SCCR Addresses Opioid Epidemic and Cardiovascular Essentials

Two recent events underscore the educational component of SCCR.

As part of the SCCR Science Series, Anna Lembke, MD, Stanford associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, medical director of Addiction Medicine, and chief of the Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic discussed “The Opioid Epidemic: How We Got Here and How to Get Out” on February 7, 2019.

Clinical research coordinators, nurses, and managers learned about prescription drug misuse, the national opioid epidemic, and what health care professionals need to know to assist with recovering from this crisis. 

Lembke spoke about how and why opioid prescribing has changed from 1980 to 2016; the neurobiological, sociocultural, and psychodynamic factors driving over-prescribing and over-consumption of prescription opioids; and ideas for how health care providers can target and reduce this public health crisis moving forward.  

As one attendee stated: “This was a wonderful class, and Dr. Lembke was an exceptional speaker. In addition to her expertise, I could sense the passion she has for people suffering from addiction, an illness.” 

Aimed at educating members of the Stanford clinical research community in diverse therapeutic areas, SCCR’s Science Series provides Stanford staff with additional resources and training in their specific therapeutic areas, increases staff’s overall knowledge of health and disease, enhances their skills, and ultimately benefits the conduct of research at Stanford.

Cardiovascular essentials were covered during a two-day event in May 2018 in conjunction with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and an SCCR industry partner, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The purpose was to train the sales and marketing teams of Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the area of cardiovascular medicine.  

Topics included:

·      Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), including pathophysiology, diagnosis and evaluation, risk stratification, and interventional strategies

·      Coronary artery disease (CAD), including diagnosis and evaluation, diagnostic testing, risk stratification, and interventional strategies

·      Pharmacotherapy and management

·      Antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapies in PAD and CAD

·      Heart failure, including overview, pathophysiology, and patient management

Stanford medical faculty who presented were: Eri Fukaya, MD, Brian Kim, MD, Allie Yen, MD, Guson Kang, MD, Connor O’Brien, MD, Kenneth Mahaffey, MD, Kelly Matsuda, PharmD, Fatima Rodriguez, MD, John Giacomini, MD, and Jeff Teuteberg, MD.

In addition to sharing case studies involving both PAD and CAD patients, presenters invited participants to engage in hands-on learning with transthoracic echocardiograms, heart catheterization access, stents, and the ankle brachial index. 

Collaboration is a core value of SCCR, both across the Stanford campus as well as externally with other academic institutions, industry partners, and medical societies such as the ACC. By collaborating with the ACC on the cardiovascular essentials event, SCCR was able to deliver a robust, enriched, and tailored program to the sales and marketing teams of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, to further enhance their knowledge of cardiovascular disease and treatment.