Dr. Hernández is Puerto Rican, bilingual and has worked for over 33 years in the health and human service field developing, implementing, and evaluating culturally and linguistically intelligent youth and adult health prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support programs. He is a master trainer and facilitator and provides individualized technical assistance and support to organizations that provide substance use disorder, mental health, and gambling prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery supports.
Dr. Hernández is a person in long-term recovery from addiction and is committed to eliminating health disparities by participating in processes the build equity. He has served as a consultant to a number of local and state health departments with a focus on disparities, building health equity, addiction treatment, and recovery supports. He also consults with and teaches a number of courses at the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center at Brown University and the National Latino and Hispanic Prevention, Addiction, and Mental Health Technology Transfer Centers funded by SAMHSA.
Currently he serves on the steering committee of the national Peer Recovery Center of Excellence. Additionally, he has served a consultant to several federally-funded initiatives in the areas of behavioral workforce development, HIV/AIDS, substance use disorders prevention and treatment, military service members, their families and TBI and PTSD, and pediatric asthma. Dr. Hernández serves as faculty at the New England School of Addiction Studies since 1998 and the School of Best Practices for over 10 years. Dr. Hernandez has presented at several state, national and international conferences. He serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Board for Voluntary Certification of Drug and Alcohol Counselors.
Dr. Hernández is currently a consultant to several organizations with a focus on disparities, building health equity, addiction treatment, recovery supports, and the Recovery Support Centers. He also consults and teaches a number of courses at the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) at Brown University, the National Hispanic and Latino ATTC, and the National Latino and Hispanic Mental Health TTC, and is a faculty member at Faces and Voices of Recovery. Dr. Hernandez was appointed to SAMHSA Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) steering committee in 2014 and the Criminal Justice Policy Committee in 2018. He has served a consultant to several federally-funded initiatives in the areas of behavioral workforce development, HIV/AIDS, Substance Use Disorders prevention and treatment, military service members, their families and TBI and PTSD, disparities and equity, and pediatric asthma. Dr. Hernández serves as faculty at the New England School of Addiction Studies since 1998, has taught a number of undergraduate and graduate courses, and has presented at several national and state conferences. Dr. Hernández serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Board for Voluntary Certification of Drug and Alcohol Counselors, is a member of the Board of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR), was appointed to the Springfield Public Health Council in 2006, and served on the Massachusetts Governor’s Latin American Advisory Commission in Massachusetts from 2000-2004 and Recovery Coaching Commission in 2019.