Marlene C. Lira, MPH, is Senior Director of Research at Workit Health and a public health researcher specializing in substance use, epidemiology, and health policy. She has contributed widely to the scientific literature on substance use, including low-barrier telehealth treatment modalities and the ways in which policies shape substance use-related health outcomes. Marlene has been active in legislative efforts to increase alcohol excise taxes in New Mexico. She serves as President-Elect of the New Mexico Society of Addiction Medicine, is an active member of the New Mexico Alcohol Harms Alleviation Coalition, and sits on the board of the Center for Addiction Science, Policy, and Research. She earned her MPH in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is a doctoral candidate in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children and spends her free time playing piano, reading, and running, albeit it at a slow but steady pace.