Stader Opioid
Consultants, LLC
Stader Opioid Consultants, LLC focuses on helping clinicians, hospitals, quality improvement organizations and government agencies address the opioid epidemic through the adoption of innovative clinical practices and intelligent policy to improve quality of care, health equity and population outcomes.
What We Do
Previous Work
POLICIES, GUIDELINES & OTHER WRITING
PODCASTS, VIDEOS & OTHER WEBSITES
News & Media Coverage
OUR TEAM
We are medical professionals striving to leave a positive impact on our community and our country
DON STADER, MD FACEP
Don Stader, MD FACEP is a board certified emergency and addiction medicine physician, opioid expert, film producer & social entrepreneur. Don works at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO where he served as section chair of emergency medicine and associate ED medical director prior to focusing on medical consulting. Don holds a medical degree with honors from Baylor College of Medicine and attended emergency medicine residency at Carolinas Medical Center. He is the Medical Director of the Compass Opioid Stewardship Program, a nationwide initiative to improve pain control, prescribing habits, addiction treatment and opioid stewardship for primary care clinicians. Don is also the founder and chair of the Colorado Naloxone Project one of the most ambitious national efforts to engage hospitals and clinicians in opioid overdose risk recognition, education and naloxone dispensing. As of March 2022, the project has engaged over 107 hospitals and distributed over 10,000 doses of naloxone.
Don is a recognized physician leader as is the Past President of the Colorado chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (COACEP) and former President of the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA). He is the founder and past chair of Colorado ACEP's Opioid Task Force, the Editor-in-Chief of COACEP's 2017 Opioid Prescribing & Treatment Guidelines and the CO's CURE’s guidelines on pain control and opioid stewardship. Don served for over 2 years as the Senior Pain Management & Opioid Policy Physician Adviser for the Colorado Hospital Association and serves on multiple national and local committees addressing the opioid epidemic in Colorado and across the nation, he is the current chair of ACEP’s Pain & Addiction Management Section.
He is the founder and president of Stader Opioid Consulting, a company that provides opioid and ALTO related education, policy and quality improvement services to hospitals, government organizations and physician groups. He is a well known national lecturer on the opioid epidemic, emergency department pain control, opioid stewardship, treatment of chronic and acute pain, opioid use disorders, medication for addiction treatment and harm reduction.
In addition to medicine, he works as a film producer & creative. He was the creative force behind the Emmy winning documentary 24|7|365 - The Evolution of Emergency Medicine. His 2nd film Palliative has won the audience award for short documentary at the Denver Film Festival and was recut in partnership with the NYTimes into Dying in your Mother’s arms, a film that garnered multiple awards and a national Emmy nomination. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of ACEP's 50th Anniversary Book Bring EM' ALL: Chaos. Care. Stories from Medicine's Front Lines. He is the founder and chair emeritus of the nonprofit, The Emergency Medical Minute which provides free online emergency medical education via podcasts and video. Don enjoys bringing his talents in film production, writing and podcast production into his work as an educator and consultant.
He lives with his wife Andi and their three daughters Josiphine, Audrey & Morgan in Denver, Colorado.
BRIANNA M. MCQUADE
CLINICAL PHARMACIST
Brianna M. McQuade, PharmD, BCACP, MHPE is a clinical pharmacist at Mile Square Health Center at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UI Health) in Chicago, IL. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy. She received her PharmD in 2013 from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and completed both a residency specializing in ambulatory care at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC and an academic and family medicine research fellowship at UIC. In 2020 she obtained her Masters in Health Professions Education through the UIC College of Medicine Department of Medical Education. Her current clinical practice focuses on the interprofessional approach to managing patients with complex primary care needs and concurrent substance use disorders. She brings her pharmacotherapy and interprofessional education expertise to Stader Opioid Consultants. In her free time, she enjoys playing kickball in the summer, binging culturally relevant TV shows in the winter, and exploring Chicago food and culture year round. She lives with her partner, Matt, and their dog Marty in Old Town, Chicago.
RACHAEL DUNCAN
CLINICAL PHARMACIST
Rachael Duncan, PharmD BCPS BCCCP is a critical care and ED pharmacist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood Colorado. She also staffs both the in- and out-patient pharmacies at Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Salida Colorado. She earned her PharmD from Ohio Northern University in 2011 and completed a critical care residency at Duke University Hospital in 2013. She is the author and editor of multiple state- and nation-wide opioid stewardship and ALTO guidelines, championed the nations’ 2nd ED ALTO program, and published the first peer-reviewed paper on ALTOs in the ED. Rachael is Co-Chair of the Colorado chapter of The Naloxone Project, including the new MOMs (Maternal Overdose Matters) Initiative, focused on overdose education and providing naloxone directly to at-risk moms and families. In addition, she is Project Director of MOMs+, helping birthing hospitals provide treatment and connection to long term recovery to patients and families affected by substance use disorder. In her other consulting work with Stader Opioid Consultants, she works on the CMS-funded Compass Opioid Stewardship Program where she creates educational content and provides coaching and chart review for primary care providers across the nation that manage a large caseload of patients on chronic opioid therapy and/or with opioid use disorder. As a pharmacist consultant, she continues to be a passionate advocate for safer analgesia and expanding access to treatment of substance use disorders. Rachael lives in Salida, Colorado with her husband and two young sons where they enjoy biking, rafting, and skiing.
