RIH granted $11.8 million for opioid addiction research

By: Chloe Leshner

cleshner@abc6.com

@ChloeLeshner

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — As people continue to struggle with opioid addiction, Rhode Island Hospital has been given a big opportunity to make a difference. They’re getting nearly $12 million in grant money to fund research on understanding and treating opioid addiction.

Rhode Island has one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the country, highlighting the importance of studying how to prevent and treat addiction, something this grant can accomplish.

A hopeful step forward in battling the opioid epidemic in the form of an $11.8 million dollar grant.

"This is the biggest grant we’ve ever gotten. This is going to give us the opportunity to really make some headway," says Dr. Jody Rich with Lifespan.

The money will establish a research center on opioids and overdose at Rhode Island Hospital.

"Our hope is to develop this center to really address very timely research to impact the overdose crisis right now," says Dr. Rich.

Researchers from Rhode Island and Women and Infants Hospitals, along with Brown University will work together to look at the epidemic from all angles.

"You cant just have one person working in a lab. You need that person in the lab to talk to the people in the street, to talk to the physician, to talk to the people that are addicted themselves," says Rich.

Specific research topics have already been identified including withdrawal in babies, pain treatment in the ER and the combination of addiction treatment and behavioral therapies in teens.

"Each of those projects could nurture a really interesting and important contribution to science and a really practical way of thinking about how we treat people across the lifespan," says Dr. Traci Green, a senior researcher and epidemiologist at Rhode Island Hospital. 

Rhode Island is among one of the states hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic so the research will be put to use in our streets.

"And to feed the idea and belief in recovery and the hope that we can address this crisis with science and evidence and make a difference in Rhode Island and everywhere else in this country," says Green.

The epidemic is so far reaching they say many young researchers are compelled to study it because they’ve been touched personally.

(C) WLNE/ABC 6 2018