Josiah (Jody) D. Rich, MD, MPH (NAM)
Josiah (Jody) D. Rich, MD, MPH (NAM) is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Brown University, and a practicing infectious disease and addiction specialist providing care to patients at The Miriam Hospital and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections since 1994. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed publications, predominantly in the overlap between infectious diseases, addictions, and incarceration. He is the Director and Co-Founder of The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights at The Miriam Hospital ( Home | HealthandJustice.org | A Non-Partisan Organization) and Co-Founder of the nationwide Centers for AIDS Research Collaboration on HIV in Corrections initiative. Dr. Rich has advocated for public health policy changes to improve the health of people with addiction, including improving legal access to sterile syringes and increasing drug treatment for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated populations. He has had continuous NIH research funding for over 2 decades. His primary areas of interest and expertise are in the overlap between infectious diseases and illicit substance use, the treatment and prevention of HIV infection, and the care and prevention of disease in addicted and incarcerated individuals. More recently he has focused on addressing the opioid overdose epidemic. He has testified in congress multiple times and served as an expert advisor to Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force since its inception in 2015.
Dr. Rich is the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Center on Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for Opioids and Overdose at Rhode Island Hospital. The Center brings together researchers, policymakers, public health officials, community-based organizations, and scientists from complementary disciplines across Rhode Island to help shape policies and practices that will curb this epidemic at the community level and contribute to the scientific community. Through the development of robust research infrastructure, the collaborative and multidisciplinary COBRE on Opioids and Overdose will also support innovative work and foster the professional growth of junior investigators. The long-term goal of the Center is to develop and sustain a critical mass of investigators specializing in opioids and overdose, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of affiliated investigators and propelling the field of opioid and overdose research forward.
Dr. Rich is a co-Principal Investigator for an interdisciplinary training program funded by a T32 grant. His primary role is to direct research project development. The program focuses on HIV prevention and treatment, including innovative PREP programs, and correctional health, with a primary focus on reducing the infectious consequences of substance use as well as overdose. It promotes interdisciplinary collaborations and brings together core expertise from the Division of Infectious Disease, the Providence-Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, the Brown University Center for Statistical Studies, and the Brown University School of Public Health.
Dr. Rich is a Principal Investigator on a R01 grant focused on increasing access to overdose prevention and effective office-based opioid treatment for persons living with HIV. As opioid use and benzodiazepine use are common among persons living with HIV, it is imperative that HIV physicians provide effective office-based opioid treatment to reduce drug use and overdose mortality. The study tests peer-to-peer physician training, proactive expert support, academic detailing with motivational interviewing, and pharmacy outreach to implement naloxone prescription and buprenorphine treatment in HIV outpatient settings.
The primary aim of Dr. Rich’s R21 grant and its supplement is to address opioid use disorder among criminal justice (CJ)-involved populations. The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic, and fentanyl-involved overdose deaths have risen at an alarming rate in recent years. Because opioid use disorder is more severe and pronounced in the criminal justice population, individuals with justice involvement have an increased risk of overdose death, especially immediately following release from incarceration. Dr. Rich’s project evaluates the implementation and impact of the comprehensive medication assisted program (MAT) program at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, the first statewide program to offer methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone in a correctional setting.
Keywords: Opioids, overdose, addiction, medication for addiction treatment (MAT), substance use treatment, incarcerated persons, HIV/AIDS, STDs, opioid use disorder, prison, jai, infectious disease, HCV
Key Publications:
Green, T. C., Clarke, J., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Marshall, B. D., Alexander-Scott, N., Boss, R., & Rich, J. D. (2018). Postincarceration fatal overdoses after implementing medications for addiction treatment in a statewide correctional system. JAMA psychiatry, 75(4), 405-407.
Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., McKenzie, M., Macmadu, A., Larney, S., Zaller, N., Dauria, E., & Rich, J. (2018). A randomized, open label trial of methadone continuation versus forced withdrawal in a combined US prison and jail: Findings at 12 months post-release. Drug and alcohol dependence, 184, 57-63.
Carroll, J. J., Rich, J. D., & Green, T. C. (2018). Reducing collateral damage in responses to the opioid crisis. The American Journal of Public Health, 108(3), 349-350.
Rich, J. D., Beckwith, C. G., Macmadu, A., Marshall, B. D., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Amon, J. J., … & Altice, F. L. (2016). Clinical care of incarcerated people with HIV, viral hepatitis, or tuberculosis. The Lancet, 388(10049), 1103-1114.
Rich, J. D., & Adashi, E. Y. (2015). Ideological anachronism involving needle and syringe exchange programs: lessons from the Indiana HIV outbreak. Jama, 314(1), 23-24.
Wakeman, S. E., & Rich, J. D. (2015). Substance use disorders and avoidable mortality after prison. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(5), 369-370.
Rich, J. D., McKenzie, M., Larney, S., Wong, J. B., Tran, L., Clarke, J., … & Zaller, N. (2015). Methadone continuation versus forced withdrawal on incarceration in a combined US prison and jail: a randomised, open-label trial. The Lancet, 386(9991), 350-359.
Rich, J. D., Allen, S. A., & Williams, B. A. (2014). Responding to hepatitis C through the criminal justice system. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(20), 1871-4.
Rich, J. D., Wakeman, S. E., & Dickman, S. L. (2011). Medicine and the epidemic of incarceration in the United States. The New England journal of medicine, 364(22), 2081.
Baillargeon, J., Giordano, T. P., Rich, J. D., Wu, Z. H., Wells, K., Pollock, B. H., & Paar, D. P. (2009). Accessing antiretroviral therapy following release from prison. Jama, 301(8), 848-857.
Contact Information:
Josiah “Jody” Rich, MD, MPH
164 Summit Avenue
Providence, RI 02906
401-793-4770
jrich@lifespan.org
COBRE on Opioids and Overdose
Gayle Fraser
8 Third Street, 2nd Floor
Providence, RI 02906
gfraser@lifespan.org
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