Florida Node Alliance

Housed at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the Florida Node Alliance (FNA) is one of 13 research centers of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) funded by the NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Under the leadership of Co-Principal Investigators, Drs. José Szapocznik and Daniel Feaster from the Miller School’s Department of Public Health Sciences and Dr. Lisa R. Metsch, from the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the FNA has two decades of experience developing and testing interventions for substance abuse through the implementation of rigorous randomized clinical trials in real world settings. Through partnerships with health systems, community-based specialty treatment providers, and practice-based research networks, FNA scientists develop, validate, and implement practical clinical trials that are at the cutting edge of science in substance abuse disorder screening, early intervention and treatment for a broad range of populations affected by substance abuse.

The FNA brings to the CTN unique expertise with adolescent treatment, the HIV and Hepatitis C care continua in substance using populations, e-Health, training/dissemination, and work with Hispanic populations. Further, with collaborators in Florida, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Wisconsin, the FNA offers geographic and racial/ethnic diversity that increase the generalizability of studies. Through bi-directional, translational partnerships, the FNA supports the development and implementation of clinical trials that are practical and relevant to substance abuse treatment in diverse settings and populations.

The mission of the Florida Node Alliance is to foster integration of a range of substance use disorder (SUD) interventions and treatments into general medical settings, including non-traditional medical settings such as school-based health, HIV and STD clinics and practice networks. In collaboration with our scientific and practice partners in Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico, the Florida Node Alliance is committed to improving the practice of substance abuse disorder treatment while providing a broad-reaching research infrastructure. Through bi-directional, translational partnerships among community-based providers and scientists, we support the development and implementation of practical clinical trials that are relevant to substance abuse disorder treatment in diverse community settings and with diverse populations.

• To provide scientific leadership to develop, test, and implement (a) interventions for the full spectrum from use to SUD in adolescents and adults that meet the needs of patients and providers, and (b) strategies for the integration of SU services into mainstream adolescent and adult health care;

• To bring to the CTN the FNA’s considerable expertise in adolescent treatment, the HIV and HCV care continua in substance-using populations, mental health comorbidities, e-Health, health economics, culturalized sciences, training, implementation/ dissemination, and work with Hispanic populations;

• To leverage our expertise in implementation science, data science, and use of electronic health records (EHRs) to promote learning health care systems that build on precision medicine principles by implementing and refining methods to predict individual response to treatment;

• To increase the synergy of FNA clinical and research networks – SUD treatment and general medical settings, health systems, clinical research networks, and practice-based research networks – by developing, testing and implementing interventions that address the service delivery continuum; and

• To collaborate with other Nodes in designing and implementing CTN trials and by providing the infrastructure and capabilities required for successful study execution.