SARAH CHRISTIANSEN
PHYSICIAN CONSULTANT
Dr. Sarah Christensen is a board-certified Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician practicing primary care at Denver Health Hospital in Denver, CO where she also serves as the Physician Lead of the Provider Communication Group and the Senior Resident Clinic Director for GIM. Dr. Christensen has long been invested in resident education, serving as Core Faculty in the University of Colorado Internal Medicine Residency program and winning teaching awards from students, residents and faculty colleagues. Her interest in addiction medicine has led her to create a dedicated Opioid Use Disorder clinic within her multi-provider primary care clinic, crafting resident and student education around addiction medicine, and culminating in Addiction Board Certification through the practice pathway. Perhaps her strongest passion lies in provider wellness and burnout prevention. For this Dr. Christensen volunteers her time as a RESTORE Peer Responder providing psychological first aid for healthcare providers 24-7. She also serves as a Balint Group leader within her institution, addressing the social-emotional needs of healthcare providers in a structured group setting. Dr. Christensen received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine Residency at University of Colorado. Outside of work she enjoys the good life in Colorado with her husband and two daughters.
MELLIE RYAN
PROJECT MANAGER
Mellie Ryan is a registered nurse and project manager. Originally from the Wilmington, Delaware area, she moved west to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder. After receiving her BA in Physiology, she earned a Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Colorado. Mellie has spent her career in public health, starting with providing family planning services at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. She then spent two wonderful years in Hawaii working with perinatal patients at Malama I Ke Ola, the Community Clinic of Maui. In 2020, she returned home to Colorado and began working for Clinica Family Health in a homeless outreach position, providing care to unhoused individuals in the community and local shelters. Prior to joining Stader Opioid Consultants, Mellie held a project manager role at Clinica, running cross-functional quality and process improvement projects for the organization. She has worked with individuals with substance use disorders in many of her nursing roles, providing harm reduction education, coordinating care with multi-disciplinary teams, and administering medication for addiction treatment. Along with her nursing experience, Mellie brings a passion for public health and an enthusiasm to learn more about addiction medicine. She will support many of SOC’s programs with a focus on projects in our Eastern Colorado communities. Mellie lives outside of Boulder with her lovely husband, adorable son and beloved dog. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, snowboarding and cooking for her loved ones.
CHARLEEN MELTON
CLINICAL PHARMACIST
Charleen Melton, PharmD BCCCP is an emergency medicine and critical care clinical pharmacist based out of the Charlotte, North Carolina area. She earned a BS in Biology from North Carolina State University in 2011, her PharmD from Wingate University and then completed residency specializing in emergency medicine. After graduation from residency, she moved to Denver, Colorado where she worked at Swedish Medical Center as an emergency medicine pharmacist and also began working at Stader Opioid Consultants. She has been instrumental in implementing ALTO, opioid stewardship practices and harm reduction strategies into health care systems state-wide. Her other consultant contributions include her role as section editor in the 2020 Opioid Prescribing and Treatment Guidelines and creating educational content for the Compass Opioid Stewardship Program. Charleen moved back to North Carolina in 2021 where she currently works as a clinical pharmacist at Caromont Regional Medical Center. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants and spending time outdoors with her husband, Chris, and dog, Bentley.
JOSHUA BLUM
PHYSICIAN CONSULTANT
Dr. Blum is a board-certified internist and addiction medicine physician at Denver Health and Hospital Authority in Denver, CO, where he serves as the director of outpatient substance use disorder treatment. As an institutional quality officer, he leads initiatives on pain and opioid management and chairs Denver Health’s pharmacy and therapeutics committee. He is the immediate past president of the Colorado chapter the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and co-chair of the Provider Education Workgroup at the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. He also serves on the boards of the Colorado Pain Society and the Harm Reduction Action Center. Dr. Blum attended Dartmouth College and the University of Southern California School of Medicine before completing his medicine residency at the University of Colorado.
KAYLIN KLIE
PHYSICIAN CONSULTANT
Dr Kaylin Klie is a Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician with special interest and expertise in the care of pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders. Dr Klie has developed two integrated clinics for pregnant people to receive medical care and substance use support, at Denver Health and at the University of Colorado Anschutz campus. Dr Klie is the immediate past co-chair of and continue to serve on the Colorado Maternal Mortality Review Committee, as expert faculty in perinatal addiction medicine for CPCQC, and as a steering committee member for SuPPoRT Colorado. Dr Klie serves as the Program Director for the University of Colorado Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and enjoys teaching and mentoring students, residents, and fellows in caring for people impacted by substance use. She is thrilled to join The Naloxone Project as a board member and the Colorado Naloxone Project MOMs Initiative.
