Our Team

Jill Williams, MD

Dr. Williams is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry in New Jersey. Dr. Williams is an expert in tobacco addiction and treatments and has conducted several biobehavioral, translational, and clinical trials regarding smoking in individuals with serious mental illness. She has extensive experience leading training sessions on tobacco treatment and designing organizational change models to promote smoking cessation at behavioral health agencies.

Nancy Covell, Ph.D.

Dr. Covell is also the Project Director for the Focus on Integrated Treatment (FIT) Initiative and the Associate Director for Implementation Support Systems for the Center for Practice Innovations and Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.  She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with more than 20 years of experience supporting implementation of integrated treatment in behavioral healthcare programs. She currently co-facilitates the tobacco dependence learning collaborative within NYS operated agencies and the tobacco dependence learning community for PROS programs.

Forrest “Rusty” Foster, MSW, CPRP

Mr. Foster is also the Senior Implementation Specialist for the Focus on Integrated Treatment (FIT) Initiative at the Center for Practice Innovations. In addition to co-facilitating the Addressing Tobacco Learning Collaborative with NYS-operated agencies, Mr. Foster is a highly sought-after Motivational Interviewing trainer. Mr. Foster has also provided training and implementation supports around integrated treatment to behavioral health programs and State Mental Health Authorities in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Minnesota, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Virginia.

Noah Lipton, LCSW, MPA

• Implementation Specialist

Mr. Lipton is also an Implementation Specialist for the Focus on Integrated Treatment (FIT) Initiative and the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Institute at the Center for Practice Innovations. Mr. Lipton is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who, prior to joining CPI’s staff, worked in a NYC-based PROS program as a senior Social Worker and was coordinator for Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment. In those roles, he provided training and coaching to staff around skills such as motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral therapy. He currently co-facilitates the tobacco use disorder learning collaborative within NYS-operated agencies and the Wellness Self-Management Plus (WSM+) Learning Collaborative for PROS programs.