Lisa Raville, Executive Director (She/Her)
Lisa Raville grew up outside of Chicago, IL and graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Communications and a minor in Women’s Studies. Lisa is the Executive Director of the Harm Reduction Action Center, a public health agency that works with people who inject drugs. Lisa has been with HRAC since 2009. Lisa’s activist voice was cultivated with her experiences as an overnight homeless shelter coordinator, development work at a domestic violence agency, a former campaign manager for a CA County Supervisor, and an AmeriCorps VISTA at an AIDS agency.
Lisa is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. In 2014, Lisa won the Colorado Public Health Association Award for Excellence in Policy and in 2018 won the Recovery Ally of the Year award from Advocates for Recovery Colorado.
Ruth Kanatser, Syringe Access Director/Senior Health Educator (She/Her)
Ruth has been an integral staff member with our agency since 2003. In December 2011, Ruth was recognized for her tireless efforts to improve the lives of PWID by receiving the inaugural Josephine Roche Award from the city of Denver for excellence in direct service to a marginalized community. As director of the syringe access program and senior health educator her time and expertise is spent primarily referring program participants into substance use treatment or other vital services and educating our participants, community members and other service providers around the health issues that can effect PWID and how to reduce said harms.
Ruth has a special passion for trying to improve the historically mistrustful and adversarial relationship between health care providers and PWID through education and advocacy. Especially when concerning pregnant women who inject.
She lives with her husband John and two spoiled kitties who are excellent company for her favorite pass times of reading and napping.
Mariela Hernandez, Volunteer Director/Outreach director (She/Her)
Mariela has always been very passionate about helping people. It was no surprise when she got hired after interning in the Spring of 2019. The tremendous social skill she has have been incredibly helpful in creating a solid connection with people who use drugs. Mariela’s fluency in Spanish has allowed her to break the language barriers of PWUD. She has also been able to help in the translation of educational materials.
As the volunteer director, she coordinated all the volunteers who staffed our syringe access and outreach program. She is very appreciative of the community supporting the work HRAC does and firmly believes that our harm reduction efforts can only persevere if we continue to fight together.
Zee Stark, Programs Director (They/Them)
Zee was raised in and continues to live in Thornton, Colorado. They graduated with a degree in Neuroscience from King’s College London in 2018, and completed a degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from CU Boulder in 2022. They spent some time working as an EEG technician in a hospital, then as an Independent Living Skills Trainer for individuals with traumatic brain injuries before beginning to volunteer with HRAC, becoming an intern soon after in Spring of 2020. Zee became a full-time staff member by that summer, fulfilling a role as Client Services Coordinator. They took over the Programs Director position in 2022: collecting and evaluating our data and completing official reports, as well as providing onsite rapid HIV and Hepatitis C testing, and managing supply inventory. Likes heavy metal and mint green, dislikes transphobia and avocado.
Ileana Rivera, Client Services Coordinator (she/her)
Ileana is a born and raised Coloradoan and recent graduate from University of Colorado Boulder in media production and a film minor. During her time in Boulder, she began community work with Boulder Valley Mutual Aid and Denver Community Fridges, which led her to HRAC in December of 2021.
She is responsible for participant referrals to local providers, aids in narcan training and refills, runs weekly participant clean up, supply stocking, data input, and social media.
Iris boswell, overdose prevention coordinator (she/her)
Iris has spent the past 12 years working in health care, more recently pursuing her doctorate in pharmacy. She feels passionate about the principles of harm reduction as health care and is very excited to begin on this new avenue for serving the needs of others.
In her spare time Iris enjoys weaving on her loom, writing songs on her guitar, and walking around the city of Denver.