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April 18, 2022 

NIDA Racial Equity Initiative Action Plan: Request for Information

Illustration of people of different races

NIDA is seeking comments on the draft outline for its Racial Equity Initiative Action Plan from diverse stakeholders, including scientific experts, health care providers, patients and family members, advocacy groups, other federal agencies, and non-governmental scientific, professional, and healthcare organizations. Organizations are encouraged to submit a single response reflecting input from their organization as a whole.

The Institute is particularly interested in comments on these elements:

  • The mission, goals, and objectives within each of the three key areas of concern (workplace, workforce, and research portfolio) identified in the action plan.
  • Additional gaps and areas of opportunity that should be included in the plan, drawbacks, or challenges to accomplishing these goals and objectives, and/or other items for consideration.
  • Any other topics that you find relevant to the development or enhancement of the initiative.
  • Ways to ensure widespread dissemination and implementation of the initiative.

How to Submit a Response

Review the Action Plan and submit responses via email to REIFeedback@nida.nih.gov. To ensure full consideration, responses much be received by April 30, 2022.

More Information

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NIDA HIV Research Program Symposium with NIDA Avant-Garde Awardees

HIV ribbonJoin NIDA’s HIV Research Program for a virtual symposium with past Avant-Garde Awardee recipients on May 18, 2022.

The NIDA Avant-Garde Award Program supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity at all career levels who propose high-impact research that will open new areas of HIV research and/or lead to new avenues for prevention and treatment of HIV among people who use drugs.

The term "avant-garde" is used to describe highly innovative approaches that have the potential to be transformative. Past awardees will discuss their projects and will answer questions about being on the cutting edge of HIV research.

Register here.

CTN Trial Progress

GraphRandomizations for Active Studies as of the April 17 Trial Progress Report.

CTN-0060-A-1 - Enrolled 812 

CTN-0080 - Enrolled 76

CTN-0097 - Enrolled 356

CTN-0098 - Enrolled 43

CTN-0099 - Enrolled 925

CTN-0099-A-1 - Enrolled 85

CTN-0100
Discontinuation - Enrolled 42
Retention - Enrolled 272

CTN-0101 - Enrolled 144

CTN-0107 - Enrolled 26

CTN-0108 - Enrolled 13

This project is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the University of Washington Additions, Drug & Alcohol Institute, but the information on this site has not been reviewed by NIDA and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute.


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CTN Steering Committee Meeting and Listening Session with NIDA Director Nora Volkow

CTN SC Meeting logo

The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network will hold its Annual Steering Committee Meeting virtually on April 26-28, 2022.

Check out the meeting website for registration and agenda information. The site will also serve as the log-in page for the meeting itself.

Nora VolkowBe sure to also register for the first ever CTN Listening Session with Director Nora Volkow, April 26, from 2:00-3:15pm ET.

This will be a unique opportunity for CTN members to meet NIDA Director, Dr. Nora Volkow as well as share their insights and experiences on a full range of issues and challenges related to diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility. Topics for discussion include but are not limited to: changing culture to promote equity, inclusivity, and justice; improving policies, transparency, and oversight; strengthening career pathways, training, mentoring, and the professoriate; ensuring fairness in review and funding deliberations; enhancing funding and research support for individuals from diverse backgrounds and historically under-resourced institutions; and addressing structural racism in the biomedical research enterprise. Find out more here.

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CTN Youth SIG Webinar: Leveraging Technology to Advance Behavioral Health Equity in Juvenile Justice

Marina Tolou-ShamsJoin the CTN Youth SIG on May 20, 2022 for its next webinar: Leveraging Technology to Advance Behavioral Health Equity in Juvenile Justice.

Presenter: Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD, Professor, Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences; Director, Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dept of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco. Read more about Dr. Tolou-Shams here.

The objectives of the presentation are to: 1) Understand the substance use and mental health intervention needs of justice-involved youth (JIY) 2) Identify barriers to JIY’s behavioral health care access and engagement; 3) Analyze ways that technology may hold promise for improving JIY’s behavioral health and legal outcomes.

