Press
The list below includes press releases, articles, and interviews of the Northeast Node, organized by project.
Northeast Node in the Press
The Therapist Is In—and It's a Chatbot App
"A DEADLY NEW virus circling the globe makes many people more anxious. The pandemic’s psychological toll can be particularly weighty for people with an existing mental healthcondition. One 25-year-old on the US East Coast seeing a therapist for help with anxiety found additional support from an unexpected source: a chatbot..."
Research, Outreach and Insulation: Dartmouth's Response to the Opioid Epidemic
"Dartmouth and the surrounding communities aren’t immune to epidemics like the opioid crisis sweeping across rural America. 68,557 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2018. Opioid addiction in particular is responsible for a large portion of these deaths, and it is especially prevalent in New Hampshire, which is one of the top five states with the highest rate of opioid-involved deaths..."
A Look into the Opioid Epidemic in the Upper Valley
"According to data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Pharmacy in Lebanon distributed 5,146,260 opioid pills between 2006 to 2014, making it the pharmacy which dispensed the most opioids in Grafton County. While the number of pills is not irregular considering the size of the population the pharmacy serves, the data illustrates the opioid epidemic in the Upper Valley and New Hampshire, which is changing with a rise in fentanyl use despite the best efforts of local organizations to combat the problem..."
Geisel study analyzes Safe Station program
"A new study conducted by researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine analyzes data collected on the Safe Station program in Manchester, a novel opioid addiction resource gaining national acclaim..."
Lisa A. Marsch develops digital interventions for the treatment of opioid addiction
"As a researcher and director of Dartmouth's Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CBTH) outside Hanover, New Hampshire, Lisa A. Marsch, PhD, explores how to use technology to connect evidence-based behavioral treatments with people whose lives may depend on their getting effective help..."
Report praises effectiveness of Safe Station program
"A new report on Manchester's Safe Station program called it a unique community response to the opioid crisis. Researchers from Dartmouth College based their findings on firsthand observations made from September 2017 to April 2018. The Safe Station program allows people suffering from addiction to seek help at any Manchester fire station..."
Study Shows Safe Station's Success Relates to Price, Convenience and Attitude
"Researchers at Dartmouth have completed a months-long study of Manchester's Safe Station program. The city’s fire department started the effort about two and a half years ago as way to open their doors to those struggling with addiction. Since then, they’ve logged more than 4,000 intakes, according to Chief Dan Goonan..."
PCHC to Prescribe Narcan to Any Mainer Who Requests It
"Bangor, Maine — Noah Nesin, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs, announced that Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) will provide a prescription for Narcan for any person in Maine who requests it, at the pharmacy of their choice..."
New mothers overcoming addiction face a world of obstacles
Quotes Daisy Goodman, Northeast Node Core Investigator, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, community and family medicine, and adjunct assistant professor of the Dartmouth Institute, in an article about how new mothers struggling with addiction get little attention. "We take intensive care of women during pregnancy. Postpartum, we drop them like a hot potato," says Goodman.
How Many Opioid Pills Do You Need After Surgery?
Quotes Richard Barth, professor of surgery at Northeast Node Community Partner Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, about how he and his colleagues came up with guidelines for prescribing opioids for five different surgical procedures, and after educating residents, nurses and other physicians on the guidelines, saw opioid prescriptions dropped by 53 percent four months later. "I'm just trying to do my part as a physician to responsibly prescribe opioids," says Barth. "I think if you do that, then fewer people are going to become longtime opioid users. It's those people that go back to their family practitioners and keep demanding more opioids."
Q&A with Geisel professor Lisa Marsch
"Geisel School of Medicine psychiatry professor and director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health Lisa Marsch recently testified before Congress’ Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic about her research on the nation’s opioid crisis..."
Geisel receives $3.8 mil. grant from National Institute on Drug Abuse
"The Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) at the Geisel School of Medicine was recently awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The $3.8 million grant will be used to pilot a new Northeast Node in NIDA’s National Clinical Trials Network (CTN).
The CTN that links a variety of treatment providers and patient populations throughout the country and creates a national infrastructure that promotes the translation of evidence-based practice from research into real world practice..."
Dartmouth Receives NIH Grant to Launch Northeast Node of National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network
"The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded a five-year $3.8 million grant to Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth’s Center for Technology and Behavioral Health. The award will support the launch of the new Northeast Node in NIDA’s National Clinical Trials Network (CTN), and clinical trials conducted by the Node will be supported by additional research project grants from NIDA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health..."
CTN-0102: Rural Expansion of Medication Assisted Treatment
Hometown Health Center takes part in telehealth clinical trial for opioid addiction
"Hometown Health Center in Dexter received funding for a five-year study to determine the effectiveness of telehealth on opioid recovery patients in rural areas..."
Initiatives in central, eastern Maine aim to help people in recovery access telehealth
"The coronavirus pandemic is not just a physical health crisis – it’s also a mental health crisis for people around the world. For some, like those struggling with substance abuse and recovery, the social isolation of the past few months has been tough to manage. According to a recent study by drugabuse.com, 47 percent of Mainers are worried that the economic stress brought on by COVID-19 could result in more drug and alcohol use in their communities. This survey of 3,000 Americans also indicates that one in four Americans have noticed their neighbors drinking more alcohol since the beginning of lock-down. That’s why there are a number of initiatives happening around the state to aid in the prevention and treatment of addiction..."
