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New NIDA Strategic Plan Prioritizes Research Informed by Lived Experience
With the unveiling of its latest 5-year strategic plan, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is prioritizing “research that is informed by people with lived experience of addiction themselves or their families, to best meet the needs of those directly impacted by our science,” according to NIDA Director Nora Volkow, MD.
NIDA recently unveiled its latest strategic plan as part of a planning process that each of the National Institutes of Health engage in once every 5 years to review the current state of research and set institutional priorities moving forward. The new NIDA plan sets a roadmap to take the institute through 2026.
>> READ the 2022-26 NIDA Strategic Plan
In her latest blog post on the NIDA website, Dr Volkow highlighted the institute’s 5 priority scientific areas:
- Understand drugs, the brain, and behavior
- Develop and test novel prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support strategies
- Accelerate research on the intersection of substance use, HIV, and related comorbidities
- Improve the implementation of evidence-based strategies in real-world settings
- Translate research into innovative health applications
Dr Volkow said that the plan was developed with input from NIDA’s advisory council as well as the public.
In addition to the 5 priority scientific areas, the NIDA strategic plan also outlines 7 cross-cutting priorities critical to the institute’s portfolio:
- Training the next generation of scientists
- Identifying and developing approaches to reducing stigma
- Understanding sex, sexual orientation, and gender differences
- Identifying and developing approaches to reducing health disparities
- Understanding interactions between substance use, HIV, and other comorbidities
- Leveraging data science and analytics to understand real-world complexity
- Developing personalized interventions informed by people with lived experience
“The rapidly shifting drug landscape and the devastation of the drug overdose epidemic have enhanced public interest and drawn greater investment in our science, and it is our responsibility to help direct that investment in the most effective, equitable, and wise manner to prevent and treat drug addiction and its consequences,” Dr Volkow wrote in her blog.
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