Wesley M. Sargent, Jr., EdD, EdS, MA, serves as a senior health scientist for the Clinical Practice Team in the Division of Overdose Prevention (DOP) at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. His work at CDC has focused on translating and implementing CDC’s 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain (CDC Guideline) and serving as a science officer to support jurisdictions advancing prevention interventions through the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) cooperative agreement.

Dr. Sargent currently works with healthcare systems on the implementation and use of the CDC Guideline through the integration of prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) data into electronic health records (EHRs), quality improvement measures, and electronic clinical decision support (CDS) tools. In addition, as a science officer, Dr. Sargent provides scientific and technical assistance to states and healthcare systems.

Dr. Sargent earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and his graduate degrees from the University of West Georgia. He is also a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Georgia.