UCLA spearheads telemedicine program for opioid addiction patients at Maine clinic
"Hometown Health Center in Dexter, Maine, will conduct a clinical trial to determine whether telehealth services effectively treat rural opioid addiction patients. The health center is partnering with Bright Heart Health, an online treatment service for patients with opioid use disorder or eating disorders, to provide 24/7 telehealth treatments. It plans to offer a full range of opioid use disorder treatment to patients involved in the study, complete with appropriate prescriptions, without the need to travel after the initial referral meeting..."
Hometown Health Center partnering with UCLA to offer telehealth services for opioid addiction
"Hometown Health Center is participating in a new clinical trial to use telemedicine for the treatment of opioid addiction (or opioid use disorder). Working closely with Bright Heart Health, HHC in Dexter is able to provide telehealth-based treatment of opioid addiction to its patients..."
CTN-0073-Ot: Towards Detecting Cocaine Use Using Smartwatches (AutoSense)
Capturing Cocaine Use in Real Time
Illicit drug use is a pressing public health issue. And detecting cocaine use, or any type of drug for that matter, typically relies on either inaccurate self-reporting or collecting urine samples—none of which provide precise timing of cocaine use.
"But under the auspices of the Dartmouth-based Northeast Node of the Clinical Trials Network (CTN), which is part of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a new project is underway to detect cocaine use via a smart watch. Lisa Marsch, PhD, the Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at Geisel School of Medicine, and Santosh Kumar, PhD, a professor and the Lillian & Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Computer Science at the University of Memphis, are leading an endeavor to develop and test a smart watch with a suite of sensors to detect inter-heartbeat data. Their study is funded by NIDA..."
Understanding Opioid Overdoses in New Hampshire - the NH HotSpot Studies
NH First Responders Making House Calls to Treat Overdose Cases
"A new program allows communities to set up what some are calling “mobile Safe Stations,” a nod to the successful programs in Nashua and Manchester that encourage individuals to walk into any fire station and ask for help with substance use disorders..."
Cause and effect: the US opioid crisis explained
"The opioid epidemic ravaging the United States, and New Hampshire in particular, is born from subscription painkillers. How did it start? What do opioids do to the body? Is the crisis already past its worst? Lisa Marsch, an expert in the prevention and treatment of substance-use disorders and a professor at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, answers these questions..."
There’s more to that Dartmouth study Trump mentioned in his N.H. speech
"When President Trump took the stage in New Hampshire on Monday and delivered a fiery speech about how the White House plans to tackle the nationwide opioid problem..."
The Deadly Opioid Crisis in New Hampshire
How a ‘Perfect Storm’ in New Hampshire Has Fueled an Opioid Crisis
Why is NH a hotspot for opioid deaths?
"Why does New Hampshire rank second in the nation in opioid deaths? A recent study asked users, first responders and hospital staff to find out.
Dr. Lisa Marsch is director of Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, a designated “Center of Excellence” supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. She is also the director of the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network based out of Dartmouth and the Andrew G. Wallace professor within the department of psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
Marsch recently took part in the National Drug Early Warning System HotSpot study in an effort to explain why this is happening in the state, and to find ideas to reduce the state crisis..."
Opioid Crisis Plan Draws Mixed Praise From Experts
"President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, which he said marks a critical step toward combating the epidemic, which claimed over 30,000 lives in 2015..."
Why Does New Hampshire Lead in Synthetic Opioid Death Rate?
"President Trump said Monday that he would officially declare America’s opioid epidemic a national emergency next week, which would provide an influx of funding and policy initiatives across the country..."
HotSpot Study Shines New Light on the Granite State’s Opioid Crisis
"Geisel School of Medicine researchers are on the forefront of trying to solve one of the nation’s toughest problems—the high and escalating rate of accidental opioid overdose deaths. New Hampshire leads the nation with the highest per capita deaths from overdoses of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid..."
N.E. fentanyl deaths ‘like no other epidemic’
Opioid Users Share Their Stories With Dartmouth Researchers
"Despite mounting public awareness, New Hampshire, like other states, struggles to contain its opioid epidemic. Part of the problem is a lack of real-time information about who’s using opioids, especially fentanyl, and how government policies can help them stop.
Lisa Marsch is among a group of researchers hoping to fill that information gap. Marsch is director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, and with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she and her colleagues recently interviewed opioid users and first responders throughout New Hampshire, asking about how someone becomes addicted and how they can be helped..."
New Hampshire: Ground Zero for Opioids
"WHEN DANIEL GOONAN joined New Hampshire's Manchester Fire Department more than 30 years ago, he never thought that opioid overdose prevention and treatment would consume much of his time. Now, as chief of the department, he says at least half of his job is dedicated to dealing with the state's opioid crisis..."