How to Connect

Friday, May 20th, 2022 (11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)

Join Zoom Meeting
Zoom Meeting ID: 910 5122 3250
Passcode: 609671

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News from the Nodes

Appalachian Node

Node logoThe Bridging Connections in Addiction Research (BCAR) initiative arose from our Appalachian Node meeting in February 2020. Guided by enthusiastic feedback from attendees and our 15-person steering committee, we set out to bridge connections across disciplines with the goal of increasing collaboration among basic, clinical, and population researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Over the course of the COVID pandemic, we have hosted monthly virtual seminars and networking events to keep local addiction researchers connected. We have also shared newsletters and announcements with a growing audience of more than two hundred email subscribers. As a burgeoning community of addiction researchers, we look forward to seeing many of each other at in-person meetings in the months to come.

BCAR’s efforts have been rewarded as we recently received notice of a $300K award from the Pittsburgh Foundation. This award allows us to identify and support cross-disciplinary addiction research projects to engender collaboration and generate pilot data leading toward external funding proposals. From our initial request for applications, we received seven well-developed proposals from local research teams including junior and senior investigators. We look forward to supporting up to three 1-year pilot projects at up to $100K per project. We are excited to support our colleagues’ success in conducting high impact, interdisciplinary addiction research in the years ahead.

The Appalachian Node is also excited to announce its new concept proposal: Buprenorphine Treatment Engagement and Induction Problems Among Individuals Using Fentanyl/CTN-0135. Under the direction of Lead Investigators, Erin Winstanley, PhD & Sarah Kawasaki, MD, this project aims to learn more about problems initiating buprenorphine/naloxone treatment among individuals using illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF), which have been described in qualitative studies, case reports/series and anecdotal reports. There is limited regional data that objectively measures fentanyl use or the prevalence of problems initiating BUP treatment since 2013. It is unknown whether problems initiating BUP treatment are occurring in isolated geographic areas that are IMF "hotspots" or whether these problems are more pervasive given that IMF is believed to be widely available across the US. The overall goal of this pilot study is to determine whether there are regional variations in the prevalence of fentanyl use and problems initiating buprenorphine/naloxone treatment. The secondary purpose of this pilot study is to characterize the specific problems that clinicians are encountering when initiating BUP treatment in patients using fentanyl and to determine how standard clinical protocols are being modified to engage patients in treatment.

Pacific Northwest Node

John RollJohn Roll, Co-PI of the CTN Pacific Northwest Node and professor and vice dean for research for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, has received the 2022 MED Associated Brady- Schuster Award. This lifetime achievement award is presented by the American Psychological Association’s Division 28, Psychopharmacology and Substance Use.

The MED Associates Brady-Schuster Award is one of the highest honors an individual can receive in the area of behavioral pharmacology. Named after Joe Brady and Bob Schuster, pioneers in the field, the award is bestowed to scientists with an established record of outstanding research underscoring the fundamental importance of behavioral science to psychopharmacology or substance abuse. Roll was privileged to know each of them early in his career.

Dr. Roll also recently was awarded the Sahlin Eminent Faculty Award at WSU, the highest honor any faculty can receive at the university, for a lifetime of achievement and scientific impact.

Roll is a Fellow in three separate divisions of the American Psychological Association as well as a Fellow in the Association for Psychological Science, the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also president-elect of the Washington State Academy of Science. Congratulations, Dr. Roll!



Health Systems Node

New Online Risk Assessment ToolNode logo

Based on a predictive modeling study funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, HSN faculty member Stacy Sterling, DrPH, MSW and colleagues at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA developed an online risk assessment tool to support parents in talking about drug use with their adolescent children.

The tool, developed from data from four health systems’ EHRs, is on the website of the Partnership to End Addiction, the non-profit organization that collaborated with Dr. Sterling’s team to develop the tool. Separate focus groups of parents and pediatricians from around the country provided feedback on the tool and its messaging to make sure it was useful and easy to understand. The study underpinning the tool recently was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

"This tool is meant to help parents and clinicians more reliably predict when a child is at risk for a future substance use problem, so they can intervene with preventive measures and early treatment when needed," Sterling said. The tool involved an analysis of medical records for 41,000 adolescents born between 1997 and 2000, and their mothers, who were patients at 4 health systems: Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Geisinger Clinic in Pennsylvania, and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, all HSN sites.

