Dr. Cornell Lewis PhD

Dr. Cornell Lewis is the Founder and Pastor of Expanding Visions Ministries and The Expanding Visions Foundation; He is a native of Columbus, OH and upon graduating from Columbus South High School in 1986; he spent eight years in the United States Army. During his time in the military, he actively served in Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Korea and he was a Sergeant/E-5 in the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, NC.

Dr. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology from Ohio Dominican University and a master’s degree from Capella University with a major in Human Services and Community Development in December 2009. Dr. Lewis went on to earn his PhD in Advanced General Studies in Human Behavior from Capella University in 2019.

In 1998, he entered the City of Columbus Fire Academy where he spent over 2 decades as a firefighter and paramedic with the City of Columbus Division of Fire. In late March 2017, Dr. Lewis was asked by the upper echelon of the Columbus Fire Department to take the lead and perform at the tip of the spear in the fight against the heroin epidemic. His invaluable and groundbreaking work took a team of civilians from a local substance abuse program into ground zero of the fight. The team was extremely successful at breaking down the barriers for heroin addicted persons to get rapid medically assisted treatment. The teams efforts were instrumental in securing millions of dollars in aid and funding from the local, state and federal levels.

The RREACT (Rapid Response Emergency Addiction Crisis Team) has know grown to 2 teams 1 of which responds to the 3 most populous counties in the State of Ohio within 48 hours.