Keynote Speakers

Brendan Cox

Chief (Ret.) Brendan Cox is the Director of Policing Strategies at the LEAD National Support Bureau where he provides strategic guidance on the implementation of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion/Let Everyone Advance with Dignity to jurisdictions around the world. Brendan was previously employed with the Albany, New York police department where he retired as Chief of Police in 2017. He served in numerous capacities in the Albany police department including overseeing its Special Operations Unit and Children and Family Services Unit. He rose through the ranks to become the Commander of Investigations, Assistant Chief of Operations and Deputy Chief. In July of 2015 he was appointed Chief of Police. In the summer of 2018, Brendan was appointed by New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, to serve as a member of the Workgroup to Draft Legislation for Regulated Adult-Use Marijuana Program.

Brendan has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Dayton and a Master of Public Administration from Marist College. He is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police. He is a member of the New York State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group and an Executive Fellow with the Police Foundation. He is a speaker for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership and a member of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association. He sits on several local board of directors including the Albany Police Athletic League and the LaSalle School of Albany.

Celia Morgan

Celia is a Professor of Psychopharmacology at University of Exeter, UK where she leads the Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Group. She also holds an honorary professorship at University College London and is seconded to Awakn Life Sciences as Head of Ketamine Research. Celia started her professional career as an Assistant psychologist in Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services in Camden, London, then went on to complete a PhD in Clinical Psychology at University College London on the effects of ketamine. She spent some time in Melbourne at the National Neuroscience Facility and at Yale in the Department of Psychiatry before taking up a lectureship at UCL and moving to Exeter and is passionate about working to translate research findings into practise in drug and alcohol services. She has led several clinical trials in drug and alcohol treatments and her current research programme focuses on the potential of pharmacological compounds, particularly psychedelics, in enhancing psychological therapy. 

Najja Morris

Najja Morris-Frazier is the LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) Support Bureau Director. In her current role, Najja is responsible for leading the team which provides technical assistance and support to jurisdictions through all phases of the implementation of their LEAD initiatives both nationally and internationally. Prior to joining the LEAD National Support Bureau, Najja served as a Case Manager, then as Direct Services Supervisor, with the LEAD Pilot program in Seattle WA for over four years.

Before beginning her work with LEAD in 2013, Najja dedicated over 20 years working within the urban areas of Seattle with/on behalf of a wide array of marginalized and disenfranchised communities; including foster-care/homeless youth, those struggling with mental health and substance abuse, chronically ill/homeless and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Najja is the mother of three grown children and grandmother to four granddaughters and currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her wife.

Khylee Quince

Tena koutou katoa – nga mihi nui ki a koutou – warm greetings to you all. Associate Professor Khylee Quince is Dean of the School of Law at the Auckland University of Technology, the first Māori Dean of a law school in Aotearoa. She is from the Ngapuhi, Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungungu iwi/tribes of the North Island. Khylee is a former practising lawyer, with 24 years’ experience as an academic, teaching and researching in the fields of criminal law and justice, with a focus on Māori, youth and female offenders. She is a member of the New Zealand Parole Board, former chair of the New Zealand Drug Foundation and a regular media commentator on legal issues pertaining to Māori.

Annalee Stearne

Annalee Stearne is a Nyungar woman from WA, with connections to Western Australia’s South-west, Pilbara and Kimberley regions. Since 2001, as a researcher Annalee has worked with First Nations Australian communities and organisations in WA, NT, and South Australia. She was awarded the 2012 APSAD First People’s Award. And currently she sits on the boards of NCCRED and a NT-based First Nations Australian Organisation Children’s Ground.

In 2019, supported by the Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol, she commenced a PhD study exploring First Nations Australians’ self-determination in alcohol-related harms in the Northern Territory.

Tim Stockwell

Dr Stockwell is a Scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR) and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Victoria, Canada. He has published over 400 research papers, reports and books on substance use epidemiology and policy. He was a clinician and researcher in the UK before joining Australia’s National Drug Research Institute as Director. Moving to Canada in 2004 he established the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research as a multidisciplinary research enterprise investigating the determinants of harmful substance use and also effective harm reduction strategies. He was a recipient of the international 2013 E.M Jellinek Memorial Award for alcohol research, a recipient of the inaugural national award from Research Canada in 2014 for health research leadership and advocacy and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has two daughters, Caitlin and Matilda, and lives in Victoria with his wife Paula.