Community Network-Driven COVID-19 Testing in Vulnerable Populations (044)

The University of Chicago received a supplement from NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program to support the Community Network-Driven COVID-19 Testing of Vulnerable Populations in the Central US (C3) project to evaluate a COVID-19 testing approach that combines Social Network Testing Strategy (SNS) with community-developed public health messages. This study will focus on addressing misinformation, stigma, and distrust about COVID-19 testing and prevention among two populations that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic: individuals involved in the criminal justice system that are not currently incarcerated and low-income Latinx individuals. The study will be conducted in rural and urban sites across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois. The goal of this study is to address challenges of current COVID-19 testing strategies which are limited by misinformation, stigma, distrust, and limited affirmation of ability to prevent COVID-19.

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Predicting the Next Overdose (022)

The University of Chicago is developing open-source software that can be used by researchers and practitioners to predict overdose and re-offending risk of their population. This project will use large administrative datasets and machine-learning technology to develop a framework for transparent predictive models and simulations to help identify people at highest risk and how populations will benefit from interventions, and explore the likely policy impact of observed relationships among emerging trends to improve outcomes.

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Mapping Federal Opioid Investments (025)

The University of Chicago is conducting a large-scale environmental scan of federally funded substance use-related initiatives and resources to understand how funds and resources are distributed across states. The study will also explore urban and rural differences, differences across areas based upon local drug-use epidemiology and availability of service resources and how federal funds are addressing opioid use disorders and other emerging drug-related challenges.

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Reducing Opioid Mortality in Illinois (ROMI) (040)

This study is conducting a multi-site trial called ROMI (Reducing Opioid Mortality in Illinois) to study the effectiveness of case management approaches to link individuals with community-based treatment services upon release from jail. The ROMI intervention includes peer recovery coaches to improve linkages to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), supportive services, naloxone distribution, and harm reduction services for justice-involved individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD).

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