Oral Fluid Working Group

Tara Leystra Ackerman is the state and local government affairs specialist for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). She is an experienced government affairs professional, with over 15 years of experience working with government officials on transportation safety and healthcare initiatives. In her current role, she manages the NTSB’s relationships with state and local officials and agencies and monitors state legislative activities related to the agency’s recommendations. This includes focusing on state legislative activity around NTSB’s recommendations addressing impaired driving, which covers ignition interlocks, lowering the legal blood alcohol content limit and multi-substance impaired driving. She collaborates with other NTSB offices to coordinate state legislative efforts and supports investigations and report writing through research and analysis.

In her previous role at the National Safety Council, Tara led state lobbying efforts, focusing on eliminating motor vehicle crashes, fighting the opioid overdose epidemic, and improving workplace safety, focusing on ensuring employers could ensure impairment free workplaces.  

Prior to joining NSC, Tara was a state affairs associate at the American College of Surgeons. In this role, she advocated for policies to improve trauma care, prevent injuries, and ensure patient access to quality surgical care.

She graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, and later received her Master of Public Health from The George Washington University. She currently lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two daughters.

Chuck DeWeese is the President of Connecting Clients Consulting, LLC, based in Saratoga, New York. He provides strategic consulting services in traffic safety, including initiatives targeting impaired driving, distracted driving, Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety, younger drivers, speed, pedestrian and bike safety, automated vehicles, traffic enforcement issues and risky driving behaviors. He has over thirty years of experience in federal and state government, including 17 years as a Special Agent and Field Office Supervisor for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulating the trucking industry. Most recently, Chuck served as the Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee from 2007-2022. Chuck was the Governor’s State Highway Safety Office director and administrator of the $60 million National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) grant program, administering over 500 grants annually in all 62 counties. He coordinated traffic safety grant activities of the 14 agencies comprising the committee and created, implemented and evaluated the state’s annual Highway Safety Plan. He was additionally responsible for the $20 million statewide STOP-DWI program and the $3 million Office of Cannabis Management sub-allocation. In addition, Chuck served on the executive board of the Governor’s Highway Safety Association and was Chair from 2020-2022. Chuck currently is on contract with Responsibility.org and speaks at conferences across the country on the benefits of roadside oral fluid screening.

Dr. Curt E. Harper has over 16 years of experience as a Forensic Toxicologist. He was appointed
Chief Toxicologist for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (ADFS) in 2012. As Chief
Toxicologist, he oversees technical operations, method development and validation, and the quality
assurance/quality control program. He manages productivity, serves as training coordinator, and develops
and maintains standard operating procedures. Dr. Harper has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology
and a Master’s of Science in Forensic Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He holds
board certification as a Fellow of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (F- ABFT) and serves as
Chair of the Oral Fluid Committee and former Chair of the SOFT/AAFS Drugs and Driving. In addition,
he acts as a President of the International Association for Chemical Testing (IACT) and an Executive
Board member of the National Safety Council’s Alcohol, Drugs and Impairment Division (NSC-ADID).
Dr. Harper serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the
Department of Justice Sciences, an adjunct professor at Oklahoma State University within the School of
Forensic Sciences, and faculty for the Borkenstein Alcohol Course at Indiana University. His interests
include oral fluid drug testing, DUID testing and interpretation, and automation, robotics, and AI. ADFS
is the first state crime laboratory to implement a comprehensive DUI/D oral fluid drug testing program in
the United States. As an Alabama Peace Officer, Dr. Harper has been certified as a Drug Recognition
Expert since 2015 and is an Alabama Impaired Driving Prevention Council member. Before becoming
Chief Toxicologist at ADFS, he served as Toxicology Supervisor in Richmond for the Virginia
Department of Forensic Science for two years. Dr. Harper has testified on the effects of alcohol and other
drugs in over 235 criminal or civil cases during his tenure in Alabama and Virginia

Annie Kitch is the Principal of AEK Public Strategies, based in Colorado, where she specializes in advocacy strategy, public policy research, and government relations consulting. Her topic areas of expertise include traffic safety issues such as impaired and distracted driving, as well as emergency medical services and 911 systems.

With over a decade of experience in transportation and state government, Annie has a proven track record of supporting policymakers through research, publications, and legislative testimony. At the National Conference of State Legislatures, she supported state lawmakers on state traffic safety and 911 policy. Previously, as a researcher and constituent services staff member for the Colorado Legislative Council Staff, she staffed the Colorado Senate Transportation and Energy Committee and connected hundreds of Coloradans with essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as safe transportation and food assistance. As a process improvement expert with the Colorado Governor’s Office, she collaborated with agencies like the Colorado Department of Transportation to enhance operational efficiency and employee engagement. Annie is currently on contract with Responsibility.org.

Annie has also designed and delivered professional development programs to over 1,000 state legislators, legislative staff, and state agency leaders, focusing on legislative approaches to address traffic safety challenges as well as strategies for improving state agency operations.

Annie holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado-Denver. She serves on the Board of Urban Peak, a Denver-based non-profit that provides services to youth experiencing homelessness.

Mr. Bill Lindsey has 20 years of experience as an attorney in Alabama and currently serves as the Deputy Director of the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI). He started his prosecutorial career in Tuscaloosa County and served there for a decade. He then became Alabama’s only Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor (TSRP) for the next 9 years providing education and resources on traffic-related issues to judges, law enforcement, prosecutors, other traffic safety professionals, and the public at-large.

