Research Scientist and Licensed Psychologist
Graduated Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 (Clinical Psychology; Developmental Psychology)
Specialty areas: clinical/developmental psychology; health services research; community based participatory research; polysubstance use; recovery support services; adolescents; emerging adults; criminal legal system involvement; training providers across service sectors; mentoring
Dr. Tess Drazdowski joined the Lighthouse Institute in 2023 after working for five years as a Research Scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA’s Integrated Substance Use Programs in the Semel Institute and her clinical internship at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Mailman Child Development Center. She holds a dual PhD in clinical/developmental psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and two master’s degrees in clinical psychology. Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Dr. Drazdowski was a Project Coordinator at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research and clinical work focus on underserved and priority populations and improving access to evidence-based practices for youth and young adults with substance use and mental health symptoms, particularly those with criminal legal system involvement. Most recently, her research has concentrated on health services program development, recovery support services, and polysubstance use. She enjoys developing services that are engaging and scalable, training and supervising providers across systems, working with adolescents and young adults from a strength-based perspective, and mentoring those with lived experience with substance use recovery and criminal legal system involvement. Having lived in and near rural Pennsylvania most of her life, she is passionate about creating programs that can help individuals living in rural and frontier areas.
Selected Publications:
Hogue, A., Satcher, M. F., Drazdowski, T. K., Hagaman, A., Hibbard, P. F., Sheidow, A. J., Coetzer-Liversage, A., Mitchell, S. G., Watson, D. P., Wilson, K. J., Muench, F., Fishman, M., Wenzel, K., Castedo de Martell, S., & Stein, L. A. R. (2024). Linkage facilitation services for opioid use disorder: Taxonomy of facilitation practitioners, goals, and activities. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 157, Article 209217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2023.209217
Ingel, S. N., Drazdowski, T. K., Rudes, D. S., McCart, M. R., Chapman, J. E., Taxman, F. S., & Sheidow, A. J. (2022). Juvenile probation officers’ perceptions of sanctions and incentives as compliance strategies. Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services, 27–41. https://doi.org/10.52935/22.9147.10
Drazdowski, T. K., Schulte, M., Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Schaper, H., & Chapman, J. E. (2022). Motivations for prescription drug misuse related to mental health problems in adults. Substance Use & Misuse, 57(2), 316–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.2012687
Drazdowski, T. K., Kelly, L., & Kliewer, W. L. (2020). Motivations for the non-medical use of prescription drugs in a longitudinal national sample of young adults. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 114, Article 108013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108013
Selected Grants and Contracts:
Principal Investigator: Leveraging Parents and Peer Recovery Supports to Increase Recovery Capital in Emerging Adults with Polysubstance Use: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Scaling Up of Launch (NIH/NIDA: R34DA057639, 2022–2025)
Principal Investigator: Reducing Opioid and Other Drug Use in Justice-Involved Emerging Adults using Paraprofessional Coaches (with and without Lived Experience) to Deliver Effective Services in a Non-Treatment Setting (NIH/NIDA: K23DA048161, 2020–2025)
Co-Investigator: Building a Lasting Foundation to Advance Actionable Research on Recovery Support Services for High Risk Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: The Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations (PIs: Sheidow and McCart. NIH/NIDA: R24DA051950, 2020–2025)
Co-Investigator: Linking a Pediatric Healthcare Advance with a Task-Shifting Approach to Optimize Juvenile Justice Outcomes (PI: McCart. NIH/NIDA: R01DA050669, 2020–2025)
Appointments and Awards:
Licensed Psychologist, #3243: Oregon (2018–Present)
Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Learning Experiences to Advance Practice (LEAP) Investigator (2021–2023)
NIH Loan Repayment Program Award—Clinical Research; NIDA (2019–2023)
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (JCCAP) Future Directions Launch Award (2017)
International Collaboration Research Scholarship, Bilbao, Spain (2014)
John P. Hill Award for the Study of Adolescent Development (2014)
Related Links:
Tess Drazdowski Google Scholar
Screening, Brief Intervention, & Referral to Services (SBIRS) for School Personnel + Strengthening Parent Awareness, Rapport, and Communications (SPARC)
This is part of the National Media Campaign to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking and Other Substances – STOP Act, and provides expert input into training and dissemination materials as part of the TTHY campaign.