The medical records showed 3.4% of the adolescents had a diagnosed alcohol or drug problem between ages 12 and 18. The study found certain factors prior to age 12 were strong predictors of substance use problems during adolescence. Children of mothers with a substance use problem were 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to have one themselves. Children with an oppositional defiance diagnosis were twice as likely to develop a substance use problem later.

Other risk factors included diagnosis of a trauma or stress-related disorder, ADHD, headache, conduct disorders or self-injury. Meanwhile, children with an autism diagnosis were less likely to develop a substance use problem.

The study also identified risk factors which, even if they emerged only after age 12 also conferred risk of substance use problems, such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, oppositional defiant disorder, headache, trauma, and self-harm.

The researchers noted the strong relationship between maternal substance use and mental health diagnoses and those of their children. "The findings underscore the need for robust perinatal and early childhood screening and support interventions, and for parenting programs in pediatric primary care," the authors wrote.

CPDD Workshop: Lessons Learned from 4 Pragmatic Trials to Improve Care for Substance Use in Medical Settings

CPDD logoOn Sunday, June 12th at CPDD, please join colleagues from the Health System Node, the Pacific Northwest Node, and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) when they share experiences from four pragmatic trials.

Morgan Justice Fuoco organized the workshop with Gwen Lapham, Joseph Glass, and Paige Wartko. They will present on the DIGITS, PROUD, and MI-CARE trials, and a planned trial of integrated substance use and mental health care for adolescents. Judith Tsui will be the discussant.

As the value of pragmatic trials grows, CTN investigators and others at KPWHRI are eager to share recent lessons learned from designing and implementing pragmatic trials in primary care.

Because so few patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) receive treatment, implementing routine substance use screening, outreach, care management, and digital therapeutics in primary care presents opportunities to improve access and outcomes among patients with SUDs who are not seeking treatment.

The presentation will address lessons learned related to design, intervention implementation and data collection.

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New in the CTN Dissemination Library

A likely responder approach for the analysis of randomized controlled trials. Laska E, Siegel C, Lin Z. Contemporary Clinical Trials 2022;114:106688. (CTN-0051)

Association between dynamic dose increases of buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder and risk of relapse. Rudolph KE, et al. Addiction 2021;117(3):637-645. (CTN-0051)

Revisiting the X:BOT naltrexone clinical trial using a comprehensive survival analysis. Ajazi EM, et al. Journal of Addiction Medicine 2021 (in press). (CTN-0051)

The Opioid Use Disorder Core Outcomes Set (OUD-COS) for treatment research: Findings from a Delphi consensus study. Karnik NS, et al. Addiction 2022 (in press).

Chronic alcohol exposure among people living with HIV is associated with innate immune activation and alterations in monocyte phenotype and plasma cytokine profile. Underwood ML, et al. Frontiers in Immunology 2022 (in press). (CTN-0055)

Predictors of therapeutic alliance, treatment feedback, and clinical outcomes among African American women in treatment for co-occurring PTSD and SUD. Bauer AG, et al. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 2022 (in press).

Effects of buprenorphine dose and therapeutic engagement on illicit opioid use in opioid use disorder treatment trials. Bergen AW, et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2022; 19(7):4106.

Webinars from the CTN Translation & Implementation SIG

Operationalizing Evidence-Based Care. Presented by Jonathan Ciampi, November 16, 2021. (Recording and slides available)

Systems Consultation: A Novel Implementation Strategy for Adopting Clinical Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing in Primary Care. Presented by Andrew Quanbeck, February 2022. (Slides available.)

Implementation Science at NIDA: Opportunities, Priorities & Processes. Presented by Lori J. Ducharme, March 2022. (Recording and slides available)

Find more information and resources from the T&I SIG here.

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Apply for the UCSF Postdoc Traineeship in SUD Treatment Services & Research

UCSF is accepting applications to its Fall 2022 NIDA-funded two-year postdoctoral research training program in substance use treatment and services research.

The training program is support in part by the Western States Node of the CTN, and offers a variety of university-affiliated and community substance use treatment programs as potential research sites.

Find out more here!


Upcoming Meetings

 

     

Published by the CTN Dissemination Library of the Pacific Northwest Node
Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute, University of Washington

This project is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the University of Washington Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute, but the information on this site has not been reviewed by NIDA and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute.

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