Frances M. Harding
Director
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention

Frances M. Harding is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in the field of drug and alcohol policy and is the author of several widely published articles on prevention. She currently serves as director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), which provides national leadership in the federal effort to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and other drug problems. To help Americans lead healthier and longer lives, CSAP promotes a structured, community-based approach to substance abuse prevention through the Strategic Prevention Framework.

Ms. Harding recently served as associate commissioner of the division of prevention and recovery at the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, where she was responsible for the development of policy and guidelines for alcohol and other drug abuse and gambling prevention, treatment, and recovery programming. Ms. Harding has held numerous national positions and received recognition from her peers for her work, including serving as president of the National Prevention Network, an organization representing all fifty states’ alcohol and other drug abuse prevention offices, and as New York State’s representative to the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, Inc., where she served on its board of directors. In 2004, she became the first non-researcher to receive the prestigious Science to Practice Award from the International Society for Prevention Research.

In November 2006, Harding was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to serve on the Review Group for the Department's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. This eight-member panel advises the department on the development and implementation of effective alcohol and substance abuse and violence prevention resources for the nation's institutions of higher education. And most recently, in February 2008, she was appointed to the Council of Advisors for the Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other Drug Issues, a volunteer organization developed by the U.S. Department of Education in 1987.