The 2023 Addiction Health Services Research Conference: Back in Person and Taking a Bite of the Big Apple

Abstract

The Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR) Conference has been held since 2002. This Conference brings together researchers, graduate students, policymakers, and treatment providers to focus improving the organization, distribution, and financing of healthcare resources for prevention/care of SUD. The 2023 AHSR Conference took place in New York City, October 18–20^th, and was hosted by the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH; cherishresearch.org). Attended by more than 300 participants, the Conference comprised several themes relating to the latest research on addiction health services delivery, financing, and impact. The agenda also included pre-conference workshops, distinguished plenary speakers, a multitude of networking opportunities, and career support for early-stage and minority investigators. AHSR 2023 featured 3 plenary sessions, 120 oral presentations, and 143 poster presentations from academics throughout the world. Overall, AHSR 2023 provided numerous opportunities to advance the field of addiction health services research. The state-of-the-art techniques and insights gained by attending scholars will position them to be change-agents in the addiction field going forward.

INTRODUCTION

The Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR) conference, held since 2002, brings together researchers, clinicians and treatment providers, policymakers, and research funders to focus on various aspects of addiction health services delivery, financing, and health impacts for populations at risk for, or living with substance use disorders (SUDs) and related conditions. While isolated aspects of substance misuse are improving—such as tobacco cessation and opioid prescribing practices—enormous service gaps persist that permit the ongoing negative impacts of risky and problematic substance use. The adverse effects disproportionately affect racial, ethnic, and gender minorities, as well as other disadvantaged populations and communities. This underscores the significance of prioritizing health disparities and health equity in addiction health services research. The AHSR conference has been hosted by leading institutions across the United States, including the University of Wisconsin; Boston University; Brandeis University, University of California, Los Angeles; University of Utah School of Medicine; University of Kentucky; University of Arkansas – Medical Sciences; Brown University, and more.^1–6

The AHSR 2023 Conference was held from October 18, 2023, to October 20, 2023, at the Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City and was hosted by the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH; cherishresearch.org), a multi-institutional Center of Excellence funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The AHSR 2023 Planning Committee Chairs were Kathryn E. McCollister, PhD from University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Sean M. Murphy, PhD from Weill Cornell Medicine. They were supported by faculty and staff at Weill Cornell Medicine including Dorela Voshtina, Jazmine M. Li, and Bonnie Tse. The AHSR Planning Committee also had several subcommittees chaired by Andrea Acevedo, PhD (Abstracts Review Committee), Czarina Behrends, PhD, MPH (Welcoming Committee), Yuhua Bao, PhD (Early Career Committee), Jake Morgan, PhD (Pre-conference Committee), and Ali Jalali, PhD (Marketing Committee). Logistical support was provided by the Northeast and Caribbean Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) network (https://attcnetwork.org/centers/northeast-caribbean-attc/home).

The AHSR 2023 Conference agenda featured research that in broad terms seeks to further the positive impact of prevention and treatment of SUD. The agenda included pre-conference workshops, four distinguished plenary speakers, networking opportunities, and career support for early-stage and minority investigators.

AHSR 2023 was the first in-person AHSR conference since AHSR 2019, which was hosted by the University of Utah’s Program for Addiction, Research, Clinical Care, Knowledge, and Advocacy in Park City, Utah.^1,7 Brown University hosted a virtual AHSR Conference in 2020, pivoting from the originally planned in-person conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brandeis University organized the 2021 virtual AHSR conference, and there was no conference in 2022. AHSR 2023 was attended by over 300 speakers and participants.

AHSR 2023 continued the tradition of recognizing and supporting the next generation of researchers devoted to health services research on SUD and co-morbid conditions such as HCV, HIV, and mental health disorders. The AHSR 2023 Early Career Investigator Award recognized scholars with achievements that demonstrate exceptional promise for future contributions to health services research for SUD. The Awardees were selected based on several factors, including primary research area(s), diversity, and need. AHSR 2023 selected the following awardees: Adam Viera, PhD; Alex Rains, MD Candidate, Aryn Phillips, PhD, MPH, Courtney Nordeck, PhD, Erika Crable, PhD, MPH, Jasmin Choi, MPH, MSW, and Sarah Gutkind, MSPH. Awardees received a cash prize to help cover the cost of attending the conference and were recognized during the opening morning breakfast session on October 19.

