2019 Accomplishments

JANUARY 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - Addiction Care at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, Elizabeth F. Howell, MD MS Education Director, PARCKA, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program Director
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH speaker at Opioid Use Awareness Training hosted by Salt Lake County Health Dept. & Utah State University Extension
• Adam Gordon, MD MPH trained twenty-two medical and health providers in Medication-Assisted Treatment Buprenorpphine Waiver Training sponsored by American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry

FEBRUARY 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - Siri, Rate My Counselor: Scaling up the evaluation of substance use counseling with speech signal processing and machine learning, Zac Imel, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling Psychology Program & Jake Van Epps, PhD University Counseling Center, Coordinator of Testing and Assessment; Staff Psychologist.

MARCH 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - Marijuana in Pregnancy: Sorting through Hazy Evidence, Torri Metz, MD MS, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a Maternal-Fetal Medicine subspecialist, and Director of Perinatal Research at University of Utah Health.
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH speaker at the NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN) Annual Steering Committee Meeting.
• Began recruitment for the Optimizing Pregnancy and Treatment Interventions for Moms 2.0 study. Principle Investigator: Gerald Cochran, PhD, MSW.
• The University of Utah was approved as a site to partner in the study, “Medication treatment for Opioid use disorder in expectant Mothers (MOMs): a pragmatic randomized trial comparing extended-release and daily buprenorphine formulations."
• See details of the newly approved Validation of a Community Pharmacy-based Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Risk Screening Tool (PHARMSCREEN) study. 
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH speaker during the Arthur G. Lipman Didactic Series of the University of Utah's Division of Pain Medicine and the Department of Anesthesiology.

APRIL 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - SBIRT the next Sphygmomanometer in Utah: Understanding SBIRT education at the University of Utah and Utah, Melissa Cheng, MD MOH MHS.
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH panelist at The Future of Clinical Research At The University of Utah: Challenges and Opportunities

MAY 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - Project Echo - We may not be Amazon, but we are breaking down the walls between speciality and primary care, Paula Cook, MD & Christina Choate, ECHO Lead Program Coordinator. 
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH presenter at the Utah VA Research Week.
• PARCKA has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Utah Department of Health to facilitate six Buprenorphine Waiver Trainings throughout the State of Utah between 2019-2020. Connie Kitchens, Ph.D. and Mitchell Garets served as the grant writers. 

JUNE 2019

• The Greater Intermountain Node (GIN) was founded and awarded June 1, 2019. The GIN will expand the existing National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trial Network (CTN) infrastructure by developing and testing innovative interventions for opioid use disorder, preventing overdose, expanding the settings for Network research, and bringing new research expertise to the Network. GIN is housed within PARCKA. PARCKA Directors Adam Gordon and Jerry Cochran are the GIN Co-Principal Investigators.
• PARCKA PARLEYS - Stigma is Recovery's Biggest Enemy, Tricia Bishop and Heather Bush, Utah Department of Health Syringe Exchange. 
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH facilitated a Medication Addiction Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Waiver Eligibility Training at the 3rd Annual Psychiatry Addictions Update Conference.  Dr. Gordon trained 35+ providers.
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH participated in two panels at the 3rd Annual Psychiatry Addictions Update Conference. June 13, 2019 - "Innovative, New Models of Addiction Tx Delivery" and June 14, 2019 - "Cannabinoids - Addressing ‘Are Cannabinoids the Answer to the Opioid Epidemic?"
• Jerry Cochran, Ph.D., MSW presented Extending Care for Opioid Use Disorders to Community Pharmacy Settings at the Department of Internal Medicine Epidemiology Grand Rounds.

JULY 2019

• GIN on the Rocks - Principal Investigators Adam Gordon, MD, MPH and Jerry Cochran, PhD, MSW presented on the Greater Intermountain Node.
• PARCKA PARLEYS - Amidst Tragedy, A Frameshift: Evolving Policy Initiatives to Address Prescription Opioid Recipients, Stefan Kertesz, MD, MSc, University of Alabama, Veterans Health Administration.

