Opioid Crisis

Tennessee faces a persistent opioid epidemic, with an estimated 70,000 residents affected and the state ranking among the highest for prescription drug misuse. As the crisis evolves, researchers are increasingly turning to neuroscience to better understand the roots of addiction and develop safer, non-addictive pain treatments that could help prevent future overdose deaths. Read More

Janey Camp leads an analysis of rural transportation constraints that prevent people from receiving regular substance abuse treatment. Read More

Surgical patients are being given more opioids than they need for postsurgical pain management, raising the risk of addiction. Read More

An opioid-restrictive prescribing protocol reduced the number of postoperative opioid prescriptions and the oral morphine equivalent per prescription. Read More

The Division of TennCare will partner with VUMC as part of the MOM program focusing on 26 rural and urban counties to improve the outcomes for women with opioid use disorder and their infants. Read More

“America’s Opioid Epidemic” is the theme of the 27th annual Joel G. Hardman Student-Invited Pharmacology Forum, beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 27, in the Vanderbilt Student Life Center. Read More

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week to speak at the spring Health Policy Grand Rounds at Langford Auditorium. The event was dedicated to combatting America’s opioid crisis, and Adams emphasized the importance of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Read More

Stephen Patrick, MD, MPH, MS, assistant professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy in the Division of Neonatology at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, testified before Congress recently about the rise and impact of drug withdrawal symptoms in newborns, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Read More

Kristin Archer, PhD, DPT, associate professor and vice chair of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, will serve as principal investigator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for a clinical trial that is examining strategies for reducing opioid use among patients with chronic pain. Read More

Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Shriji Patel, M.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, wanted to find out what part, if any, his colleagues play in the crisis. Read More

Fatal drug overdoses in Davidson County more than doubled in the past four years and now exceed the death rates for homicides and motor vehicle accidents, yet few people with addiction can obtain the treatment they need, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said Tuesday. Read More

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry will speak during a “science day,” Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the Belcourt Theatre hosted by the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research (VCAR). Read More