Brown team to co-lead $12M study to improve well-being of people who use drugs in New England

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - In response to increases in New England in substance use and cases of HIV, hepatitis C (HCV) and overdose, Brown University researchers will conduct an ambitious study to better understand trends in drug use and barriers to health care services. The study is funded by a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant, which will provide approximately $12 million in funding over five years.

The researchers will evaluate how people who use drugs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont are impacted by new state programs to prevent HIV, hepatitis C and overdose. The team includes researchers from Brown as well as the University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, the University of Vermont and Brown University Health.

"We aim to better understand how to improve the health and well-being of people who use drugs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont - three states that have been heavily impacted by the overdose crisis and HIV/HCV epidemics," said Brandon Marshall, a professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. "The ultimate goal is to create a feedback loop in which we share study findings with community partners to strengthen new and existing treatment and care programs."

Marshall will co-lead the new project with Katie Biello, a Brown professor of epidemiology and of behavioral and social sciences, and Angela Bazzi, a professor of public health at the University of California San Diego who has long collaborated on research with Marshall, Biello and their community partners.

"New England offers a compelling opportunity to conduct this work because the community has been heavily impacted by HIV, HCV, overdose and other harms tied to unregulated drug use," Bazzi said.

Biello added that although certain areas of the region have syringe service programs or drug treatment services, others - especially outside the region's major cities - have limited resources for people who use drugs.

The researchers cited the study's size and longevity as important benefits.

"This grant will enroll a large group of people across three states and follow them for up to five years, allowing us to study complex questions that we've wanted to find answers to for a long time," Biello said. "Health care access will be a major focus, and we intend to explore barriers to quality care in more traditional settings as well as in the innovative new programs that have been taking shape in these areas, such as the new overdose prevention center in Providence, and syringe service programs that offer on-site HIV preventative medication to people who use drugs."

The study aims to recruit 1,200 participants and will focus on four key topics: trends in drug use; barriers to treatment and care for HIV and HCV, and prevention of overdose; impacts of existing and new programs to address these outcomes; and how acute and chronic conditions, like mental health disorders, influence the well-being of people who use drugs.

The researchers also hope that over time the study will help them to rapidly identify infectious disease outbreaks and changes in drug use, such as new contaminants in the drug supply that affect people's health.

The researchers will work closely with community partners in each state, including among others Tapestry Health in western Massachusetts, Community Care Alliance in Woonsocket, R.I., and Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform in Burlington, Vermont.

"These organizations are essential to engaging participants, ensuring the continued relevance of researchers' questions, and gaining perspectives on local community needs, challenges and resources," Bazzi said.

The project, which launches in Fall 2025, is part of a consortium of sixNational Institute on Drug Abuse-funded studies focused on HIV and substance use, and will be the first of its kind based in New England.

"This presents an exciting opportunity to shed some light on what's going on in these areas that haven't been explored in the same way that urban areas have," Marshall said.