RTI Researchers to Present at 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, will share their latest insights on telehealth and trends in polydrug use at the 2021 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, scheduled for April 5-8. The summit, which will be held virtually for the second straight year, is the largest national collaboration of professionals working on the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder.

RTI’s presentations include:

Telehealth Unlocked: Can it improve SUD treatment?
Tuesday, April 6, 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. ET
Tami Mark, PhD, and Saira Haque, PhD, MHSA, FAMIA, will describe the research evidence for the effectiveness of telehealth for specific substance use disorder services and evidence from surveys, interviews, and focus groups with providers on their experiences using telehealth. They will also describe barriers and facilitators to telehealth uptake and identify implementation pathways to address them and maximize the benefits of telehealth.

Polydrug use trends and responses in the United States and North Carolina
Thursday, April 8, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET
Georgiy Bobashev, PhD, who has been principal investigator on numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Lauren Warren, MS, will present research from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health data on patterns and trends of polysubstance use. Polysubstance involvement is increasing among opioid users and contributes to unintentional fatal drug overdoses. Large increases are occurring among overdoses involving opioids and stimulants.

Media interested in speaking to the researchers about their presentations or related work should email news@rti.org. To register for the summit, visit https://www.rx-summit.com/rates.