Partners

Community partners are vital members of the broader CTN team. Close collaboration with our community partners ensures that CTN trials are conducted in "real-world" settings to maximize the relevance and practice-readiness of any treatment we evaluate. The SCN is fortunate to work with a wonderful group of community partners across the state of South Carolina and the Southeastern region.

 

DAODAS

The Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS) is the South Carolina government agency charged with ensuring quality services to prevent or reduce the negative consequences of substance use and addictions.  The mission of DAODAS is to ensure the availability and quality of a continuum of substance use services, thereby improving the health status, safety, and quality of life of individuals, families, and communities across South Carolina.

SC AHEC 

The South Carolina AHEC builds and supports the healthcare workforce South Carolina needs through a focus on recruiting, retaining, and educating healthcare professionals. South Carolina AHEC connects students and professionals with the tools, training, and resources necessary to provide quality healthcare, with a focus on primary care for rural and underserved communities. This is done through a variety of programs, starting with students in high school and progressing through college, health professions training programs, and graduate medical education. Then, once providers are practicing professionals, programs support the recruitment and retention of providers, as well as continuing professional development and access to education and other services via telehealth. Finally, the Office for Healthcare Workforce studies the healthcare workforce needs and trends to inform decision making.

South Carolina Telehealth Alliance

The South Carolina Telehealth Alliance is an unprecedented collaboration of many health systems and providers across the state working together to ensure no South Carolinian is without access to quality health care due to where they live. Some of the partners within the alliance include Greenville Health System, Palmetto Health, McLeod Health, the SC Department of Mental Health, Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC), Palmetto Care Connections, and Educational Television (ETV).

South Carolina Center of Excellence (COE) in Addiction

The South Carolina Center of Excellence (COE) in Addiction was founded in 2022 with the primary aim of improving access to high quality, evidence-informed addiction prevention and treatment services statewide through the application of data science to drive technical assistance and training, as well as serving as a platform to test and scale innovative approaches to SUD treatment and recovery. South Carolina COE leadership is shared by Southern Consortium Node investigators and Policy Advisory Committee members: Drs. Kathleen Brady, Alaine Litwin, Christina Andrews and Ms. Sarah Goldsby.

MUSC BMIC

The Biomedical Informatics Center (BMIC) was established as a program in 2008 as part of research infrastructure development and investment by MUSC and Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC). The BMIC includes a dedicated team of Informatics experts, software engineers and research support services under the leadership of Drs. Leslie Lenert and Jihad Obeid. The BMIC has shown tremendous growth in the past three years with current staffing of around 30 individuals that serve projects across the state of South Carolina. This team has an established track record and has been heavily immersed in the development and installation of several research infrastructural systems including the clinical data warehouse (CDW) projects both at MUSC and HSSC, i2b2, electronic consents, Palmetto Profiles, eIRB and several South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research (SCTR) Institute administrative systems.

MUSC Regional Health Network (RHN)

Over the past five years, MUSC Health expanded to include community hospitals and clinics across the state in urban and rural communities that comprise the RHN To expand RHN access to clinical trials, an award from the Duke Foundation, 'Rural Community Enhanced Access to Clinical Trials in Health Systems in South Carolina' (REACH-SC; Co-PIs Brady & Flume), supported the establishment of research extensions in four rural SC community hospitals. REACH-SC is a sustainable network of satellite research clinics that offer the full spectrum of centralized, hybrid, and decentralized clinical trials in rural communities. RHN sites participated in the emergency department (ED) buprenorphine implementation. The SCN is a key partner and contributor to this network.

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has a strong tradition of supporting innovative basic and clinical research. This is reflected in part by research funding in excess of $400 million per year, ranking UAB 27th in the nation for total federal research funding, and 20th in funding from the NIH alone. Moreover, UAB has been identified by the Carnegie Foundation as one of the top twenty research institutions in the country. The scientific environment provided at UAB has been cultivated and refined to ensure the success of this and all other research projects at UAB.

301 System

The 301 System is a statewide network of local substance abuse agencies that provide prevention, treatment, and recovery services. These 33 local county-level authorities provide direct services to citizens in all 46 counties of the state. Each of the county authorities is licensed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and nationally accredited by CARF: The Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission, a recognized authority on and promoter of quality services for people with disabilities. To date, the SCN has partnered with the following 301 agencies: Charleston Center, Dorchester Alcohol and Drug Commission, Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council (LRADAC), Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County, and Circle Park Behavioral Health Services.