HEAL Connections

NIH HEAL Initiative Connections Partnering to Accelerate Research into Action

Research results need to benefit people living with pain, addiction, and other co-occurring conditions but too often get stuck in journal articles and conference presentations. HEAL Connections was funded by the NIH HEAL Initiative® to translate HEAL research into action. The center’s goals are twofold: to create pathways to further build and sustain community partnerships, and to support HEAL researchers in meaningfully sharing results with communities and stakeholders that will benefit most from research findings.

HEAL Research Projects and Infrastructure next to a circular graphic with areas stating share, learn, co-create, engage with the NIH HEAL Initiative logo and Connections partnering to accelerate research into action and HEAL Research Beneficiaries and Stakeholder Groups at the other side of the circle.

Promoting Partnerships

In the center’s first year, it will work with NIH, HEAL investigators, and impacted communities to outline existing strengths and new resources needed to support dissemination of research results into communities. Diverse partner boards and lived experience panels will guide the center's effort to understand diverse community needs. Through these and other established channels, the center will expand the reach of science by identifying HEAL research projects with results that could have a broad impact then work with selected researchers to develop hands-on knowledge translation, dissemination, and implementation products for communicating research results beyond academic journals and conferences and into formats and channels that reach communities and stakeholders outside of academia.

Supporting HEAL Research Teams

HEAL Connections will offer all HEAL projects technical assistance and consultation around dissemination and implementation planning. In addition, HEAL Connections will facilitate resource-sharing and capacity-building activities that strengthen and extend the ability of HEAL research teams to appropriately amplify research findings, including:

Consultation

HEAL funded studies are invited to request a 1-hour consultation with our HEAL Connections dissemination and implementation team. Please email [email protected] and someone from HEAL Connections will contact you to gather more information and schedule your consultation.

Training/Sharing Sessions in ​Dissemination and Implementation: ​Regular webinars exploring topics to build research ​team capacity to extend research findings into practice and showcasing HEAL research projects that have already demonstrated success.

Office Hours: ​Regular office hours after training/sharing sessions to ​consult with in-house experts on dissemination and implementation questions and opportunities facing researchers.​

Resource Center: ​An online, open-access, searchable clearinghouse of ​dissemination and implementation resources.

Dissemination and Implementation Forum: ​An event to develop and share strategies for ​translating HEAL evidence into practice.​

Interested in Learning More?

If you are interested in learning more, contact us at [email protected].

You can also download a one-page overview about HEAL Connections pdf  338.81 KB.

HEAL Connections Partners

Duke Clinical Research Institute and George Mason University are the primary HEAL Connections awardees. In addition to their 67 national association collaborators and partners, the following institutions and organizations are integral members of HEAL Connections:

  • Addiction Policy Forum
  • Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network
  • American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
  • American Jail Association
  • Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
  • Chronic Pain Research Alliance
  • Correctional Leaders Association
  • The Council of State Governments Justice Center
  • Faces and Voices of Recovery
  • JustLeadershipUSA
  • National Association for Addiction Professionals
  • National Association for Children of Addiction 
  • National Center for State Courts
  • National Harm Reduction Coalition
  • National Pain Advocacy Center
  • Oregon Social Learning Center
  • RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention & Recovery
  • University of Wisconsin
  • University of North Texas Health Science Center
  • U.S. Association for the Study of Pain
  • Temple University
  • Washington University in St. Louis

Lived Experience Panels: Help shape the work of the HEAL Connections!

HEAL Connections is forming a panel of people who have firsthand experience living with a pain condition or recovery from opioid use. If you or someone you know is interested in collaborating with researchers to identify better ways to use and share research findings, with the end goal of addressing the opioid crisis and improving pain management, learn more at jeapinitiative.org/HEAL-lived-experience-panel.