Lolita Silva-Vazquez is a seasoned clinician, administrator and leader with thirty years of experience in the field of addiction treatment. She is Vice President, Chief Program Officer at the Lower Eastside Service Center (LESC), and formerly the Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer. As Chief Program Officer, Ms. Silva-Vazquez oversees the operations of seven substance use and mental health treatment programs, including two outpatient opioid treatment programs (OTP) and three residential OTPs, one of which is for pregnant women and their infants. As compliance officer she was responsible for quality improvement, program evaluation, corporate and regulatory compliance and co-facilitated LESC’s strategic planning process. Ms. Silva-Vazquez also implemented and supervised a care coordination team for clients in outpatient treatment and supportive housing to connect clients to much needed services for co-occurring conditions and for assistance with services to address social determinants of health. For fifteen years prior to working at LESC, she provided direct oversight for methadone maintenance treatment programs at Beth Israel Medical Center and Greenwich House. In large part, her professional focus has been providing and improving treatment services for individuals with opioid use disorder, and their families, and striving to educate the community about the efficacy of medication assisted treatments for opioid use disorder.
Over the past three years, Ms. Silva-Vazquez has co-led the LESC Behavioral Health Care Collaborative, now Cogency Integrated Healthcare, IPA, bringing together over twenty health care organizations. The common goal being improved access to, and delivery of quality services in preparation for a value based purchasing environment.
Ms. Silva-Vazquez graduated from Marist College with her Bachelors degree in Psychology and Masters in Clinical / Community Psychology. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.
