Drew University Examines the Opioids Epidemic

Madison, N.J. - The numbers are staggering.

Six out of every 10 drug overdoses in the U.S. involve highly addictive opioids like heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl. And the death rate by drug overdose in New Jersey is climbing. Between 2014 and 2015, for example, the state’s rate jumped more than 16 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Indeed, the opioid crisis is epidemic, with state and federal leaders calling for limits on the prescription of opioids and new ways to treat opioid addiction. Treatment and prevention are the focal points of a daylong conference at Drew University.

Combatting Opioids and the Addiction Crisis will feature doctors, researchers and law enforcement leaders. Presented by Drew’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, the conference will take place April 3 at The Concert Hall inside the Dorothy Young Center for the Arts, beginning at 8 a.m.

Participating doctors include Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the N.J. Poison Information and Education System and an attending physician at Morristown Medical Center; Stacey Murray-Taylor, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Overlook Medical Center; and Lewis Nelson, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers Medical School.

The researchers are Molly Bradshaw, a specialty director at the Rutgers School of Nursing, and two students from the school: Kelly Van Wyck and Aleksandra Novik. Law enforcement will be represented by N.J. State Police Captain Juan Colon, Madison Police Chief Darren Dachisen and Morris County Sheriff James Gannon.

Combatting Opioids is a William C. Campbell colloquium. To register and see the full agenda, click here.

About Drew University

Drew University, a Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts university, includes the College of Liberal Arts, the Drew Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. Drew is located on a beautiful, wooded, 186-acre campus in Madison, New Jersey, a thriving small town close to New York City. It has a total enrollment of more than 2,000 students and has 145 full-time faculty members, 94% of whom hold the terminal degree in their field. The Theological and Caspersen Schools offer MA and PhD degrees and the College confers BA degrees in 30 disciplines.

Drew is dedicated to exceptional faculty mentorship, a commitment to connecting the campus with the community and a focus on experiential learning. Particularly noteworthy opportunities for undergraduates include the the Charles A. Dana Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (RISE), home of 2015 Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine and Drew Fellow William Campbell, the Drew Summer Science Institute, the Center for Civic Engagement, six semesters in New York City (Wall Street, United Nations, Contemporary Art, Communications and Media, Social Entrepreneurship and Theatre) and several international semester programs. The University also houses the Center for Civic Engagement, the Drew Summer Science Institute, the Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict, the Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent professional theater, as well as the United Methodist Archives and History Center and one of the country’s leading concentrations of materials on Willa Cather.