Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities

3 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE We a r e p l eased to pub l i sh t he 2018 Annua l Repo r t f o r The Cen t e r f o r App l i ed Resea r ch on Subs t ance Use and Hea l t h D i spa r i t i es ( ARSH ) . Ou r sc i ence was pub l i shed i n i n a wi de rage o f pee r - r ev i ewed j ou rna l s and p r esen t ed a t doz ens o f l oca l , na t i ona l , and i n t e rna t i ona l con f e r ences . These wo r ks i nc l uded new s t ud i es o f p r esc r i p t i on d r ug abuse and d i ve r s i on ; l oca l , na t i ona l and i n t e rna t i ona l d r ug and i n f ec t i ous d i sease ep i demi o l ogy ; behav i o ra l i n t e r ven t i on c l i n i ca l t r i a l ou t comes ; and ongo i ng Sou t h F l o r i da - based r esea r ch among vu l ne rab l e popu l a t i ons . ARSH con t i nues to be a l eade r i n sponso r ed r esea r ch a t Nova Sou t heas t e rn Un i ve r s i t y. Spec i a l cong ra t u l a t i ons t h i s yea r go to Dr. Ma r i a Lev i -Mi nz i , Ass i s t an t Resea r ch Sc i en t i s t , who was awa r ded he r PhD i n f ami l y t he rapy. He r d i sse r t a t i on s t udy f ocus i ng on t he deve l opmen t o f p r esc r i p t i on op i o i d and he ro i n add i c t i on p rov i des va l uab l e i ns i gh t i n to how subs t ance dependence eme r ges , wh i l e a l so i l l us t ra t i ng t he ro l e o f r e l a t i onsh i ps and l a r ge r s y s t ems i n t he add i c t i on t ra j ec to r y. F i nd i ngs sugges t t ha t t r ea tmen t app roac hes wh i ch i nco r po r a t e t he mean i ng o f t he use r ' s pe r sona l commi tmen t and r e l a t i onsh i p to t he d rug can p rov i de c l i n i c i ans wi t h a un i que se t o f too l s to be used i n t r ea tmen t . Many t hanks to ou r sc i en t i f i c co l l abo r a t o r s who con t r i bu t ed t he i r expe r t i se to ARSH p ro j ec t s , pub l i ca t i ons and p r esen t a t i ons . I n 2018 , t hey r ep r esen t ed mo r e t han a doz en i n t e rna t i ona l and US r esea r ch i ns t i t u t i ons . The wo r k we do r equ i r es a t eam e f f o r t . We wi sh to t hank a l l o f ou r r esea r ch s t a f f , ex t e rna l co l l abo r a t o r s , and t he NSU commun i t y f o r you r v i s i on , commi tmen t s and t a l en t s . We sha r e ARSH ’ s success f u l yea r wi t h a l l o f you . St even P. Ku r t z D i r ec to r