The Rob Portman Leadership Award was created in honor of PreventionFIRST! founder, former U.S. Senator Rob Portman. 

Awardees are recognized for advancing evidence-based prevention efforts in underserved communities/populations and establishing policies and programs that positively impact communities and save lives. 

The 2025 Rob Portman Leadership Award is presented to Tom Fallon. Tom Fallon is a retired Captain of the Amberley Village Police Department and a founding member of the Hamilton County Heroin Task Force, now recognized as the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition. 

Tom served as the Commander of this Task Force from June 2015 until his retirement this past December. Under his command, the Task Force investigated over 1900 opioid-related overdose deaths and over 80 non-fatal overdoses.  In this role, he began a Quick Response Team (QRT) in Norwood and then a multi-jurisdictional, county-wide Quick Response Team in Hamilton County. Tom was the law enforcement lead and program coordinator for one of the largest, most successful QRT expansion projects in the nation, and he has received much recognition for this part of his enforcement career. 

He was recognized as a prevention champion. Over the years, Tom learned about prevention and understood the value of including prevention in the plan to address the opioid epidemic. He has consistently made sure PreventionFIRST! was the table to provide their perspective, advocate for resources, support harm reduction, and integrate prevention into the goals and strategies of ARC. For over a decade, he has helped elevate the important work of prevention and his support of and commitment to the PreventionFIRST! mission is greatly appreciated.