The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center

Center Activities

Upcoming Events

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The Business of Behavioral Health: Private Equity's Growing Role

Join us on Wednesday, May 28th for a discussion moderated by Susan Busch, PhD (Yale School of Public Health) and esteemed panelists Zirui Song, MD, PhD, (Harvard Medical School), Jane Zhu, MD, MPP, MSHP, (Oregon Health & Science University), and Colleen Grogan, PhD, (University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice)

 

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Recent Events

Multi-Source Causal Inference Leveraging Transfer Learning

May 5th, 2025 with Larry Han, PhD, assistant professor of Public Health and Health Sciences
at the Northeastern's Bouvé College of Health Sciences.

Methodological Challenges in the Evaluation of Local Policy Effects on Overdose Outcomes

Nov. 8th, 2024 with Samrachana Adhikari, PhD, associate professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Engineering Transformational Change for Addiction Treatment

June 4th, 2024, moderated by Michael Botticelli, MEd, with panelists Richard G. Frank, PhD, Tracie Gardner, and Sarah Wakeman, MD

Tips to Launch a Successful Career for Early Investigators

Panel of researchers from a variety of settings and career stages to give "nuts and bolts" guidance to new researchers to learn more about research careers in and beyond academia.

View a recording of the session

Past Symposia

Past Symposia

  • January 25, 2023: Center Research Dominic Hodgkin presented on a Payment and Financing panel at NIDA and NIMH's virtual economics meeting. A recording of the session can be found here, along with more information about Dr. Hodgkin's panel and other presentations. 

  • June 24, 2021: The Center, along with the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy and Research, co-hosted a panel discussion, "The Future of Telehealth for Behavioral Health Care: Issues for Guiding Policy and Practice." The panel included center researchers Dr. Alisa Busch and Dr. Haiden Huskamp, along with Jonathan Ciampi, Dr. Ken Duckworth, Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, and Dr. Donovan Wong.
  • November 10, 2020: The Center hosted its Fall Symposium, "Achieving Population Mental Health During the COVID Pandemic," presented by Dr. Philip Wang, Chief of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, former Deputy Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and former Deputy Medical Director and Director of Research for the American Psychiatric Association (APA). 
  • December 10, 2019: The Center hosted its 2019 Fall Symposium with Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH, on "Gender Differences in Substance Use Disorders: Implications for Women's Addiction Treatment."
  • May 7, 2019: The NIDA Center's annual Spring Symposium took place in the Zinner Forum at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Lisa Marsch, PhD, Director of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at Dartmouth College, spoke about the use of digital technology in behavioral health care.
  • October 2018: The Fall 2018 Fall symposium featured Katherine Bradley, who presented "Integrating Routine Care for Alcohol and Other Drug Use in the Primary Care Setting"
  • March 27, 2018: The NIDA Center hosted Michael Botticelli, Director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, who spoke on success and challenges to implementing evidence-based approaches to end the opioid epidemic during his talk "From Science to Practice: Successes and Challenges in Implementing Effective Approaches to End the Opioid Epidemic"
  • May 31, 2017: Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, President of the American Psychological Association and former Director of the Philadelphia Office of Addiction Services presented on "Employing a Population Health Approach to Address Behavioral Health Conditions."
  • December, 2016: We hosted Richard Frank, PhD, who presented "Fentanyl: An Urgent and Emerging Threat."
  • February 22, 2016: The NIDA Center symposium took place at Brandeis University. Haiden Huskamp, PhD, presented on "Effects of a Global Payment and Accountable Care Model on Substance Use Disorder Service Use and Spending." 

Past Methods Workshops

  • Februrary 9, 2024: Dr. David Shahian, MD, presented "Quality Measurement in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: The Role of Social Risk Factor Adjustment." Dr. Shahian is a professor at Harvard Medical School, cardiac surgeon, and leader in quality measurement and public reporting. See the list of references for further insight into this area of work.
  • June 2, 2023: Dr. Jose Zubizarreta presented "Design and Analysis of Observational Studies of Causal Effects." Dr. Zubizarreta is a Professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health, and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Statistics at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.  His work centers on the development of statistical methods for causal inference and impact evaluation to advance research in health care and public policy.  In his methodological work, Dr. Zubizarreta is broadly interested in the design and analysis of randomized experiments and observational studies.
  • January 22, 2021: Dr. Wei Hsuan Jenny-Lo Ciganic presented "Applying group-based trajectory modeling in health outcomes research." Dr. Lo-Ciganic is a pharmacoepidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. She is also a core faculty member in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Safety (CoDES) at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy.

Methods workshop recording: January 22, 2021: Applying group-based trajectory modeling in health outcomes research

Methods workshop PowerPoint slides: January 22, 2021

Sample Stata .do file

Sample Stata file as a PDF

Objectives and suggested related readings

  • November 13th, 2020: The Brandeis-Harvard NIDA Center hosted a methods workshop, "Let's put our differences aside and talk about difference-in-differences." Dr. Andrew Ryan, United Healthcare Professor of Health Care Management in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Director of the Center for Evaluating Health Reform, and faculty lead of the Data and Methods Hub for the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation presented. 
Methods workshop recoding: November 13, 2020: Let's put our differences aside and talk about difference-in-differences
  • March 27, 2020, 9:30am-11:30am: The Brandeis-Harvard NIDA Center hosted a methods workshop focused on measuring racial/ethnic disparities in SUD treatment. This workshop was presented by Drs. Ben Cook and Tim Creedon of Cambridge Health Alliance. A recording, along with workshop materials, are provided below:

Methods workshop recording: March 27, 2020: Measuring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Substance Use Disorder and Related Treatment Services

Methods workshop PowerPoint slides: March 27, 2020

  • March 1, 2019: The NIDA Center hosted a methods workshop with Peter Kreiner, PhD, entitled “Network Analysis: Application to Diffusion, Project Team Performance, and Civic Health,” at Brandeis University.
  • October 17, 2018:  Center researchers presented "Opportunities and Challenges in Using Claims/Encounter Data in Addiction Health Services Research"  as a pre-conference methods workshop at AHSR
  • April 27, 2018: Dr. Enola Proctor and Dr. Alex Ramsey presented a methods workshop on implementation research methods and design.
  • April 27, 2017: Dr. Tom McGuire presented a methods workshop, "Differences, Disparities, and Discrimination in Health Care: Conceptual and Methodological Issues"

Past Conferences & Events

The Brandeis-Harvard NIDA Center has sponsored or co-sponsored several conference activities, including:

  • Addiction Health Services Research Conference
  • Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership Integration Conference
  • AcademyHealth Annual Reearch meeting

The Center has also sponsored or co-sponsored several other events, including:

  • Massachusetts Health Policy Forum
    • April 2016: "Reducing Risky Alcohol Use: What Health Care Systems Can Do"
    • November 2018: "Opioids in the Workforce"
    • September 2019: "Addressing the Opioid Crisis in Small and Rural Communities in Western Massachusetts"
  • Transforming OUD Care Delivery in Massachusetts: A Learning Collaborative
  • Opioid Policy Research Collaborative Launch

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