Peer Support Leaders Featured at the NIDA Clinical Trials Network NY Node Annual Meeting
New York, NY, October 23, 2026. Peer support leadership was a featured topic at the annual meeting of the New York Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN). Researchers, clinicians, state agency leaders, and community partners met for a day of sessions on contingency management, cannabis use disorder, and communicating research to the public. Peggy Swarbrick, PhD, FAOTA, of the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Center for Alcohol and Substance Use Studies and Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ) Wellness Institute, facilitated the afternoon panel “Peer Support Leadership, Workforce Wellness, and Opportunities for Clinical Trials Research.” She was joined by Taina Martinez, MSW, CEO of Baltic Street Wellness Solutions in New York, and Morgan Thompson, MSW, CEO of Prevention Links in New Jersey. The panel followed peer support’s history from early mutual aid and lived-experience advocacy, through the consumer/survivor and addiction recovery movements, to today’s credentialed peer workforce. Panelists described peer support as a distinct discipline grounded in mutuality, choice, hope, and self-determination. They discussed what organizations can do to support peer workforce wellness, and how peer-run organizations and peer leaders can help design, guide, and carry out clinical trials research. “Peer supporters bring knowledge that comes from lived experience, and that knowledge belongs at every stage of research,” said Dr. Swarbrick. Dr. Denise Hien, lead Rutgers investigator for the CTN NY Node
The NIDA CTN brings together researchers and community treatment providers to test and put into practice treatments for substance use disorders. The NY Node is one of the network’s regional research hubs.