Several pre-conference workshops were offered where participants could learn methodologies for advancing addiction health services research, implementation science in addiction research, and how to successfully navigate extramural funding opportunities. A list of the workshops can be found in Table 1 and a detailed description of the content of the workshops and the expertise of the presenters can be found on the AHSR 2023 website.

Table 1.

Workshops at the 2023 Addiction Health Services Research Conference.

Workshop Title	Presenters
Addiction Health Services Research at NIH: Workshop for Early Investigators	Tisha Wiley, PhD, and Laura Kwako, PhD
Using Population Claims Data for Substance Use Policy and Health Services Research	Yuhua Bao, PhD and Jake Morgan, PhD
Optimizing the Adaptation and Personalization of SUD [Substance Use Disorder] Services: Innovations in Intervention and Experimental Designs	Inbal Billie Nahum-Shani, PhD, Daniel Almirall, PhD, Susan A. Murphy, PhD, and Linda M. Collins, PhD
Conducting Medicaid-Related Research – Rationale, Priorities, Challenges, and Opportunities	Maureen Stewart, PhD, Christina Andrews, PhD, Julie Donohue, PhD, Adam Stoler, and Shazia Hussian, MPH
Navigating the Myriad of Analytic Choices for Policy Evaluation Studies	Megan Schuler PhD, MS, and Beth Ann Griffin, PhD, SM
Leveraging Implementation Science in Your Research and in Your Career	Mark McGovern, PhD, MA, Sara Becker, PhD, Cecelia Calhoun, MD, MPHS, MBA, Hélène Chokron Garneau, PhD, MPH, and Lori Ducharme, PhD

The AHSR 2023 Conference Scientific Sessions consisted of research presentations representing high priority themes in the field such as methods/modeling, social support and community engagement, implementation and evaluation, costing, policy, cannabis and tobacco, adolescents and young adults, SUD prevention, COVID-19 impacts, health equity/disparities, social perceptions/stigma, MOUD, and harm reduction. Submitted abstracts were peer-reviewed by the Planning Committee who scored submissions on topic, approach, preliminary results, and overall contribution to the field. A total of 420 submissions were received for individual abstracts and symposiums. After reviewing scores and determining maximum capacity in the conference space, the Planning Committee accepted 120 oral presentations (11 symposiums and 19 presentation sessions, each comprised of 3–4 individual presentations) and 143 scientific posters (three poster sessions). Abstracts of oral and poster presentations are provided in an online supplementary file to this paper.

The AHSR 2023 Conference hosted three plenary sessions given by distinguished speakers. Tanzeem Choudhury, PhD of the MIT Media Laboratory, presented Plenary One: “15+ Years in the Making – When will the Digital Behavioral Health Revolution Deliver on its Promise”. The power of sensors, algorithms, and AI was supposed to fix much that is wrong with mental healthcare; e.g., poor measurements, robust tracking of treatment response, and timely delivery of personalized interventions. Yet, much of behavioral healthcare and care delivery remains the same. In this plenary, Dr. Choudhury reflected on the progress and remaining gaps of digital behavioral health, and discussed what will be required to make it a success story.

In Plenary Two, Chinazo Cunningham, MD, MS, Commissioner of the New York Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), presented “Leveraging Data to Understand and Guide Addiction Services Across New York State.” Commissioner Cunningham, reviewed the current epidemiology of SUD, and SUD services provided across New York State. She highlighted examples of how data, evaluation, and research are guiding initiatives and policies to improve access to services and outcomes among New Yorkers.

In Plenary Three, Laura Kwako, PhD and Carlos Blanco, MD, PhD, MS from the National Institutes of Health presented “NIH Priorities for Addiction Health Services Research.” Dr. Laura Kwako is Chief of the Treatment, Health Services, & Recovery Branch in the Division of Treatment and Recovery at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and Dr. Carlos Blanco is Director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research at NIDA. They presented current funding priorities in alcohol and drug health services research, including consideration of fellowship, training, and career awards, as well as traditional research project grant mechanisms.

