Posted: 8/1/07
Falkowski named Chemical Health Division director
 Carol Falkowski |
Carol Falkowski, one of the state's leading experts on drug abuse, has been named director of the DHS Chemical Health Division, the state alcohol and drug authority responsible for defining a statewide response to drug and alcohol abuse. She will assume the position Aug. 15.
"We are excited to welcome Carol back to the public sector." said Wes Kooistra, DHS assistant commissioner for Chemical and Mental Health Services. "Substance abuse brings tremendous personal and economic cost to Minnesotans. Through Carol's leadership and expertise we hope to focus our prevention and treatment efforts on research-supported practice, strengthen strategic partnerships with counties, tribes and other public and private stakeholders, and increase public awareness of the difficult challenges we share in addressing chemical and alcohol addiction.
The Chemical Health Division plans and implements a broad-based community service system, evaluates the effectiveness of various chemical dependency services and administers $139 million in state and federal funds for programs to promote the reduction of alcohol and other drug problems and their effects on individuals, families and communities.
Since 1997 Falkowski has been with Hazelden Foundation, most recently as director of Research Communications. In that capacity, she wrote the reference book Dangerous Drugs and produced the 2007 Telly Award-winning "Women's Road to Recovery," a co-production of Twin Cities Public Television and Hazelden. Earlier, Falkowski was with what was then the DHS Chemical Dependency Division from 1982 to 1997 in various research-related capacities.
Falkowski will continue to represent the Twin Cities in the Community Epidemiology Work Group, a National Institute on Drug Abuse-sponsored network of researchers from major metropolitan areas that meets semiannually to discuss the current epidemiology of drug abuse. For more than 20 years in this capacity, she has generated a twice-annual report on local drug abuse trends that provides ongoing community-level surveillance of drug abuse through analysis of quantitative and qualitative research data.
©ECM Post Review
6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com