Despite research supporting increased dosages as needed for buprenorphine, buprenorphine treatment during pregnancy is inconsistent and patients often receive inadequate dosages. Researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine are addressing this public health issue with a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Jake Morgan, research assistant professor of health law, policy & management at BUSPH, and Dr. Ashley Leech, assistant professor of health policy at Vanderbilt, have received the five-year award to evaluate the health and economic consequences of suboptimal buprenorphine dosing in pregnancy.

Erica Heinrich, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the UC Riverside School of Medicine, has received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to further study dyspnea — the clinical term for shortness of breath. The goals of the five-year project are to better understand the physiological signals associated with dyspnea, develop ways to identify when patients are suffering, and ultimately improve their care.