Benjamin Linas

December 3, 2024 Research Highlight

Cost-Effectiveness of Fibrosis Staging

More than 4 million people in the U.S. live with a hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnosis. However, as of 2022, fewer than one-third of individuals infected with HCV have been cured due to barriers related to high direct-acting antiviral (DAA) pricing and the steps involved in determining someone’s degree of liver disease or fibrosis. In […]

noah jenkins is pictured on the left and simrun rao is pictured on the right
August 19, 2024 Profile Feature

Intern Spotlight: Noah Jenkins and Simrun Rao

At the start of summer, we welcomed undergraduate students Noah Jenkins and Simrun Rao. As rising seniors, Jenkins and Rao have been selected as part of the Summer Undergraduate Mentored Research (SUMR) Program at University of Pennsylvania and the NIDA Summer Research Internship Program. Working alongside CHERISH investigators Zachary Meisel at the Leonard Davis Institute […]

May 2, 2024 Research Highlight

Cost-Effectiveness of Strategies for Treatment Timing for Perinatally Acquired Hepatitis C Virus

Children with perinatally acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) are now eligible to receive direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), a highly effective treatment for HCV, as early as the age of 3. Despite existing studies demonstrating DAA’s high efficacy and tolerance among adults and children between the 3 and 12 years old, there has been low uptake due […]

August 2, 2023 Profile Feature

Intern Spotlight: Valeria Arango, Benicio Beatty, Ameya Komaragiri, Carlos Ponce de Leon Mendez, and Ella Salim

During the peak hour of a July summer day, CHERISH colleagues and interns from Boston Medical Center logged onto Zoom while investigators and staff in New York City filled a conference room located on the Upper East Side at Weill Cornell Medicine. Three minutes past twelve, Caroline Savitsky, program manager in the Section of Infectious […]

October 8, 2021 Research Highlight

Ending HIV in the United States Will Require a Substantial Financial Commitment

“What will it take to end HIV in the United States?” is a pressing question posed by public health officials, researchers, and policymakers alike. Population Data & Modeling Core Director Benjamin Linas seeks to answer that question by amplifying notable results from a simulation modeling study published by researchers at Johns Hopkins. In an editorial issued in the Annals of […]

June 4, 2021 Research Highlight

Characterizing Initiation, Use, and Discontinuation of Extended-Release Buprenorphine in a Nationally Representative United States Commercially Insured Cohort

Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are evidence-based treatments that help people reduce or stop using opioids. However, high discontinuation rates of MOUD pose a barrier to reducing opioid-related overdoses. Extended-release buprenorphine (XR-BUP) is a relatively new MOUD, approved in late 2017, that has the potential to increase retention because of its monthly dosing schedule. Currently, there is […]

July 17, 2020 Collaborations

CHERISH Awarded Five-year Center of Excellence Grant to Continue Substance Use Health Economics Research

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health has awarded the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use, HCV and HIV (CHERISH) a five-year grant to continue the Center’s activities as a national center of excellence. CHERISH was founded in 2015 as a multi-institutional center for health […]

May 6, 2020 Research Highlight

Simulation Modeling Presents Opportunities To Support The Public Health Response To The Opioid Crisis In North America

Although there are several evidence-based cost-effective interventions for people with opioid use disorder (OUD), they are underutilized. Questions remain regarding intervention selection, and cost of service delivery. Simulation modeling offers an opportunity to support decision making to address the syndemic of opioid overdose, HIV, and hepatitis C (HCV). In an article recently published in the International Journal […]

October 31, 2019 Research Highlight

USPSTF and CDC Recommend Expanded HCV Testing for All US Adults

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a draft recommendation for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody and RNA screening in all adults ages 18 to 79. This is a departure from their current 2013 recommendation of risk-based screening, including people who inject drugs (PWID), and one-time screening in baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965.  The recommendation […]

June 3, 2019 Research Highlight

Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Lowers Overdose Risk in Commercially Insured Individuals

“Medications for opioid use disorder saves lives.” That’s the title and conclusion of a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, based on a review of the scientific evidence. In a new study in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, CHERISH investigators Jake Morgan, Bruce Schackman and Benjamin Linas add to this evidence base by […]

April 19, 2019 Collaborations

NIH funds HEALing Communities Study in Four States

On April 18, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) together with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced research sites in four states will receive funding as part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative HEALing Communities Study. Each state will engage stakeholders and researchers across 15 communities in their […]

April 4, 2018 Collaborations

CHERISH Hosts Introduction to Economic Evaluation Training in March

On March 19, researchers from institutions across the country joined CHERISH leaders Bruce Schackman, Kathryn McCollister, Benjamin Linas and Sean Murphy for a daylong CHERISH introductory training to economic evaluations. Dr. Schackman began the day by introducing CHERISH to the attendees, who represented more than 25 institutions across New England, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the South […]

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