Dr. Blackburn is internationally known for her training, program development, and technical assistance in addiction and mental health, including co-occurring disorders. She is an energetic presenter incorporating various learning styles and encouraging active participation with students, professionals, non-traditional learners, and consumers/clients.

She has worked in many behavioral health roles including psychologist, clinical supervisor, training director, R & D, executive director, etc. She serves as the Content Expert Director/Senior Research Analyst, CDM Group, Inc. including projects, such as, the Office of Women’s Health (OWH) Healthy Weight Initiative; OWH Adverse Childhood Experiences and Obesity Project, and SAMHSA’s Knowledge Application Program.

She has extensive background in providing and supervising cross-cultural clinical services across settings and services, translating science to practice, practically integrating evidence-based practices into clinical services, and implementing knowledge adoption strategies in treatment services. She writes professionally across venues (e.g., professional journals, consumer magazines, and social media) and extensively as a ghost writer for speeches, proposals, video production, marketing campaigns, web-based learning, curriculum, treatment guidelines, and science-based literature.

Dr. Blackburn teaches undergraduate and graduate studies including: research, evidence-based and best practices, origins of mental illness, substance use disorders, traumatic stress disorders, lifespan development, and core psychology and addiction courses. She has received awards including the highest civilian honor, a presidential medal from Poland—the Officer’s Cross of Merit for program development in substance abuse treatment; Meritorious Distinction for Clinical Psychology Research in Addictions; the Steinman Fellowship in Medical and Mental Health Education; and Caron’s Addiction Professional Award.