Eden Buell

Eden Buell serves as a Project Coordinator and Postbaccalaureate Trainee with the Justice-Involved and Emerging Adult Populations (JEAP) Initiative at Chestnut Health Systems – Lighthouse Institute, often drawing on her lived experience to advance community-centered research. Eden is dedicated to elevating community voices by fostering meaningful partnerships with both researchers and community members, striving to connect these groups to enhance current and future addiction research efforts. Eden is currently co-authoring a toolkit on Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) alongside the JEAP team and Community Boards, aimed at promoting collaborative research practices. Her transition from lived experience to addiction science fuels her mission to connect community priorities with academic inquiries through compassion, collaboration, and transformative action.

Founded in 1973 by people with lived experience, Chestnut Health Systems, a nonprofit provider of integrated substance use, mental health, and primary care services in IL and MO. The Lighthouse Institute (LI) is the research division of Chestnut Health Systems, leading health services, community-engaged and implementation research focused on prevention, treatment, recovery, and program evaluation for community partners. LI operates training centers delivering evidence-based practices globally. LI is known for collaborating with researchers and community organizations, high recruitment and follow-up rates, service cascades, clinical decision support, longitudinal intervention/analysis, advanced measurement/analytic methods, incorporating community-level data, and commitment to publication/dissemination. LI proudly includes and learns from scientists and staff with lived experience.