Nora Volkow
Showing 1–4 of 4 transcripts.
- Milken Institute58 min
Opioid Crisis: Examining National, State, and Local Responses and Impact
Dan Diamond, Shereef Elnahal, Thomas Graf, Elinore McCance-Katz, Nora Volkow
At the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit, federal and state leaders including Dr. Nora Volkow, Dr. Eleanor McCance-Katz, and Dr. Sharif El-Nahal convened with insurer representatives to address the heterogeneous nature of the opioid crisis through a multi-trajectory approach. The panelists detailed concrete strategies such as New Jersey's integration of medication-assisted treatment in correctional facilities, Horizon Blue Cross's shift away from non-evidence-based urine testing, and SAMHSA's efforts to mainstream addiction training in medical schools. Consensus emerged that sustainable outcomes require granular real-time data infrastructure and collaborative partnerships that empower local communities with the flexibility to tailor interventions to specific demographic and geographic needs.
- Milken Institute1h 4m
Combatting the Crisis of Opioids
Sabrina Spitaletta, Alan M. Muney, Joe Smyser, Nora Volkow, Greg Walden, James A. Winnefeld, Jr.
The opioid crisis, driven by initial clinical overconfidence and evolving through three waves of pharmaceuticals, heroin, and synthetic fentanyls, has caused fatalities to surge from hundreds to 20,000 annually. Admiral Winnefeld and legislative bodies are responding with a seven-line strategic framework that prioritizes treating addiction as a chronic disease through prevention, expanded access to Medication-Assisted Treatment, and federal investigations into pharmaceutical diversion in states like West Virginia. Industry stakeholders and policymakers are simultaneously shifting from punitive measures to public health models by updating prescription monitoring laws, integrating telemedicine, and adopting language that reduces stigma to improve treatment outcomes.
- Milken Institute54 min
A State of Emergency: Integrative Approaches to Addiction and the Opioid Epidemic
David Beier, Jerome Adams, Terry McAuliffe, Lori McFarling, Tom Moriarty, Nora Volkow, Tammy Wincup
A federal and state coalition deployed 14,000 officials alongside private sector partners like CVS and Discovery Education to address the opioid crisis through prevention economics, educational outreach, and prescription limits that reduced Virginia's over-prescriptions by one-third. Initiatives including a new data-sharing compact among 46 governors and the Surgeon General's social capital report aim to leverage granular prescription analytics and community resilience to cut costs associated with incarceration and unemployment. These coordinated efforts target the multifactorial nature of the epidemic by embedding science-based prevention in classrooms, enforcing seven-day prescription caps, and expanding safe disposal programs to recover from 64,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2016.
- Milken Institute58 min
Cracking the Code of Addiction and Mental Health
Lynn Goldman, Thomas Insel, Gary Mendell, Richard Pops, Garen Staglin, Nora Volkow
A panel of experts from NIDA and public health organizations identifies the opioid crisis as a preventable epidemic driven by systemic healthcare failures, including aggressive pharmaceutical marketing and inadequate medical training, which have caused mortality rates among white non-Hispanic Americans to rise for the first time in history. To address this, the group advocates for mandating CDC prescribing limits, expanding access to proven medication-assisted treatments, and shifting workplace cultures to reduce stigma, emphasizing that the primary obstacle remains the implementation of existing evidence-based protocols rather than a lack of scientific knowledge. Despite these proposed solutions facing significant barriers such as insurance coverage gaps and reimbursement policies that delay care, the consensus holds that coordinated policy changes could reduce new addiction rates by half and reverse decades of escalating overdose deaths.