Dr. Gail D’Onofrio Presents at
2016 National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta
On Tuesday, March 29th, Dr. Gail D’Onofrio, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, presented at the fifth annual National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The Summit was the largest national collaboration of professionals, clinicians, treatment providers, counselors, educators, and state and national leaders working to combat the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic. During one of the Opening General Session speeches, Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, referred to Dr. D’Onofrio’s randomized clinical trial on ED–Initiated Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Dependence. “This new study shows that it may be beneficial in terms of initiating buprenorphine, to utilize emergency rooms more effectively than we have in the past,” said Dr. Collins. “Those patients started on the buprenorphine effort in the ER had a significantly lower relapse rate over that thirty day period. This is something we ought to think about implementing on a larger scale.”
Dr. D’Onofrio’s Summit session, “Closing Treatment Gaps in the Healthcare and Criminal Justice Systems”, focused on recent research aimed at overcoming treatment barriers in the healthcare and criminal justice systems. President Barack Obama also spoke at the summit, announcing new initiatives to combat prescription drug abuse and the heroin crisis. According to Nancy Hale, President/CEO for Operation UNITE, the Summit's organizer, “His presence will help focus the nation’s attention on the drug epidemic that is devastating families and communities across the country.”
Link to Keynote speech by Dr. Collins: https://vimeo.com/162753648
Attached is slide from Collins’ speech referencing D’Onofrio study
Link to Summit website: http://nationalrxdrugabusesummit.org/