News from the Southern Consortium Node
On April 29, 2024, the Southern Consortium Node granted the inaugural Outstanding Public Leadership Award to Sara Goldsby, Director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. (Pictured: Drs. Kelly Barth, Kathleen Brady, Connie Guille with Ms. Sara Goldsby.)
The award was established to recognize state and local government officials who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of policy and practice in the field of addiction. Ms. Goldsby has been a tireless advocate for South Carolinians struggling with addiction, leading the state’s response to the opioid crisis and serving as the President of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors since 2021. She has also been at the forefront nationally in forging effective partnerships between our state’s government and local universities, most notably through the establishment of the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction in 2022, which is leveraging the strengths of the state’s public universities to advance data-driven, evidence-based solutions to its most pressing needs. During her leadership in the state, Ms. Goldsby has been an important champion for research, engaging in numerous partnerships with the CTN to advance innovative science to treat addiction in South Carolina and beyond.
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The South Carolina Governor’s Opioid and Addiction Summit was held in Columbia, SC on April 29-May 1 and provided an excellent forum for dissemination of Clinical Trials Network (CTN) findings to a diverse audience of stakeholders from health care, the specialty treatment system, government, and the recovery community in the Southeast.
With over 700 participants present, Southern Consortium Node members shared information about emergency department buprenorphine programs (Lindsey Jennings, MD), treatment of pregnant/postpartum women (Connie Guille, MD), the use of ECHO programs in providing education and support to rural practitioners and peers (Kelly Barth, DO and Karen Hartwell, MD) and the treatment of co-occurring substance use and other psychiatric disorders (Kathleen Brady, MD, PhD).
Dr. Kelly Barth received a Governor’s Award for championing the science of addiction medicine in South Carolina.
Pictured above from left to right is Governor Henry McMasters, Dr. Kelly Barth and Ms. Sara Goldsby.