Collaborators

Building on the expertise with Hispanic populations, the FNA fosters international partnerships with Central and South America and Mexico. Under the direction of Dr. Viviana Horigian and with support from a grant from the U.S. Department of State, the FNA collaborated with Dr. María Elena Medina-Mora and her team at the National Institute of Psychiatry in Mexico (NIP) to create the Mexican Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Through extensive collaboration, mentoring, coaching and feedback, an FNA team transferred to the NIP the methodology used in the CTN for the development and implementation of randomized clinical trials. This research infrastructure and network has allowed the NIP to successfully conduct randomized clinical trials in substance abuse disorder treatment centers across Mexico. The same technology transfer methodology was also used to develop research capacity in Ecuador and Chile.

Drs. Lisa R. Metsch and Daniel Feaster are collaborating with Drs. Julie Bruneau and Valérie Martel-Laferrière (University of Montreal), Elise Roy (University of Sherbrooke), Bohdan Nosyk (Simon Fraser University) and Bruce Schackman (Weill Cornell Medical College) on a NIDA-funded R01 grant that is evaluating two implementation strategies for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the HCV care integration among persons who inject drugs. The study is being conducted in opioid substitution therapy and syringe services programs in Miami, Florida and Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Roy is leading the qualitative analysis component and Drs. Nosyk and Schackman are leading the cost and cost-effectiveness analysis component of the study.

The FNA comprises an extensive network of networks of health service providers and researchers across Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. This framework has allowed us to identify and explore the unique and changing needs of patients with substance use disorder (SUD), facilitate access to specialized treatment early, integrate SUD treatment into the mainstream of care and conduct research more efficiently. FNA partners include targeted settings with patients and programs support our major areas of research– adolescents, co-morbid mental health conditions (e.g., depression and PTSD), co-morbid medical conditions (e.g., HIV and HCV), data science, use of context (e.g., social, cultural, economic) and Hispanics. These settings include: a) general medical settings and health systems networks, b) school-based health centers, c) HIV/STD networks and clinics, d) research networks and e) substance use disorders treatment networks.