News from the Health System Node: Spotlight on Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW

February 19, 2025 /

Spotlight on Health System Node Investigator – Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW

CTN studies often have many important secondary findings and Dr. Lapham, a CTN investigator in the Health Systems Node, has been making sure these get published rapidly. In 2024, Dr. Lapham led a paper on Year 3 outcomes of the PROUD Trial (CTN-0074) in JAMA Network Open, showing that the benefit of the PROUD nurse care manager intervention more than doubled during year 3 (compared to years 1-2 in the main results paper) with significant benefit in 4 of 6 health systems (compared to 2 in main results) suggesting that main results were early in implementation. Dr. Lapham, who led the CTN-0077 study (Medical Cannabis in EHRs), also oversaw 2 secondary papers this year, including one in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that showed the prevalence of cannabis use disorder increased with greater frequency of cannabis use reported by patients in the clinical setting. She also led a paper for CTN-140 published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine that identified predictors of participation among pregnant individuals who use cannabis in Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s Early Start program – a prenatal substance use assessment, counseling, and treatment program. The study found most pregnant individuals with prenatal cannabis use engaged in the program, though opportunities to improve care gaps remain.

CTN-0074:

Nurse Care Management of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment After 3 Years: A Secondary Analysis of the PROUD Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.
Lapham GT, Hyun N, Bobb JF, Wartko PD, Matthews AG, Yu O, McCormack J, Lee AK, Liu DS, Samet JH, Zare-Mehrjerdi M, Braciszewski JM, Murphy MT, Arnsten JH, Horigian V, Caldeiro RM, Addis M, Bradley KA. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Nov 4;7(11):e2447447. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.47447. PMID: 39576637; PMCID: PMC11584924.

CTN-0077:

Prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder Among Primary Care Patients with Varying Frequency of Past-Year Cannabis Use.
Lapham GT, Bobb JF, Luce C, Oliver MM, Hamilton LK, Hyun N, Hallgren KA, Matson TE. J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Oct 24. doi: 10.1007/s11606-024-09061-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39446234.

CTN-0077:

Discriminative validity of a substance use symptom checklist for moderate-severe DSM-5 cannabis use disorder (CUD) in primary care settings. Hamilton LK, Bradley KA, Matson TE, Lapham GT. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. 2024 Jul 15;12:100260. doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2024.100260. PMID: 39156656; PMCID: PMC11326943.

CTN-0140:

Predictors of Participation in Prenatal Substance Use Assessment, Counseling, and Treatment Among Pregnant Individuals in Prenatal Settings Who Use Cannabis. Lapham GT, Chi FW, Young-Wolff KC, Ansley D, Castellanos C, Does MB, Asyyed AH, Ettenger A, Campbell CI. J Addict Med. 2024 Nov 15. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000001399. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39792606.