As a clinical nurse, Sharon Davis saw women who suffered from substance use disorder vilified by their doctors. She didn’t yet know about the science of addiction, but she knew that didn’t feel right.
Davis, a clinical associate professor of nursing, and Laurie Meschke, professor of public health, are leading an effort to address opioid abuse disorder (OUD) in rural East Tennessee. Their interdisciplinary team successfully pursued funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) twice.
Their Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-East Tennessee Consortium (RCORP-ETC), was created from a collaboration that started with a SPARKS (Seeking Partnerships for Research, Knowledge, and Science) event hosted by the Office of Research and Engagement’s research development group.
