Marion J. Riggs, Ph.D.

February 3, 2018 /   / 

Marion “Joe” Riggs, PhD is a single-father and the surviving parent of a beautiful 12-year old daughter. He has more than 15 years of involvement with research institutions and mission-driven organizations serving as research fellow (RF), advisory board member (AB), or board of director (BD) for organizations including The Aids Institute (RF), Stem Cell Action Network (AB), Regenerative Medicine Foundation (AB), and the Student Society for Regenerative Medicine (BD). As Director of Special Projects for the Genetics Policy Institute, he led the expansion of over 30 Student Society for Stem Cell Research university chapters advocating for legislation and supporting career development for researchers.

Joe is also personally connected to the cause of fighting addiction and ending preventable harm and deaths from substance use. Since overcoming addiction, he earned his Ph.D. in biomedical science and currently is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School at the Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital.

When Joe was 17 years old he was forced into addiction treatment in a highly-heralded “tough love” program that is now widely viewed by many addiction medicine experts as harmful. This experience served as the catalyst for Joe to launch a non-profit which promotes systems change for increasing integration of science, technology, and medicine into recovery supports, program and research. The Loving Mind Institute focuses on the need for improving language, identifying stigma-causing methods, supporting harm-reducing approaches, and advancing evidence-based treatment. Towards these efforts, he is an expert for Changing the Narrative, an initiative to improve media representation of drug use and addiction.

Because of his collection of life experiences, he is also focused on supporting adolescent recovery and children that have lost parent(s) to addiction – building platforms that encourage recovery and empower children and adolescents to pursue their dreams and passions.