UMass Chan researchers awarded $12.3M for opioid addiction treatment

Photo | UMass Chan Medical School David Smelson, a UMass Chan professor of psychiatry, who is leading research on the addiction treatment plan MISSION

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By Katherine Hamilton

A UMass Chan Medical School research team was awarded a four-year, $12.3-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study and develop a treatment program for adults with opioid-use disorders and mental illness, according to a Monday press release from the Worcester school.

The program, Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking, includes therapy, peer support, and critical time intervention, which connects clients with housing and employment resources. Participants in the program receive the MISSION treatment for six months, per the release.

While the treatment has been proven to be effective, the new grant will help assess whether a combination of less-intensive intervention combined with medication can also be effective.

The study will include 1,000 participants from 11 sites across the state, starting Dec. 16. The team hopes to hire 23 new staff for the study.

The team is led by Professor David Smelson, who is director of psychiatry and director of the Center of Excellence in Addiction at UMass Chan.

“Specifically for people who have a co-occurring mental health disorder and opioid addiction, they tend to have a hard time engaging in care, particularly at the beginning of care,” said Smelson in the press release. “In our model, we link people, and we deliver treatment ourselves during a critical, vulnerable time, up to six months.”