News

April 2022

Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Uche Aneni, MBBS, MHS: Promoting Prevention & Increasing Access through Digital Interventions

As a child and teenager in Ibadan, Nigeria, Uche Aneni, MBBS, MHS, thought her mother, a clinical psychologist, “got into her head too much.” But that frequent unsolicited analysis—along with her father’s career as a public health and community medicine physician and her older sister’s struggle with a neurodevelopmental disorder—ultimately inspired Aneni to become a child psychiatrist. More >

April 2022

NIH HEAL Initiative Investigators Meeting

A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in SBHCs

NIH HEAL Initiative Investigators Meeting: “A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in SBHCs” Virtual, April 11, 2022.

February 2022

TIME

What Euphoria Gets Right—and Wrong—About Teen Drug Use and Addiction

The show has sparked controversy over how it portrays teen drug use. In January, D.A.R.E.—the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program—criticized the show for “glorify[ing]” high school drug use and making it seem “common and widespread in today’s world.” But drug use is not uncommon among high school students today. In the U.S., about 1.6 million kids ages 12 to 17—6.3% of the adolescent population—had substance use disorder in 2020, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “That’s a huge problem,” says Dr. Lynn Fiellin, professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and Child Study Center, who is trained in addiction medicine and behavioral health (and who is a fan of the show). The problem seems to be growing, too; in 2020, millions more kids tried drugs for the first time. “Euphoria depicts exactly what is going on,” she says. More >

January 2022

NBC Connecticut

Meals4Healers Helps Physician Trainees Impacted by COVID-19 – NBC Connecticut

The ongoing strain the pandemic has had a significant impact on health care workers and it’s been made more difficult with many hospital employees testing positive for COVID over the last few weeks. A program called Meals4Healers is helping. Dr. Claudi-Santi Fernandes, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, spoke with NBC about the program. More >

November 2021

Annual HEAL Prevention Collaborative Meeting

PlaySMART intervention development: A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs)

Annual HEAL Prevention Collaborative Meeting: “PlaySMART intervention development: A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs)”, Virtual, November 10, 2021.

November 2021

Annual HEAL Prevention Collaborative Meeting

A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs)

Annual HEAL Prevention Collaborative Meeting: “A digital intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs)”, Virtual, November 8, 2021.

October 2021

Technology in Psychiatry Online Summit

Identifying Digital Biomarkers for Adolescent Substance Use from In-game Data

Technology in Psychiatry Online Summit: “Identifying Digital Biomarkers for Adolescent Substance Use from In-game Data”. Video presentation, October 2021.

October 2021

2021 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo

An accessible digital intervention to promote STI/HIV testing/counseling and prevention among adolescents

American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo: “An accessible digital intervention to promote STI/HIV testing/counseling and prevention among adolescents.” Virtual Roundtable Presentation, October 26, 2021.

October 2021

2021 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo

Incorporating Social Connections into the Design and Development of PlaySmart, a Videogame Prevention Intervention to Address Opioid Misuse in Adolescents

American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Expo: “Incorporating Social Connections into the Design and Development of PlaySmart, a Videogame Prevention Intervention to Address Opioid Misuse in Adolescents.” Virtual Oral Presentation, October 25, 2021.

September 2021

The Morning Call

Your View: How we can cut opioid deaths among young people

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is another public health emergency that recently hit peak levels in the United States.

The opioid epidemic has escalated at a startling rate. Recent data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that reported drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 94,134 in the period from January 2020 to January 2021. That’s a 30% increase over the same 12 months from 2019 to 2020.

More >