June 6, 2014
Cecelia McNamara Spitznas, PhD
Senior Science Policy Analyst, Office of National Drug Control Policy
Executive Office of the President
About the Presenter: Dr. Cece Spitznas, PhD, is Senior Science Policy Advisor in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a component of the Executive Office of the President. She provides policy analysis and scientific advice to the ONDCP Director and Chief of Staff on special matters of concern to ONDCP, such as emerging drug trends and demand reduction, and helps to develop legislative responses to problems of national scope, particularly on prescription drugs, heroin and fentanyl. In 2012, she organized a National Leadership Meeting for ONDCP on Maternal Substance Use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. From 2000-2012 Dr. Spitznas was a program official at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) where her research portfolio concerned developing and testing new screening, brief interventions and treatments for people with substance use disorders, including pregnant women, and developing provider training. She received her clinical and research training in psychology at the University of New Mexico and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine. She worked as a research professor at UAB conducting research on relapse and treatment for crack cocaine use in homeless cocaine users prior to joining the NIH.