What Factors Led New Hampshire to Be Ground Zero for the Opioid Crisis?
"It’s a well-known figure that New Hampshire has the second-highest per capita drug overdose deaths in the United States, right behind West Virginia. The state also has the highest rate of fentanyl-related overdose deaths per capita, leading researchers, health care providers, first responders, and lawmakers to wonder what about the Granite State makes it one of the most ravaged by the drug epidemic..."
At Dartmouth Forum, Speakers Get Glimpse Into the Worlds of Opioid Users and First Responders
"Researchers, health care providers, first responders and U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., gathered at Dartmouth College on Tuesday afternoon to discuss ways to reduce opioid misuse and opioid-related deaths. The issue has come to the fore across the country in recent years and particularly in New Hampshire, where rates of opioid overdoses increased by nearly 1,600 percent from 2010 to 2015..."
Kuster Joins Regional and National Leaders at Dartmouth College to Discuss the Opioid Crisis
"Yesterday, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) visited Dartmouth College for Tackling the New Hampshire Opioid Crisis: Harnessing the Power of Science to Break the Cycle to discuss the opioid epidemic and share updates on her work in Congress to address this issue. Kuster was joined by Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Lisa Marsch, Director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health..."
In Visit to Catholic Medical Center, Shaheen Highlights Devastating Impact ACA Repeal & Trump Budget Would Have on NH’s Efforts to Fight Opioid Epidemic
"Today, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) visited Catholic Medical Center (CMC), a not-for-profit full-service acute care hospital that has implemented several programs to help care for patients with substance misuse disorders. In just the last year, CMC has served more than 1,000 patients with substance use disorders in its 24-hour emergency department. Shaheen was joined by Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, Lisa Marsch, Director for the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Dr. William Goodman, CMC’s Medical Director, and Andrea Meier, Director of Operations of the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network..."
Conference explores role of science in opioid crisis
"New Hampshire’s disproportionately high rate of opioid overdoses is the result of prescription practices, underfunded and scarce treatment options and the state’s proximity to the drug supply chain, Dartmouth College researchers said Tuesday. The rate of death due to synthetic opioids — mainly fentanyl — increased by nearly 1,600 percent from 2010 to 2015. In 2015, the most recent year for which federal data is available, there were 24 such deaths per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the nation and double what it was the previous year..."
Discussion at Dartmouth Highlights Challenges in Opioid Crisis
"The Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse joined New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster in Hanover Tuesday afternoon. They spoke as part of a discussion on the opioid crisis hosted by Dartmouth College..."
Researchers call for scientific approach to dealing with drug crisis
"Researchers discussed causes of and possible solutions to New Hampshire's opioid epidemic Tuesday in a panel discussion at Dartmouth College. New Hampshire has the second highest rate of opioid overdoses in the country. Officials said it's important to employ scientific research when trying to curb the epidemic..."
NH Rep. Annie Kuster, health professionals discuss tackling opioid crisis
"A panel discussion on Tuesday at Dartmouth College focused on developing innovative solutions to tackling the opioid crisis.
New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster, D-2, joined drug abuse experts and healthcare professionals for the panel, called “Tackling the New Hampshire Opioid Crisis: Harnessing the Power of Science to Break the Cycle.”
Director of Dartmouth's Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Lisa Marsch, said the digital devices we use every day could potentially serve as convenient, therapeutic tools..."
U.S. Rep. Kuster ’78 Joins Opioid Crisis Talks at Dartmouth
"U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster ’78, founder and co-chair of the House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, and Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), are coming to Dartmouth next week to hear about new treatment and prevention methods developed to confront the spike in opioid overdose deaths in New Hampshire.
“New Hampshire ranks in the top two in the country—neck-and-neck with West Virginia—for overdose deaths per capita,” says Lisa Marsch, director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at the Geisel School of Medicine..."
Marsch Testifies Before the U.S. House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force
"In a briefing to the House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, Lisa Marsch, PhD, Principal Investigator of the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network, director of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, and the Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine, presented data from her NIDA-funded New Hampshire Hot Spot Study on heroin and synthetic drug use..."
Kuster Hears from New Hampshire Researcher on Impact of Fentanyl
"This afternoon, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) and Congressman Tom MacArthur (NJ-03) hosted a roundtable meeting of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force. The roundtable featured a panel of treatment and healthcare providers, recovery advocates, and fellow Members of Congress in the Rayburn Gold Room for a discussion on the science and treatment issues behind synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. Synthetic opioids have become a serious challenge for healthcare providers and law enforcement in New Hampshire and around the country. Kuster was joined by Dr. Lisa Marsch, Director of the Center for Technology and Behavior at Dartmouth College who recently published the “New Hampshire HotSpot Report” which examines the use of fentanyl in New Hampshire..."
Healthcare Advocates Testify on Synthetic Opioids
"The House Bipartisan Heroin Task Force held a roundtable to hear from physicians and public health advocates about heroin and synthetic drug abuse. Topics covered how these drugs affect the brain, communication between doctors and families on treatment plans for drug abusers, the need for alternative pain medicine, and the potency of synthetic drugs..."