MTSU’s Data Science Institute to assist in opioid abuse study

MTSU’s Data Science Institute to offer data expertise and support for opioid abuse study by the Center for Health and Human Services (CHHS) at MTSU.

CHHS and DrugFree Wilco, a Wilson County nonprofit coalition have partnered to address opioid abuse and misuse in the rural communities of the Midstate county thanks to a $1 milion federal grant.

The partnership has received funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

DrugFree Wilco is a coalition of volunteers seeking to prevent and reduce drug addiction among youth and adults in Wilson County. In addition to that organization, the Center for Health and Human Services is working with MTSU’s Department Health and Human Performance public health faculty, its Data Science Institute and other on- and off-campus partners.

Cynthia Chafin, CHHS associate director of communty programs, is serving as lead principal investigator on the grant with community and public health assistant professor Kahler Stone as co-principal investigator, with biology professor Ryan Otter and the Data Science Institute providing data expertise and support. MTSU graduate student Chipper Smith, a Wilson County resident and public health student, will be assisting with grant activities as he did with the earlier planning grant as a project assistant.

For more details on this study go to MTSUNews