Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don’t use opioids.

Kristin Archer, PhD, DPT, associate professor and vice chair of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, will serve as principal investigator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for a clinical trial that is examining strategies for reducing opioid use among patients with chronic pain.

Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Shriji Patel, M.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, wanted to find out what part, if any, his colleagues play in the crisis.

Fatal drug overdoses in Davidson County more than doubled in the past four years and now exceed the death rates for homicides and motor vehicle accidents, yet few people with addiction can obtain the treatment they need, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said Tuesday.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry will speak during a “science day,” Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the Belcourt Theatre hosted by the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research (VCAR).

Renewal House and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have launched an alliance that will expedite treatment and expand the community’s capacity to treat mothers and children most acutely affected by opioid addiction in the mid-state.

Stephen W. Patrick, M.D., MPH, MS, has been chosen to receive the Nemours Child Health Services Research Award, recognizing his work surrounding neonatal abstinence syndrome, a drug withdrawal syndrome experienced by infants exposed to opioids while in utero.