The misuse of alcohol, opioids, and other substances poses many serious, well-known risks to people’s health and communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, economic stress, social isolation, and anxiety about the future may have deepened the public health emergency posed by substance misuse and addiction.
Across dozens of projects, researchers in Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development (HHD) are leveraging their own expertise and collaborating with their peers to address the genetic underpinnings of addiction, the effects of drug use on the brain, and three key areas of focus to address substance use: prevention, treatment and recovery.
Researchers are connecting with their colleagues across the University, many through Penn State’s Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse (CCSA). A recent initiative and priority for the University, the CCSA unites researchers from every college and campus to prevent and treat addiction.
“By uniting the expertise and experience from across the University under one umbrella, the CCSA is uniquely positioned to help build a world free from addiction,” said Stephanie Lanza, interim director of the CCSA, director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, C. Eugene Bennett Chair in Prevention Research, and professor of biobehavioral health. “And researchers in the College of Health and Human Development have an important role to play in building that world.”
The projects in this story demonstrate some of the challenges that researchers are addressing and some of the novel solutions they are employing to help protect society from substance misuse and addiction.
