CHERISH Investigators and Research Affiliates Support NIDA Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN)

On July 24 2019, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) announced twelve grants totaling approximately $155 million for the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) as part of the greater NIDA HEAL initiative. JCOIN will establish a network of 10 clinical research institutions, a Methodology and Advanced Analytics Resource Center (MAARC), and a Coordination and Translation Center (CTC) that will conduct studies on quality care for opioid use disorders in the criminal justice population that are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis. Each research center will collaborate with organizations in justice settings and service providers in five or more communities to evaluate evidence-based medications and behavioral interventions for opioid use disorders in a wide variety of criminal justice settings.

The awarded clinical research institutions include the Baystate Medical Center (CHERISH Research Affiliate Peter Friedmann), Brown University, Chestnut Health Systems, Inc., Friends Research Institute, Inc., New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York University School of Medicine, Texas Christian University, University of Chicago (CHERISH Research Affiliate Harold Pollack), University of Kentucky, and Yale University. The University of Chicago will serve as the MAARC (Dr. Pollack) and George Mason University will serve as the CTC.

In establishing JCOIN, NIDA emphasized the importance of integrating rigorous economic evaluations and considering societal outcomes such as the cost of crime in order to address affordability and sustainability of evidence-based treatment interventions. CHERISH is proud that our investigators Kathryn McCollister and Sean Murphy will provide economic expertise to Baystate Medical Center (Drs. McCollister and Murphy), Chestnut Health Systems, Inc. (Dr. McCollister and Dr. Murphy as a consultant), Friends Research Institute, Inc. (Dr. Murphy), New York State Psychiatric Institute (Dr. Murphy and Dr. McCollister as a consultant), the University of Kentucky (Dr. McCollister), and Yale University (Dr. McCollister and Dr. Murphy as a consultant).