Opioids: Policy to Practice Summit 2019
On Friday May 10, 2019, the Opioids: Policy to Practice summit was held in Ypsilanti, MI. The event, co-sponsored by the University of Michigan and Harvard University, brought together hundreds of in-person and online attendees to learn about best practices and solutions regarding opioid prescribing and prescription drug monitoring, drug overdose detection, and access to treatment and criminal justice. The summit was the first of two opioid summits that the universities will co-host, the second of which will be in October in Boston, MA. Presidents Mark Schlissel and Lawrence Bacow announced the partnership in September 2018 which aims to leverage intellectual resources against the national opioid crisis.
The summit was presented by the Michigan Opioid Prescribing and Engagement Network (Michigan OPEN) and the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI). Featuring 19 speakers, the event served to provide policymakers, community health leaders, the business community, and families affected by the opioid epidemic with the latest findings from U-M and Harvard research. In doing so, both universities address the need to share proven approaches that will make a measurable and sustained difference for communities across the nation.
Keynote speaker Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, outlined the federal strategy to combating the current state of opioid misuse and deaths in the United States. Her address was followed by four panels which consisted of wide ranging discussions from the issue of stigma as a barrier to treating substance use disorders to social policy changes that could help boost economic opportunity while also reducing the risk of substance use. Dr. Chad Brummett, co-chair of the summit along with Dr. Mary Bassett, gave the closing remarks.
The full list of speakers, descriptions of each panel, and video recordings of the summit can be found at opioidsummit.umich.edu.