Bridging the gap: Researchers Focus on Relevance and Portrayal in Health
Table of Contents
- 1. Bridging the gap: Researchers Focus on Relevance and Portrayal in Health
- 2. Do you think we’re doing enough to bridge the gap between research and real-world applications in healthcare?
- 3. Bridging the Gap: Researchers Focus on Relevance and Portrayal in Health
- 4. Dr. Sirry Alang: Addressing Medical Mistrust
- 5. Bridging the Gap through Collaboration
- 6. Optimizing Opioid Treatment: From Research to Reality
Health equity and accessibility are at the forefront of research, with a growing emphasis on bridging the gap between scientific discoveries and their real-world application.
Dr. Sirry Alang, associate dean of equity and justice and associate professor of health and human advancement at the University of pittsburgh’s School of Education, is tackling the critical issue of medical mistrust. Her research highlights how factors like substance use history, homelessness, incarceration, and minority status often lead to poorer health outcomes. This disparity,she emphasizes,isn’t due to individual choices but rather systemic injustices and a lack of trust in the medical system.
Alang underscores that this mistrust frequently enough stems from negative experiences and a lack of diverse representation in the development and implementation of health programs and policies. to address this, she believes true structural change requires prioritizing the lived experiences of those marginalized by these systems. “To bring meaningful structural change, we have to ground our research and our practice in the lived experiences of those who have been harmed by structural injustices. This work requires a focus on their voices,” she asserts.
To facilitate this shift, Alang and her colleagues have developed a tool designed to help researchers assess their roles in building meaningful partnerships with communities and empower community partners to evaluate their own engagement.
Simultaneously occurring, Dr. Renee cloutier, an assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, is focused on shrinking the time lag between scientific breakthroughs and their implementation in real-world healthcare settings. Her work concentrates on substance use and overdose protection, with a particular emphasis on optimizing opioid treatment programs.
“There have been a lot of major changes since COVID that are uniquely relevant to the opioid treatment program context,” Cloutier explains. “This includes versatility around methadone, take-home doses, and telehealth, making implementation research in this context especially vital.”
Cloutier collaborates with Pennsylvania’s Centers of Excellence for Opioid Use Disorder to integrate and leverage existing infrastructure and support systems. Her goal is to make treatment more readily accessible and relevant by prioritizing rapid implementation and adapting to evolving needs. “By centering data and resources around patient needs and how support provider teams meet those needs, we can achieve the common vision of improving the quality and impact of patient care,” she states.
Cloutier’s commitment to bringing cutting-edge science to the front lines of the opioid crisis underscores the growing need for research that not only generates knowledge but also translates it into tangible solutions that address the most pressing health challenges facing communities today.
want to learn more about Cloutier’s work to ensure opioid treatment utilizes the latest scientific advancements? Read more here.