Rebecca Harris
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Medication works for opioid use disorder (OUD), but many patients stop taking it. Most people who start buprenorphine, the drug most often prescribed for OUD in primary care, quit within six months.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
opioid use disorder
addiction medicine
substance use disorders
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Identify the structures, practices, and resources of primary care Peer Recovery Specialist programs, using a program survey, direct observation at 7–10 sites, and interviews with patients, peers, and clinicians.
- Develop an enhanced, cost-effective peer support model for keeping patients in opioid use disorder treatment, guided by a planning group of OUD, peer, and implementation experts.
- Pilot test the enhanced peer support model for 180 days with adult patients receiving buprenorphine in a primary care clinic, assessing feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and sustainability.
More about the research
That raises their risk of relapse, overdose, illness, and death. Peer Recovery Specialists (PRS) may help keep patients in treatment. These are people in recovery who use their experience and training to support patients, encourage change, and help them overcome everyday barriers to care. Little is known, however, about how primary care peer programs are organized or which features matter most.
Why it matters
Patients with opioid use disorder who drop out of buprenorphine treatment face higher risks of relapse and overdose. A well-designed peer recovery support model could help primary care clinics keep more patients in treatment. The pilot results could inform how clinics hire, train, and use peer specialists.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shadi Nahvi
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Develop a flexible methadone treatment intervention for opioid use disorder using input from stakeholders such as patients and clinicians, aiming at more patient-centered care.
Beth Meyerson
University of Arizona, AZ·Public Health & Epidemiology
Adapt the four MPACT components (staff trauma-informed training, trauma navigation, clinic self-assessment and reflective supervision) for opioid treatment programs through a participatory planning process with providers, patients and people with lived drug use experience.
Omeid Heidari
University of Washington, WA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Design the Community-Based Opioid Treatment (CBOT) strategy and its implementation plan through interviews with patients, providers, nurses and other stakeholders, then pilot and refine it with 10 participants over three months.
The school
University of Pennsylvania: 90 labs on PI Pages, $2.2B a year on research, 750 research doctorates a year.
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