WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Indiana University will spend 50 million dollars in researching addiction over the next five years, IU President Michael McRobbie announced this afternoon.
At a joint press conference with Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, McRobbie said the funding will come from the University’s 300 million dollar ‘Grand Challenges Initiative.’
In a Facebook Live video, McRobbie told the crowd that Robin Newhouse, Dean of Nursing at IU Health will head the initiative.
McRobbie said the addictions initiative represents the largest opioid epidemic partnership between public institutions and state government in the nation.
He said among the projects to be implemented over the next six months, is a data collection and analysis initiative, which will be shared with government agencies.
The Addiction Initiative’s Principal Investigator and Dean of Nursing at IU Health Robin Newhouse said data collection, including individual data of those filling opioid prescriptions is necessary to help inform public health policies.
IU Health CEO and President Denis Murphy echoed McRobbie and Newhouse’s statements about the importance of technology within the initiative, stating that IU Health is using online tools to circumvent its shortage of health care workers responding to addiction.
Murphy said IU Health—the largest Healthcare provider in the state—has reduced its opioid prescriptions by 20 percent.
The announcement came during IU President Michael McRobbie’s 2017 State of the University Address.
