About
Voices for Non-Opioid Choices (“Voices”) is a nonpartisan coalition dedicated to preventing opioid addiction before it starts by increasing patient and provider access to non-opioid therapies and approaches to manage acute pain.
Acute pain patients often receive powerful, addictive medications to manage their pain. The surgical setting, in particular, has become a potential path to long-term opioid abuse in America.
Thank you to our NOPAIN Act co-sponsors
Roughly 90% of all surgical patients receive an opioid prescription following surgery.1
In 2023, 125 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed in the U.S., and nearly 8.6 million Americans reported misusing prescription opioids.2
Approximately 2 out of 3 deaths, or 68% of all drug overdose deaths, involved opioids in 2024.3
To combat this dangerous cycle of abuse, Voices and our partners believe it is critical to prevent addiction before it starts by increasing availability and utilization of non-opioid approaches to pain management.
Voices and our partners believe that curbing the U.S. opioid epidemic requires systemic change — by individuals, providers and in communities.
__________
1 Singh, K., Murali, A., Stevens, H., Vydiswaran, V. G. V., Bohnert, A., Brummett, C. M., & Fernandez, A. C. (2022). Predicting persistent opioid use after surgery using electronic health record and patient-reported data. Surgery, 172(1), 241–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2022.01.008.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). “About Prescription Opioids.” CDC Overdose Prevention. (2025). https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/about/prescription-opioids.html.
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). “Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts.” CDC National Center for Health Statistics. (2025). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm.
Our Board
Chair of the Voices Board of Directors, Kerri Rhodes is a licensed mental health clinician in Virginia with 30 years of experience and serves as Director of the Behavioral and Mental Health Division at the Chesterfield County Jail. After losing her son, Taylor, to the opioid epidemic, she has dedicated her career to transforming how America addresses trauma, substance use, and mental health. Through her growing advocacy platform, Kerri shares the tools that could have helped Taylor, reaching schools, prisons, health care systems, and national leaders.
Kerri Rhodes, LMFT, LPC
Jennifer Burke is the Executive Director of Serenity Mesa Youth Recovery Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She became an advocate in 2009 after her 16-year-old son, Cameron, developed an opioid addiction following a prescribed 30-day supply of Percocet and tragically passed away in 2011. Since then, Jennifer has dedicated her work to expanding access to recovery services and promoting non-addictive treatment options. A passionate voice for equitable, person-centered care, she joined the Voices Board in 2018.
Jennifer Burke, MBA
Lisa Bright was elected to the Trussville City Council in 2020 and serves as liaison for Trussville City Schools, the Industrial Development Authority, and Public Works. She is the founder and CEO of the Will Bright Foundation, created in memory of her late son. Lisa also serves on Governor Ivey’s Opioid Task Force, the Alabama League of Municipalities’ Executive Legislative Committee, and the Jefferson County Councilors Executive Committee. In addition to the Voices Board, Lisa is an inaugural Leadership Trussville member, Trussville Daybreak Rotary Club member, and co-founder of Huskies Together.
Lisa Bright
Dr. Joseph Smith completed his residency in anesthesiology at Georgetown University Medical Center and has been in practice for 28 years. Dr. Smith is a founding board member at Voices. He is currently medical director of the Inova Loudoun Ambulatory Surgery Center in Leesburg, VA. In this role, he has been on the forefront of decreasing the use of opioids during and after surgery for patients in his community and the surrounding areas.
Joe Smith, MD
Kimberly Robbins is a U.S. veteran and the founder of Setbacks to Comebacks, a nonprofit dedicated to providing free addiction coaching and recovery support. Her personal battle with opioid dependence began after a military injury and ultimately became the driving force behind her advocacy work. Kimberly is now a member on the Board of Directors for Voices, championing access to safe, non-opioid pain management options for all individuals, including veterans.
Kimberly Robbins
Dr. Sterling Elliott is a Clinical Pharmacist Lead and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. He specializes in surgical pharmacy and post-operative pain management where he teaches patients to use a variety of medications options to manage pain while minimizing the use of opioid medications. Dr. Elliott has been instrumental in lobbying efforts at the federal and state levels, and his expertise has been featured in local and national media outlets. He joined the Voices Board in 2025.
Sterling Elliott, PharmD, BCMTMS
Anena Hansen spent her 20s as a starving artist traveling across nearly a quarter of the United States. In her 30s, she lived in Kenya, working in business-to-business (B2B) sales for multinationals and coaching female entrepreneurs. After losing her life partner to an overdose in her 40s, Anena turned her focus to trauma education. Sober since 2016, she now balances her career as a real estate agent with her passion as a trauma educator, teaching nervous system literacy and helping others heal through understanding. Anena joined the Voices Board in 2025.
Anena Hansen
In 2014, after witnessing the loss of an entire family to drugs, including the last two to heroin and fentanyl, Tom Synan co-founded the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition, where he serves on the Steering Committee and chairs Interdiction. Mr. Synan has testified before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee on fentanyl’s impact and spoken alongside President Clinton at Johns Hopkins on the opioid crisis. His work is archived in the National Law Enforcement Museum and featured in major media outlets. He joined the Voices Board in 2025.