Leveraging parents and peer recovery supports to increase recovery capital in emerging adults with polysubstance use: Feasibility, acceptability, and scaling up of Launch
The overarching objective is to investigate a scalable service that can be used in rural communities called Launch. Launch is an innovative adaptation of current evidence-based services for emerging adults (EAs; 18-26 years old) with polysubstance use, with a particular emphasis on increasing EA’s recovery capital. Recovery capital is the resources available to promote substance use recovery (e.g., vocational/educational skills, recovery-supportive community).
Reducing Opioid and Other Drug Use in Justice-Involved Emerging Adults using Paraprofessional Coaches (with and without Lived Experience) to Deliver Effective Services in a Non-Treatment Setting (PEERS)
The ultimate aim of this research program is to improve provision of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to emerging adults (EAs) with substance use (SU) problems and criminal legal system (CLS) involvement. To that end, this project investigates if using similar-aged paraprofessional coaches can effectively engage this underserved community in SU services.
Buell, E., Hibbard, P. F., Sheidow, A. J., McCart, M. R., & Drazdowski, T. K. (2023, June 17–21). Recovery support services research priorities developed by people with lived expertise [Poster presentation]. The College on Problems of Drug Dependence 85th Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Crosby Budinger, M. C., Drazdowski, T. K., & Ginsburg, G. S. (2013). Anxiety-promoting parenting behaviors: A comparison of anxious parents with and without Social Anxiety Disorder. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 44, 412–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-012-0335-9
Drazdowski, T. K., Coetzer-Liversage, A. P., Stein, L. A. R., Tilson, M., Watson, D. P., Hoffman, L. A., Hogue, A., Castedo de Martell, S., Hagaman, A. M., Greene, R. N., Satcher, M. F., Hibbard, P. F., Dewey, J. M., Sheidow, A. J., & Vest, N. (2025). Supporting linkage facilitators working with persons with opioid use disorder: Challenges, advances, and future directions. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, Article 1587101. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1587101
Drazdowski, T. K., Kelly, L., & Kliewer, W. L. (2020). Motivations for the non-medical use of prescription drugs in a longitudinal national sample of young adults. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 114, Article 108013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108013
Drazdowski, T. K., Kelly, L., Livingston, N. R., Sheidow, A. J., & McCart, M. R.(2025). Within-Person Bidirectional Relations Between Sleep Problems and Alcohol, Cannabis, and Co-Use Problems in a Representative U.S. Sample. Substance Use & Misuse, 60(12), 1923–1932. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2025.2523458
Horn, K., Flinn, R. E., Hagaman, A. M., Zajac, K., Hoffman, L. A., Poulsen, M. N., Cioffi, C. C., Jean-Berluche, D., Spana, E., Hibbard, P. F., Drazdowski, T. K., & Hogue, A. (2025). Systematizing peer recovery support services for substance use disorder: a taxonomy for measuring recovery milestones. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, 1529078. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1529078
Ingel, S. N., Davis, L. R., Rudes, D. S., Taxman, F. S., Hartwell, T. N., Drazdowski, T. K., McCart, M. R., Chapman, J. E., & Sheidow, A. J. (2023). Juvenile probation officer perceptions of parental involvement in juvenile probation and with contingency management. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 50(1), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221106468
Jaramillo, J., McCart, M., Saldana, L., Sheidow, A., Chapman, J., Drazdowski, T., Cruden, G., & Singh, R. (2024, May). Integrating evidence-based practices in juvenile justice systems through cultural exchange [Poster presentation]. Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC, United States
Pasman, E., Evans-Polce, R. J., Schepis, T. S., Engstrom, C. W., McCabe, V. V., Drazdowski, T. K., & McCabe, S. E. (2025). Non-abstinence among US adults in recovery from an alcohol or other drug problem. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 19(3), 338-342. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000001408
Pasman, E., Evans-Polce, R., Schepis, T., Engstrom, C. W., McCabe, V. V., Drazdowski, T. K., & McCabe, S. E. (2024, November 14-16). Non-abstinence among US adults in recovery: Findings from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health [Oral presentation]. Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.