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Overview

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The 2023 ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative or NIH HEAL Initiative®, was launched in April 2018 to accelerate scientific solutions to address the , including opioid and stimulant use disorders as well as pain. This NIH-wide Initiative is jointly led by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Drug overdoses in the United States began rising in the late 1990s, following increased prescribing of opioid analgesics to address the crisis from untreated chronic pain. Overprescription of these medications along with poorly managed pain, led to a growing problem of opioid use disorder (OUD) and opioid-involved overdose fatalities. Opioid overdoses accelerated after 2010, when people with OUD increasingly turned to heroin as a cheaper alternative to prescription opioids. This was followed by the influx of illicit fentanyl – a very potent synthetic opioid—which continues to drive today, often in combination with cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs.

HEAL research addresses urgent unmet needs across the lifespan – from infancy to adulthood. It encompasses prevention, treatment, and recovery support approaches for people at risk for or with substance use disorder, as well as prevention and management of pain, with the goal of developing evidence-based strategies capable of providing rapid and lasting solutions to the opioid crisis.

The HEAL Initiative is a Collaborative Effort

NIDA leads HEAL research efforts concerning OUD and opioid and other drug related overdoses, and research at the intersection of pain and OUD. NINDS, in collaboration with the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) coordinates HEAL research efforts across NIH Institutes and Centers, including NIDA, to develop safe and effective . Virtually every NIH Institute, Center, and Office (ICO) participates in HEAL, and HEAL collaborations extend across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, community organizations, research institutions, and the private sector.

HEAL Working Groups

External partners provide input to HEAL leadership through the HEAL Multi-Disciplinary Working Group (MDWG) and HEAL Data Ecosystem Collective Board.

• The Multi-Disciplinary Working Group serves as a fact-finding body of experts external to NIH to provide input to guide NIH HEAL Initiative research. The working group assists the NIH Institute and Center (IC) Advisory Councils to help ensure that NIH HEAL Initiative research meets the bold, trans-NIH goals for the initiative. Its meetings serve as a forum to engage partners in the private sector and research community, provide a transparent venue for stakeholders and members of the public, and help facilitate exchange of scientific information among NIH HEAL Initiative projects.
  The working group provides input to NIH HEAL Initiative leadership by:
  • Sharing expertise in the pain and opioid misuse and addiction fields.
  • Providing perspective and input on the overall initiative.
  • Conducting gap analyses to suggest where more research is needed.
  • Suggesting ways to harmonize across HEAL Initiative projects, including how to integrate new projects into the HEAL portfolio.
  • Considering and recommending additional pain conditions to be addressed through the NIH HEAL Initiative clinical trials networks.
• The guides the HEAL Data Ecosystem to develop methods and norms for data harmonization, cultivate a culture of sharing, and maximize collaboration to enable translational discoveries directly benefiting patients and communities. The Collective Board is made up of individual HEAL investigators representative of the scientific areas and data needs across HEAL, ensuring a close connection between HEAL Data Ecosystem activities and the HEAL research community.
  Members guide decisions and future directions of the Ecosystem and the NIH HEAL Initiative as a whole by:
  • Providing NIH HEAL Initiative leadership with recommendations and feedback from diverse HEAL research communities.
  • Escalating issues and opportunities with broad potential impact to the HEAL Data Ecosystem.
  • Evaluating and disseminating resources developed by the and Platform.
  • Prioritizing outreach and development activities of the Platform and Stewards.