Meet the Team

Cara Poland, MD, MEd
Co-Principal Investigator
Addiction Medicine, Spectrum Health
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Dr. Poland is an assistant professor with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and clinically practices at Spectrum Health. She holds primary certification in internal medicine and after completing an addiction medicine fellowship she received her certification in addiction medicine. Dr. Poland also holds a master’s degree in education and serves as a content expert in all areas of addiction medicine.  

Kelly Strutz, PhD, MPH
Co-Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Dr. Strutz is an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology and an adjunct professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. She is a women’s health epidemiologist with expertise in maternal substance use before, during and after pregnancy. Dr. Strutz provides managerial oversight to MSU-based employees and leads content related to the epidemiology and prevention of substance use disorders.

Mark Greenwald, PhD
Faculty
Wayne State University 

Dr. Greenwald is a professor and associate chair for research, directs the Substance Abuse Research Division, its Human Pharmacology Laboratory and the outpatient treatment research clinic in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University. He is also jointly appointed in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has continuously funded his research since 1996. He brings expertise in the fields of psychopharmacology, neuroscience and behavior, and is a content expert in neurobiology for the MI CARES program.

Lia Bennett, MPH
Curriculum Director
Spectrum Health

Lia is the curriculum director for the MI CARES program. She brings 15 years of experience in non-profit organization management and the development and implementation of adult education learning tools. She has served as director of maintenance of certification and deputy director for addiction medicine board certification. She strives to provide superior guidance to physicians as they navigate the addiction medicine certification process and assist with the curriculum development of the MI CARES modules. 

Geraud Plantegenest, MA
Sr. Health Systems Training Designer/Learning Experience Design Manager
Spectrum Health 

Geraud brings 14 years of experience in higher education, medical education and educational technology. As the learning experience design (LXD) manager for the MI CARES program, he leads instructional design consultations with program administrators, subject matter experts, staff and students. Plantegenest is responsible for design and development of multimedia training solutions and eLearning modules for the MI CARES curriculum and serves as the team’s learning management system and learning analytics administrator.

Candace Heeringa
Research Assistant
Michigan State University

Candace brings more than ten years of experience coordinating and assisting with undergraduate medical education curriculum. She assists the MI CARES team with participant outreach and enrollment. She manages the participant database, CME accreditation, Tracking Tool development, D2L content, and IRB compliance. 

Heather Bunker
Administrative Support Coordinator
Spectrum Health

Heather is honored to serve as the administrative support coordinator for the MI CARES Program. In her previous role, she served as lead medical assistant for Spectrum Health’s Addiction Rehabilitation Program (SHARP). This inspired her to look outside of the box, to become a small piece of something greater; the healing of those living and fighting with a substance use disorder.