Cara Renzelli, PhD 

Dr.  Renzelli joined the Health Plan in March 2020 as Clinical Director, Substance Use Services on the Physical Health Behavioral Health Integration team.

With 26+ years working in the field of substance use disorders, Dr. Renzelli's initial professional experience was with a federally-funded research center.  The center, grounded in longitudinal research, focused on adolescent substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders.  During nearly a decade at the center, she completed two master's degrees - one in Counseling and the other in Social Work, as well as course work toward achieving her PhD.   Dr. Renzelli left the center to complete her doctoral dissertation research on families who had teens in substance use treatment and then joined the administration of a large western Pennsylvania-based treatment provider as Research Director.  During  her 15 year tenure, she authored and received three research grants, and published in peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed journals as well as having had operational oversight of six programs along the continuum of care ranging from detoxification to inpatient to long-term residential. 

Dr. Renzelli  left the organization as Vice President of Operations to devote time to achieve an MBA.  Specific areas of interest and expertise include, but are not limited to the broad categories of organizational change management and strategy, with specific expertise in the integration of medication into existing treatment curricula, capacity expansion to address unmet regional treatment needs, and the implementation of modern harm reduction tactics into legacy treatment approaches.