Alexandra Punch
Dr. Alexandra Punch is a distinguished health and policy leader with over a decade of experience spanning healthcare, higher education, and community-based systems. She currently serves as the CCBHC Operations Director at Helio Health, Inc. in Syracuse, New York, where she oversees budgets, finance, human resources, and operational support to ensure clinicians can provide high-quality behavioral health care. Her work focuses on expanding access to services, improving outcomes for vulnerable populations, and bridging the gap between policy, research, and community impact. Alexandra combines lived experience, academic rigor, and practical leadership to address complex public health challenges and create sustainable solutions.
Alexandra’s journey into behavioral health has been deeply personal and serendipitous. She began her career as an epidemiologist tracking tuberculosis, STDs, HIV, and disease outbreaks, where she became fascinated by behavioral patterns in public health data. Her father struggled with addiction throughout her life and ultimately passed away due to challenges with mental and behavioral health, which inspired her to work in harm reduction programming. She ran an acute care medical clinic for people using drugs and managed syringe exchange programs, gaining firsthand insight into how individuals start using drugs, the challenges of recovery, and the broader impact on families and communities. Recognizing the critical role of policy in shaping access to services, she pursued a PhD at Syracuse University, conducting nearly seven years of applied research on how policy influences lived experiences.
Over the years, Alexandra has led transformative initiatives in research, program management, and policy advocacy. She has secured millions in competitive grants, improved patient engagement in clinical and public health settings, and influenced state and national conversations on addiction treatment and harm reduction. In addition to her operational leadership at Helio Health, she serves on multiple advisory boards, including her county’s child and family services, the New York State Harm Reduction Association, and chairs Child Care Solutions, a nonprofit focused on ensuring high-quality childcare. Colleagues describe her as deeply curious, collaborative, and solutions-oriented—driven by a commitment to improving systems of care, supporting communities, and empowering those she serves.
• Human Research
• State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry - BS, Environmental Studies
• Northeastern University - MPA, Public Administration
• Northeastern University - Doctorate, Law and Public Policy
• Advisory board for county child and family services
• New York State Harm Reduction Association
• Chair of Child Care Solutions nonprofit
• Child Care Solutions
• New York State Harm Reduction Association
• Road2RecoveryCNY
• Make-A-Wish Central New York
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Get tough skin. You're gonna hear no a lot. You're gonna hear a lot of stories. But it is incredibly rewarding work that we need more people to want to be a part of. We need voices, we need advocates, we need women that are smart and focused, that want to impact change to come on board and be a part of this. There's so much potential for influence in this field, and to really impact broad change and really help people that don't always have opportunities to have their voices heard.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There are constant threats to the funding of mental and behavioral health services at both the state and federal level. Services are currently under attack with changes to Medicaid, which will deeply impact the type of services people can access and organizations can realistically supply. We're always pushing up against stigma related to people that use drugs and people with mental health issues, and what we deem as services they deserve to have access to, and that moral failing perception of people struggling with these issues. I've been a big proponent of overdose prevention centers and the supportive services they offer, but there's constant pushback around people having access to places to use illegal drugs, with claims that harm reduction services are enabling drug use behavior. There's a constant battle with stigma stopping evidence-based policies from being implemented, policies that have been shown to have positive influences on drug use, recovery, community safety, and crime. It's even hard to get funding for research to better understand how certain drugs can have positive roles on mental health, like around psychedelics or cannabis, because of federal regulations that have been dictating that for so long.