA representative to the Five Eyes (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) Law Enforcement Group as well as to various State and Local law enforcement committees. Doug’s previous DEA assignments including serving as the Atlanta HIDTA Intelligence Supervisor from 2000-2003. Throughout his career Doug worked with many partners from state, local and tribal law enforcement on strategic intelligence projects, information sharing, and deconfliction efforts and looks forward to continuing to find ways to better share information and coordinate across communities. Prior to joining DEA, Doug worked for the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the Naval Research Laboratory on engineering research projects; and in sales and marketing for corporations in the technology/industrial arena. He has a Master of Arts in International Relations, as well as a Bachelor of General Studies in General Engineering Technology, with a minor in Global Affairs, both from the University of Maryland at College Park. Mr. Poole is a member of the US Naval Academy Class of 1980. Doug currently lives in Montgomery, Al and has three kids – two in VA and the youngest soon to graduate from Auburn University (War Eagle!) – and will soon welcome his first grandchild.

Brenda is a native of Missouri and joined the Midwest HIDTA as Missouri’s Public Health Analyst in early June. Prior to taking the PHA position, she was the Director of a statewide substance use recovery advocacy organization and also served as the Diversion Outreach Coordinator for the DEA St. Louis Field Division. Brenda brings with her to this job a tremendous amount of knowledge, skill and experience working with behavioral health and public safety partners. She has served on many statewide committees to identify and provide recommendations for improving state programs for the prevention, treatment and recovery from substance use disorders, including the expansion of access to prevention, treatment and recovery services. She helped support the creation and funding of recovery community centers across the state and helped design interventions to connect people who use drugs to care, treatment and recovery support services. She provided OEND training and distributed naloxone statewide. She advocated and educated policy makers on the importance of good public policy, such as the Good Sam law and the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which finally was signed into law a few weeks ago (Missouri was the LAST state to pass a PDMP!) Brenda has been successful engaging stakeholders in strategic partnerships at the local, state and national levels to promote recovery efforts, reduce overdoses, and save lives. Outside of work, Brenda loves spending time with her family and friends, serves on a recovery ministry nonprofit Board of Directors, is on a bowling league, tries to golf, and loves boating.