As in previous AHSR conferences, a mentoring program sponsored by the Brandeis Harvard SUD Systems Performance Improvement Research and Engagement (SPIRE) Center was also available for students and early career investigators attending the conference.⁸ This Brandeis-Harvard mentoring program provided opportunities for these attendees to connect with, and receive advice from, established investigators in the addiction health services research field, with similar interests. AHSR 2023 had 24 mentors and 26 mentees. The feedback to this mentoring program was overwhelmingly positive. Maureen Stewart, PhD provided leadership in matching mentees with mentors and administering the program on behalf of the Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center. SPIRE acknowledges the dedicated efforts of generous volunteers that helped make the mentoring program a success.

The AHSR 2023 Conference was greatly supported and enhanced through the tireless work of its planning committee. Planning Committee members included: Aaron Johnson, PhD (Augusta University), Adam Gordon, MD, MPH (University of Utah), Ali Jalali, PhD (Weill Cornell Medicine), Amanda Abraham, PhD (University of Georgia), Andrea Acevedo, PhD (Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.), Angela Robertson, PhD (Mississippi State University), Bryan Garner, PhD (Ohio State), Czarina Navos Behrends, PhD, MPH (Weill Cornell Medicine), Erminia Fardone, PhD (University of Miami), Hannah Knudsen, PhD (University of Kentucky), Heather Gotham, PhD, MA (Stanford University), Hélène Chokron Garneau, PhD, MPH (Stanford University), Hillary Samples, PhD (Rutgers University), Jake Morgan, PhD (Boston University), Jared A. Leff, MS (Weill Cornell Medicine), Jazmine M. Li, MPH (Weill Cornell Medicine), Jennifer Becan, PhD (Texas Christian University), Kathryn E. McCollister, PhD (Co-Chair, University of Miami), Kelli Scott, PhD (Northwestern), Laura Kwako, PhD (NIAAA), Lori Ducharme, PhD (NIDA), Manuel Cano, PhD, MSW (Arizona State University), Mitchell Garets, MSW (University of Utah), Morgen Shields, PhD (Washington University), Patience Moyo, PhD (Brown University), Patricia Chaple (NYSPI), Peter Friedmann, MD, MPH (Baystate Health), Phillip Marotta, PhD (Washington University), Randy Brown, MD, PhD (University of Wisconsin), Sara Becker, PhD (Northwestern), Sarah Helseth, PhD (Northwestern), Sean Grant, DPhil (RAND), Sean M. Murphy, PhD (Co-Chair, Weill Cornell Medicine), Sharon Reif, PhD (Brandeis University), Yuhua Bao, PhD (Weill Cornell Medicine).

Take home points from 2023 AHSR include many important themes that we expect will guide the research agenda in this field going forward. For instance, the need to better integrate care across systems (hospitals and health systems, communities, education, criminal legal) will require substantial work to improve data systems compatibility, define financing mechanisms, and address disparities in access to and quality of addiction services. Reconciling how care is delivered and paid for across the various addiction care cascades is also of interest. Promotion of team science across the interdisciplinary field of addiction health services research (e.g., researchers and clinicians more effectively engaging with community or agency partners) can continue to improve indefinitely. Future AHSR Conferences will be hosted by the Center for Behavioral Health Services and Implementation Research, at Stanford University School of Medicine (2024), Kansas City (2025), and the Program for Addiction Research, Clinical Care, Knowledge, and Advocacy, at the University of Utah (2026).

HIGHLIGHTS.

• The 2023 Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR 2023) Conference in New York City, in October 2023, was hosted by the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH).

• The AHSR 2023 Conference was attended by 308 individuals, and consisted of an agenda that furthered the positive impact of prevention and care of substance use disorders.

• In addition to research presentations, AHSR 2023 included pre-conference workshops, a slate of distinguished plenary speakers, a multitude of networking opportunities, and career support for early-stage and underrepresented investigators.