Western States Node and CTN Grieve Loss of Mitch Greenlick

This project is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, but the information on this site has not been reviewed by NIDA and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute.

News from the Nodes

Northeast Node

On February 13, 2020, Dr. Susanne Tanski presented for the Northeast Node’s Science Series on the status of vaping in 2020, including the variability of devices and substances used, the health risks of vaping devices and the current policies, and recommendations for addressing youth and adult e-cigarette use.

Dr. Tanski is the Section Chief of General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD) and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

In her presentation, Dr. Tanski detailed that the harm of these products does not only depend on the drug being inhaled, but also the delivery device. Depending on the device and model, smoking one pod could be the equivalent of smoking 20-100 cigarettes.

As a pediatrician, Dr. Tanski has had first-hand experience seeing youth using e-cigarettes and vaping products. In her presentation Dr. Tanski discussed the surge in use among adolescents and how it can be attributed to a variety of factors, including advertisements targeted for youth, flavorings of interest to youth, and underlying nicotine to create dependence.

Dr. Tanski’s current research endeavors focus on tobacco use in adolescents and young adults, media influences on adolescent smoking and drinking, communication between pediatric clinicians and parents regarding eliminating secondhand smoke exposure of children and helping parents promote healthy lifestyles for their children.

You can view Dr. Tanski’s Science Series presentation here, as well as previously archived presentations.

Southwest Node

Casa de Salud, a nonprofit clinic in Albuquerque, NM and one of the community treatment programs in the CTN’s Southwest Node, was recently the focus of an NPR article about the struggle for COVID-19 relief funding experienced by Medicaid clinics.

Most of the $100 billion authorized by Congress for health care providers has gone to hospitals, doctors, and other facilities that serve Medicare patients. That approach has left out a large swath of the health system infrastructure that serves low-income Medicaid populations and children. Case de Salud, for example, accepts Medicaid but not Medicare. State Medicaid directors say that without immediate funding, many of the health facilities that serve Medicaid patients could close permanently. Read the full article here.

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Protocol Updates

CTN-0100
We are excited that the Data Management meeting for CTN-0100 is underway, occurring remotely the week of June 1st, during which we will review final study assessments and operating procedures. We continue to consider how much of the study can be conducted and managed remotely. National calls are planned for Tuesdays at 1pm ET and Clinical calls for Tuesdays at 3pm ET. We are waiting for final approval from Braeburn to establish a start date for Wave 1. For more information, please contact RDD at rdd@nyulangone.org.

CTN-0096
NIH recently featured a piece in their Research Spotlights blog about CTN-0096, an NIH HEAL Initiative study that will develop and test a culturally-centered program to support the integration of medications to treat OUD among AI/AN populations in primary care and addiction treatment clinics. Find the article here!