AUGUST 2019

• GIN on the Rocks - Adam Gordon, MD, MPH presented on the GIN Study "A Foundation to Examine Reasons for Discontinuation for Buprenorphine Care in the Veterans Health Administration". 
• Adam Gordon, MD, MPH presented at the 43rd Annual Utah PA/NP Conference at the Snowbird Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT. 
• PARCKA hosted the "'Do You Know A Veteran?', Wellness Resource Fair" in West Valley City, UT.

SEPTEMBER 2019

• GIN on the Rocks - Jerry Cochran, PhD, MSW present on the GIN Study "Validation of a Community Pharmacy-based Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Risk Screening Tool (PHARMSCREEN) (NIH HEAL Initiative)".
• PARCKA PARLEYS - Let’s talk to the Experts – Advanced Treatment Options for Opioid Use, with Katherine L. Carlson, MD, FASAM; Christina Zidow, LCSW; and Misty McIntyre Goodsell, LCSW.
• MAT-BUP Training - PARCKA Director Adam Gordon, MD, MPH trained 11 providers to become BUP Waivered in Martinsburg, WV.
• PARCKA GRA Ary Bryan, MSW presented "The Opioid Crisis, How We Got Here, & Where We're Headed" at the Utah Criminal Justice Conference in West Valley City, UT. 
• PARCKA Community Advocacy Director Connie Kitchens and PARCKA/GIN Research Analyst Mitchell Garets attended the 2019 Utah Fall Substance Use Conference in St. George, UT. 
• PARCKA Research Director/GIN P.I. Jerry Cochran, GIN Research Manager Gina Gregovich, PARCKA Research Analyst Jade Hill, PARCKA Senior Clinical Research Coordinator Kristi Carlston and others from our team traveled to Cincinnati, OH the week of September 16th to train for an upcoming study.
• PARCKA Research Analyst Jade Hill and PARCKA GRA Ary Bryan, MSW traveled to Columbus, OH for a study collaboration and training.

OCTOBER 2019

• GIN on the Rocks - Dr. Peter Taillac presented and discussed an overview of the Emergency Department Innovate Study 0099. Dr. Taillac described the current state pilot project, his insights, and the future of the study. Dr. Jerry Cochran (PARCKA Research Director) also ellaborated on the upcoming study expansion which will bring MAT to several Utah hospitals.
• PARCKA PARLEYS - “Misfits between the Law and People with Opioid Use Disorders” with Leslie Francis, JD, PhD and Teneille Brown, JD from the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. 
• PARCKA hosted the 2019 Addiction Health Services Research Conference - an international research conference in Park City, UT October 16-18. PARCKA Directors Adam Gordon, Jerry Cochran, and Connie Kitchens served as conference co-chairs. We would like to thank the PARCKA Team for their help in making this conference possible.
• PARCKA Director Adam Gordon was a panel participant for the Prescriber-Patient Public Town Hall in Utah County, Utah on Wednesday, October 23, 2019. 
• PARCKA Director Adam Gordon traveled to Washington D.C. the week of October 28th for a research conference and a VA site visit and meetings.
• PARCKA Director Dr. Adam Gordon recently spoke with the Genetic Science Learning Center about safe opioid use, you can watch it now here.

NOVEMBER 2019

• PARCKA PARLEYS - “Marijuana and the new Utah Law” with Steve Ipsen, MSN, RN Director of Clinical Services, State of Utah Department of Public Health
• Jacob Foringer joined the Greater Intermountain Node/PARCKA Research Team as a Research Analyst. You can learn more about Jacob and the rest of our GIN team here.
• GIN PIs Adam Gordon and Jerry Cochran attended AMERSA’s 43rd Annual Conference in Boston, MA. You can learn more about this year's conference and save the date for next year's conference here.
• PUWBIE BUP Waiver Training - Training was facilitated by Adam J. Gordon. 39 people attended and were trainined in Salt Lake City, UT.

DECEMBER 2019:

• PARCKA PARLEYS - “"Preventing Adolescent Vaping: What We Know and What We Don't" with Jason Burrow-Sanchez, PhD & Benjamin Ratcliff, BS from the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah. Watch on Facebook
• GIN on the Rocks - Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW presented to a full house – we hosted over 35 people at this month’s GOTR. Dr. Garland presented on mindfulness interventions for opioid use disorder (OUD), chronic pain, and more. He also presented on his various research and data. If you missed this month’s GOTR, you can watch it now over at www.facebook.com/UofUPARCKA.