Our region suffers from one of the highest rates of death by overdose in the nation - a sobering truth that calls for new approaches and community-based solutions.

University of Cincinnati and UC Health are working collaboratively—bringing together researchers, educators, and clinicians—to combat this devastating public health crisis.

Ohio has the second-highest rate of deaths by overdose in the country.

UC is using real-time research to focus treatment and recovery programs where they're needed most.

OUR MISSION

The University of Cincinnati/ UC Health Opioid Task Force will demonstrate its commitment to this significant public health issue by bringing together researchers, educators, clinicians and leaders/advocates who are dedicated to having a positive impact on opioid addiction locally, regionally and nationally.

OUR ACTIVITIES

Aligning expertise and resources to be competitive for research opportunities to continue as a national leader in opioid-related research.
Formalizing pathways to care across our health care systems, clinics, programs and agencies.
Advocating for best practices in evidence-based treatments and prevention.
Enhancing interprofessional training of health care providers and students about innovative approaches to the identification and treatment of chronic pain and opioid addiction.
Improving the health of our community through partnerships and engagement.

OUR PEOPLE & PARTNERS

In April 2017, our task force was formed, with co-chairs:
- Neil MacKinnon, PhD, Dean, James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy
- Melissa DelBello, MD, Stanley and Mickey Kaplan Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, College of Medicine
and created the following four working groups:
- Interprofessional Research: Chair - Theresa Winhusen, PhD
- Interprofessional Education: Chair – Kelly Lyle, MHA, MS
- Interprofessional Practice: Chairs – Rick Ryan, MD; Christine Wilder, MD; Stewart Wright, MD
- Community Outreach and Engagement: Chair - Candace Sabers, with support from the UC Academic Health Center and UC Health communication teams
Over 40 faculty and clinicians have joined the task force.

Opioids were involved in
47,600 overdose deaths in 2017

We’re working to spot the potential for abuse in high-risk patients and testing new treatments and approaches that will translate into community impact.

Teaching

As a global leader in problem-based scholarship, UC is educating future health professionals to provide best-practice care. Through grant-funded work, we’re providing interprofessional training to social workers and counselors. And our faculty have already developed life-saving interventions, such as Anti OD, a publicly accessible naloxone-dispensing device.

Healing

Our clinicians are providing the latest, proven addiction treatments and interventions to more than 700 patients. Tailored to diverse populations, UC’s interdisciplinary care teams are serving both those with and those at risk for opioid use disorder, improving the health of our community through partnership and engagement.

Discovery

As a national leader in opioid-related research and the Midwest hub for all clinical trials, UC is testing, adapting and delivering new treatments and practices—many of which are already making a positive impact. Since 2016, UC faculty have published more than 50 research studies involving opioids and we’re continually aligning expertise and resources to be competitive for additional research opportunities.

TEACHING

As a global leader in problem-based scholarship, UC is educating future health professionals to provide best-practice care. Through grant-funded work, we’re providing interprofessional training to social workers and counselors. And our faculty have already developed life-saving interventions, such as Anti OD, a publicly accessible naloxone-dispensing device.

HEALING

Our clinicians are providing the latest, proven addiction treatments and interventions to more than 700 patients. Tailored to diverse populations, UC’s interdisciplinary care teams are serving both those with and those at risk for opioid use disorder, improving the health of our community through partnership and engagement.

DISCOVERY

As a national leader in opioid-related research and the Midwest hub for all clinical trials, UC is testing, adapting and delivering new treatments and practices—many of which are already making a positive impact. Since 2016, UC faculty have published more than 50 research studies involving opioids and we’re continually aligning expertise and resources to be competitive for additional research opportunities.

BOLDLY BEARCAT MEANS USING YOUR BRAIN TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

At the University of Cincinnati, we never forget what made us: a combination of resilience and resolve; a sense of community that is the backbone of our nation. It’s why our revolutionary approaches to medicine have resulted in advanced cures available here before anywhere else. And it’s why we’ve recently created an Innovation Hub that will be a business incubator for the entire Midwest. For 200 years, we’ve worked together to make UC work for all of us.

And we're just getting started.

View of the downtown Cincinnati skyline as seen from Northern Kentucky

OUR REACH EXTENDS BEYOND THE OHIO RIVER

At UC, we realize the impact water quality has on human life, not only in our river, but through the Mississippi, into the Gulf of Mexico, and to the shores of all seven continents.

It covers 70 percent of our planet. But it gets 100 percent of our attention. Threats to the global water supply affect us all. And they're being felt now more than ever. Problems of this magnitude require innovative solutions. Integrated efforts across Cincinnati's campus and in partnership with the EPA are producing astounding results—just one example of the power of UC’s transdisciplinary, real-world teaching and learning.

A student conducts research using a LASER

THIS IS WHERE INTERNSHIPS SPARK STARTUPS

Integral to UC’s innovation agenda, 1819 brings students, entrepreneurs, businesses and faculty together to solve problems facing the community and the world. It’s a place designed to accelerate the pace of solution—moving ventures forward from research to reality, from capitalization to commercialization. It’s where the world-changing ideas of tomorrow are being discovered today.

It will start here.

TOGETHER WE CURE