Postponed - Speaker from the National Institutes of Health to discuss new initiative in treatment for opioid use disorder

Dr. Rebecca Baker, Director, National Institutes of Health, Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, will discuss this aggressive, trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the opioid crisis at the 2020 Hero Helps Community Forum, slated for Friday, April 24 at the Edward Hospital Athletic and Event Center in Romeoville. HEAL is an approach to develop and deliver scientific tools to end the opioid crisis and prevent it from reoccurring.

“The HEAL initiative is a unique study that addresses the cause of opioid addiction and misuse as well as identifying other effective manners of pain management,” said Paul Lauridsen, co-chair of the event. “The federal government has dedicated many resources to this study and we are excited to learn about the results and some of the new alternatives to address chronic pain management.”

Baker will speak about her research priorities include: studies to develop medication assisted treatment formulations that improve compliance, prevent relapse and reduce the risk of misuse; developing immunotherapies to treat cravings; helping communities focus on integrating opioid use prevention, treatment and recovery support in a coordinated array of settings; and developing new non addictive treatments for pain.
The event will begin at 8:00 a.m. with the resource expo which will include organizations working to address the opioid crisis. The speaker presentations will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will culminate with a panel taking questions from the audience regarding access to care and recovery support.

CME’s and CEU’s are being provided for medical, social work professionals, licensed professional counselors, and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery support professionals.

Naloxone training will be available from 11:00 a.m. until noon. Pre-registration to attend this training is required. To register for the event and for more information, visit the website: www.herohelpsswc.org.