Beth Meyerson
University of Arizona, AZ·Public Health & Epidemiology
Methadone saves lives in the opioid overdose crisis, but many patients do not stay in treatment. More than 30% interrupt methadone maintenance treatment, and more than 50% relapse, raising their risk of overdose.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
opioid use disorder
methadone
opioid treatment programs
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2029
What they work on
- Adapt the four MPACT components (staff trauma-informed training, trauma navigation, clinic self-assessment and reflective supervision) for opioid treatment programs through a participatory planning process with providers, patients and people with lived drug use experience.
- Pilot test and refine the MPACT trauma-informed practice change intervention in opioid treatment program settings before a full-scale trial.
- Test in a US cluster-randomized controlled trial whether MPACT raises methadone treatment retention and lowers in-treatment overdose and post-traumatic stress symptoms, using monthly staff and patient surveys and chart reviews.
More about the research
Patients have described opioid treatment programs (OTPs), the clinics that dispense methadone, as "carceral" and "not healthcare." One reason is that they must come in daily for supervised doses. Pandemic-era federal rules allowed more take-home doses, fewer urine tests and telehealth, but these changes did not spread or last. This project proposes that clinic culture is part of the problem, shaped by staff members' own histories of substance use treatment, trauma, and secondhand trauma on the job. It asks whether OTPs can adopt trauma-informed care and whether that improves patient outcomes.
Why it matters
People with opioid use disorder who drop out of methadone treatment face a high risk of fatal overdose. If trauma-informed care helps clinics shift from punitive to patient-centered practice, MPACT could keep more patients in treatment and reduce overdoses and staff and patient trauma symptoms. Because it is designed to scale, any US opioid treatment program could adopt it, supporting ongoing methadone reform.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shadi Nahvi
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Develop a flexible methadone treatment intervention for opioid use disorder using input from stakeholders such as patients and clinicians, aiming at more patient-centered care.
Rebecca Harris
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Identify the structures, practices, and resources of primary care Peer Recovery Specialist programs, using a program survey, direct observation at 7–10 sites, and interviews with patients, peers, and clinicians.
Omeid Heidari
University of Washington, WA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Design the Community-Based Opioid Treatment (CBOT) strategy and its implementation plan through interviews with patients, providers, nurses and other stakeholders, then pilot and refine it with 10 participants over three months.
The school
University of Arizona: 36 labs on PI Pages, $1.0B a year on research, 487 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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