SUSAN BRADLEY
CLINICAL PHARMACIST
Susan Bradley, PharmD, JM, is a clinical pharmacist based out of the Northern, New York area. She earned her PharmD degree from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2014, and received her Juris Master degree with a concentration in Healthcare Regulation in 2024, from Florida State University College of Law. Her clinical practice is through Rochester Regional Health. She has extensive experience with pharmacy leadership, clinical project development, regulatory compliance, accreditation, policy writing and systemization. Susan holds certificates in pain management and emergency medicine through ASHP. In 2019 she completed a Healthcare Leadership Advancement program through Cornell University, which included a capstone project on Expanding Pharmacist Services to the Emergency Department of a rural critical access facility. She has worked with substance use disorder patients within the emergency department and inpatient withdrawal management (“detox”), as well as supported outpatient settings. Susan is experienced in developing order sets for substance use disorders, leading an opiate stewardship program and writing ALTO guidelines for the emergency department. Her career aspirations include a strong focus on health systems and improving population health, through clinical consulting and legislative reform. In her free time, Susan loves spending time with her husband, Chris, and young daughters, Amelia and Abigail. They enjoy boating and jet-skiing in the 1000 islands region where they live, as well as traveling whenever they have the opportunity!
ALEXANDRA MANNERINGS
DIRECTOR OF DATA AND ANALYTICS
Alexandra Mannerings is a self-styled "scientist who works with data" who combines the wisdom of humans with the power of analytics to amplify the impacts of community organizations. She earned her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Cambridge, UK, studying emerging infectious diseases in Ghana. Her work as a research scientist across three continents has helped her learn how to ask impactful questions even with limited resources. She is also deeply passionate about helping each of us learn the data conversancy skills we need to be comfortable navigating a world dominated by flying numbers and oft-quoted but poorly explained statistics. Among other previous roles, she worked for the Colorado Hospital Association as their Director of Analytics, where she also helped designed the hospital analytics portal ODHIN. Alexandra is also currently an adjunct professor at Regis University at the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions. If she's not data wrangling or teaching, then she's likely working on her family's small farm or cleaning up after her two young children.
SEAN BUCK
PHYSICIAN CONSULTANT
Sean Buck, MD works as a hospitalist and addiction medicine physician in rural eastern Colorado and in the Denver-metro area. He is the Director of Inpatient Services and the Addiction Medicine and Pain Clinic at Lincoln Health in Hugo, Colorado. He attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin and completed family medicine residency at Denver Health in Denver, Colorado in 2021, where he was recognized as Chief Resident. He continues to volunteer as a physician and a board member with the Moab Free Health Clinic. In his free time, he enjoys trail running, skiing, and backpacking.
Kendall is a proud Colorado native and alumnus of the Colorado School of Mines with her Bachelor's degree in Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering. Her journey with Stader Opioid Consultants began as an intern for The Naloxone Project during the Summer of 2021. Post-graduation, Kendall seized the opportunity to contribute more significantly in a strategic assistant role at Stader Opioid Consultants. With a keen interest in making a difference, Kendall is set to apply to medical school for the fall of 2025. Her aspiration is to forge a career in medicine, driven by a commitment to combat the opioid epidemic and spread awareness and knowledge to a new generation in and out of healthcare. Beyond her professional endeavors, Kendall finds joy in exploring her Colorado backyard, reading, and discovering the latest movies.
ERIN MCMILLAN
SENIOR DESIGNER
Erin McMillan is a freelance graphic designer & project manager. After earning a degree in Graphic Design at Auburn University, she has since been embedded in various parts of the design world. She has utilized her graphic design expertise at advertising and marketing companies, and, more recently, as the owner and designer of an invitation and stationery business. From designing graphics for a wide range of industries and purposes to managing, merchandising, and buying in retail, Erin's years of experience give her valuable perspective on the complexities of project management as a small business owner. With a longstanding passion for health, wellness, and medical care, she is excited to join the team at Stader Opioid Consultants and contribute to the public health of local and national communities. Erin lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, two kids, and over-active dog.
KENDALL ARMITAGE
PROJECT MANAGER
BROOKE STOESZ
CONSULTANT NURSE
Brooke Stoesz, MBA, RN, BSN is a dedicated nurse with extensive experience in maternal and newborn care, labor and delivery, and quality improvement. Currently, she leads multiple hospital-wide quality improvement initiatives at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO. Her passion lies in supporting patients with substance use disorders and advocating for those facing healthcare disparities.
Brooke recently graduated with honors from Regis University, earning an MBA in Project Management and Health Industry Leadership. She also holds a BSN from Denver College of Nursing, obtained in 2012. Combining her education, clinical expertise, and commitment to quality improvement, Brooke aims to enhance health equity and population health outcomes.
Outside of work, Brooke enjoys traveling, exploring new cultures, horseback riding, and spending quality time with her husband and their elementary-aged son.