Amy Miles is the State Toxicologist at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) and has over 20 years of experience in forensic toxicology. Amy provides expert court testimony and interpretation of laboratory reports for coroners, medical examiners, attorneys, and law enforcement officers. Amy also provides expert consultation for drug impaired driving cases both locally and nationally. In addition to her work at the WSLH, Amy is also the National Resource Toxicologist and Project Manager for the NHTSA/SOFT Regional Toxicology Liaison program.

Amy has given hundreds of presentations on the topic of drugs, alcohol and human performance, and public health at state and national conferences and in-service trainings and has contributed several articles to national publications. She is a member of several professional organizations and committees that pertain to alcohol, drugs and human performance and public health. Amy is the Past President of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists and is a National Judicial College faculty member. In 2020, Amy received the IACP DRE Ambassador Award, and in 2023 the Association of Public Health Laboratories’ Gold Standard Award, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association’s Kathryn JR Swanson Public Service Award and the SOFT Teaching and Mentoring Award.

In his current role as Director of Traffic Safety Advocacy & Research for AAA, Jake is an influential communicator who provides thought leadership on issues related to traffic injury prevention. From interpreting fatal crash statistics to assessing solutions to keeping drivers safe, Jake excels at translating complex research into evidence-based policies, research-validated interventions, and easy-to-understand language for the media. Jake has been featured in a variety of national media outlets, from USA Today and the New York Times to appearances on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s World News Tonight, and The Dr. Oz Show.

As an epidemiologist, Jake considers traffic injuries and deaths an overlooked public health threat to Americans. He applies rigorous research and the sciences of public health to AAA’s public policy development, governmental advocacy and consumer education activities. Jake has developed nationwide advocacy strategies, brokered national partnerships and negotiated strategic alliances to influence consumers and policymakers in an effort to protect those who travel U.S. roads each day.

As the Association’s chief safety expert, Jake regularly works with transportation stakeholder groups, public health practitioners and elected officials at all levels of government. He frequently represents the AAA federation before state policy audiences, Congress and U.S. federal agencies, to persuasively state the case for AAA’s public policy recommendations and evidence-based interventions.

Inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, Jake is a Mid-American Public Health Leadership Fellow alumnus and a member of the National Public Health Leadership Society. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, completed his graduate studies in public health at the George Washington University, and in public policy at the University of Chicago. While in Chicago, he was named a McCormick Tribune Leadership Fellow. Jake also holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and has completed the Leadership Development Program through Eckerd College and the Center for Creative Leadership- the largest and most respected global program of its kind.

Prior to joining AAA, Jake managed a state-certified health department in the Chicago area where he directed public health education campaigns, a portfolio of governmental grant work, health-focused research and public health policy support for state and local policymakers. He advised on a wide range of issues from HIV prevention and childhood obesity, to the prevention of substance abuse and heart disease.

Though he began his career as a researcher in the medical field, Jake shifted his focus to applying research to policy development, and honed his skills in the real-world application of data and rigorous academic research to protect and improve the public’s health, and to help people reach their full potential.

Dr. Ryan C. Smith is the Senior Director of Traffic Safety Research and Innovation at Responsibility.org. In this role, he oversees a national traffic safety research agenda for Responsibility.org and the National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving (NASID). Dr. Smith brings extensive experience from both the public and private sectors and is a national leader in impaired driving data, research, and countermeasures.

Dr. Smith most recently served as a transportation research analyst in the Office of Research and Engineering at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). His primary duties involved conducting safety research studies, supporting major crash investigations, and providing broad technical expertise in the areas of alcohol and other drug impairment. This included advocating for key safety recommendations through media requests, legislative testimony, and stakeholder engagement. He also served as a project manager and senior highway accident investigator in the NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety where he managed high-profile crash investigations and report development. Dr. Smith also completed an interagency detail in the Office of Behavioral Safety Research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Prior to joining the NTSB, Dr. Smith was a Research Scientist and founding group leader for impaired driving research at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. His duties involved overseeing over $7M in extramurally funded research and leading a diverse team of faculty on projects spanning impaired driving prevention and advanced vehicle technologies.

Dr. Smith brings a national perspective to his work, having led cross-agency efforts to improve impaired driving prevention through research, data analysis, and policy engagement. He is an active member of both national and international working groups focused on impaired-driving prevention, including the Transportation Research Board, International Council on Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety, and the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals. He is a peer reviewer for numerous leading scientific journals and serves on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Safety Research.

He obtained his Ph.D. and Master’s Degree in Industrial and Organization Psychology from Virginia Tech. He also holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Political Science – all from Virginia Tech.

Brian Swift and his family’s life drastically changed on March 20, 2013, when his mother and father were hit by a logging truck driver. His father, Thomas, died on the scene, and his mother, Barbara, was transported to a hospital and ultimately died of her injuries three days later. The driver who killed Brian’s parents ran a red light and struck their car. The driver would be charged with operating a commercial motor vehicle with a suspended license, driving recklessly, and driving under the influence of a controlled substance. He tested positive for THC, the primary psychoactive and impairing component of cannabis, and was convicted. His sentence for killing Barbara and Thomas — five years imprisonment.

The devastating death of his parents inspired Brian to take action to prevent impaired driving. Brian built a coalition and successfully pushed for Michigan Public Act 242 and 243 in 2016, affectionately known as the Barbara J. and Thomas J. Swift Law, the first legislatively mandated statewide oral fluid drug testing program in the country. The pilot program began in five Michigan counties run by the Michigan State Police. It was expanded a year later to include all Michigan counties. In this effort, the idea for NASID was born.

Brian is a staunch advocate for implementing effective laws, programs, tools and technology to help prevent and stop impaired driving.