Drug Use and Pregnancy in the United States

Ann M. Boyer received her M.D. from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and an M.S. in community and preventive medicine from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She completed residencies in ob/gyn and preventive medicine, fellowships in maternal-fetal medicine and HIV, and is a member of the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM). She is an instructor of C/P medicine at Mt Sinai; medical director of Health Bridge, Mount Sinai's home based clinical care program for HIV positive persons living in unstable housing; medical director of KEEP, the extended entry program in Mount Sinai's methadone maintenance program; and medical director of both the day treatment program and HIV health services program at V.I.P., a nonprofit in the New York City borough of the Bronx.

Boyer is cofounder of Women's Information Network, a peer empowerment program for disadvantaged women infected and affected by HIV and founder of Bird Song, a peer support/advocacy program for women with a history of childhood trauma. In all of these capacities she works directly with disadvantaged, marginalized persons, many of whom are substance users, infected with HIV and/or hepatitis C, and disproportionately affected by violence and unstable living conditions. Her master's thesis and much of her research have focused on tools for adequately assessing needs of this client base from several perspectives and improving mechanisms for meeting those needs using a harm reduction approach.

Lynn M. Paltrow is the founder and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW). The organization works on behalf of pregnant and parenting women and their children to ensure that drug use and health problems that women face during pregnancy are treated as health and public welfare issues and not as criminal justice matters. Paltrow is a leading national litigator and strategist in cases involving the intersection of the war on reproductive freedom and the war on drugs, having worked on numerous cases challenging the prosecution and punishment of pregnant women.