Opioid Abatement and Recovery Research Program
The North Carolina Collaboratory, headquartered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is funding five new research projects focused on community and local government engagement to assist opioid abatement and recovery efforts across the State.
Supported by a $1.9 million appropriation made by the North Carolina General Assembly, the projects will be led by academic researchers from five institutions across the UNC System. Each project will last for two years and focus on a topic related to preventing and addressing the misuse and abuse of opioids, treating or mitigating opioid use, or other consequences of the opioid crisis.
| Academic Partner | Total funding | Project title and summary |
|---|---|---|
| Brook Alemu, Western Carolina University | $369,909 | Reducing the Burden of Opioid Use Disorder in North Carolina: Epidemiological Trends and Harm Reduction Strategies By assessing epidemiological trends related to opioid use disorder, this project will evaluate the effectiveness of harm reduction strategies in seven rural and historically underserved counties in western regions of the state, with the goal of guiding state and local governments in the development and expansion of effective harm reduction methods. |
| Dasherline Johnson, NC Central University | $380,000 | Communiversity Developed and Tested Toolkit for Opioid Abuse Abatement Through mutually respected partnerships between community organizations, community health workers and university faculty and staff, this project will develop and test an interactive toolkit for communities and local governments to address risk factors for opioid use and overdose, and enhance community education on resources for addressing addiction and preventing overdoses. |
| Melissa Floyd-Pickard, UNC Greensboro | $379,330 | GSCTOP: Expanding Novel Harm Reduction and Brief Interventions to Additional Vulnerable Populations in Guilford County Building on a longstanding partnership between Guilford County and UNC Greensboro, this project will develop and implement an intervention for minoritized communities in high priority areas that will increase awareness and decrease later overdoses through psychoeducation, peer counseling, and safer use supplies such as fentanyl strips and naloxone training. |
| Nabarun Dasgupta, UNC-Chapel Hill | $380,000 | Monitoring the North Carolina Drug Supply for Timely Health Action This project will use an existing, no-cost drug checking service to provide health departments, harm reduction programs and health clinics with timely data about illicit drug supplies via a statewide drug alert system, developed in collaboration with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. |
| William Atherton, East Carolina University | $380,000 | Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment for Early Recovery Opioid Use This project will compare the impact of peer-delivered screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) with professionally delivered SBIRT in community organizations that serve historically marginalized populations, with the goal of developing best practices for use by community and local government organizations. |