Fall 2019 Cohort

Melanie Barker, holds Masters degrees in Social Work and Public Health, with an emphasis on Health Services Administration, graduating with Phi Kappa Phi Honors. She is a licensed clinical social worker, certified Alcohol and Drug Clinical Supervisor, and a California Association of DUI Treatment Programs Certification Board Member. She is the Executive/Clinical Director of the SDSU Center for Alcohol & Drug Studies & Services’ Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Program, where she oversees the clinical and administrative operations.

Ms Barker’s experience includes working for large hospital institutions, including Kaiser Permanente, UCSD, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, as well as small San Diego-based hospices. She has coordinated multidisciplinary statewide trainings in the areas of Family Violence, Substance Abuse, and Forensic Evidentiary Clinical Services. She has experience in bioethics consultation, curriculum development, grants writing, and fundraising. She provides clinical supervision to licensure candidates and has provided Board of Behavioral Sciences pre-licensure training in Substance Use Disorders for the National Association of Social Workers and the Los Angeles Consortium for Children & Families. She has extensive teaching experience with undergraduates and graduate student at the SDSU School of Social Work.

Makaya Funk-White earned both her bachelors and her masters degrees at San Diego State University. During her bachelors, Makaya interned at Stepping Stone, a dual diagnosis rehabilitation facility in San Diego. As she continued her education her interest in studying substance use grew. While completing her masters she began to write a publishable paper on excessive substance use and cognition in older adults. After graduating she began to work full time as a Dementia Care Consultant at Alzheimer’s San Diego furthering her interest in studying the relationship between dementia and substance misuse. Her research interests lie in studying the relationship between dementia and addiction, expanding her knowledge of the brain in the context of addiction, the effectiveness of treatment centers, and policy research.

Garland Gerber earned a B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach and an M.A. from Antioch University, Los Angeles in Clinical Psychology with training emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy and a specialization in Addictive Disorders. She completed her Certification in Addiction Studies, becoming a Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor in California and with specialized training in Biofeedback/Neurofeedback.

Garland strongly believes that Neuroscience should greatly influence Substance Use research and treatment. With over 10 years of professional experience in the Mental Health and Addiction area, she has worked with clients within the Entertainment Industry, as a Recovery Coach and Psychotherapist. She has experience conducting interventions, assessments, groups, teaching psycho-education courses, consulting and counseling sessions. Garland has a strong passion for teaching and delivering presentations to patients, families, students, clinicians and law enforcement on the depths of substance abuse, its effects on society and how to manage interactions in a positive, effective manner. Garland’s research interests include the bio-medical model of addiction, neurological consequences of substance use and utilizing neuro-centered interventions for treatment and recovery.

Kristian Salas earned a B.A. in Clinical psychology from Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior and M.A. in Public Health from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexico. While completing his masters, Kristian was awarded a research training scholarship from the Aids International Training and Research Program (AITRP), results of his AITRP fellowship were published in a scientific publication (Aids and Behavior). He has taught graduate courses in public health at universities in Tijuana, Mexico.

Since the beginning of his undergraduate education, Kristian was involved with substance users and their families, work with patients with HIV with co-occurring addiction to drugs. He has extensive experience working in the areas of harm reduction campaigns, HIV, HVC, and STIs testing programs and research studies. Most recently he was involved in community mobilizations to impact environmental factors associated with substance use in vulnerable communities. His research interests include addressing environmental factors associated with substance use in the LGBTQI community. His long-term goal is to be an applied substance use researcher and professor in the U.S.-Mexico border region.