May 2021

A new, multidisciplinary research team headed by Stephen Henry, M.D., has been awarded a Cultivating Team Science award from the UC Davis School of Medicine (SOM). Dr. Henry is a core faculty member with the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (CHPR) and an associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine. He received notification of the award from Dean Brashear late last month.

In addition to Dr. Henry, members of the team who are associated with CHPR include Joshua Fenton, M.D., M.P.H., and Joy Melnikow, M.D., M.P.H., professors in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Aimee Moulin, M.D., an associate clinical professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and a director of CA Bridge. CA Bridge supports a network of certified drug and alcohol counselors based in emergency departments who are trained to identify patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), initiate treatment, provide brief counseling services (e.g. motivational interviewing) and connect patients to longitudinal primary care. Andrew Todd, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychology whose research is focused on stigma and discrimination in relation to mental health, rounds out the research team.

The team’s project, titled “Low-barrier, generalist model of care to improve treatment for complex patients with opioid use disorder,” is focused on improving treatment for patients with OUD who also have chronic conditions such as mood disorders or chronic pain. Pilot data from this project will be used to strengthen a proposal for a larger “center” grant from NIH and thus increase support for this important effort to stem the current opioid crisis, in California and the rest of the United States.

Congratulations to Dr. Henry and the team!