News & Events

HSC launches One Pill Kills Campaign to combat fentanyl

A synthetic opioid that’s considered exponentially more addictive than heroin, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49. It can be fatal to ingest even a tiny amount, so small it could fit on a pencil eraser. In the face of the deadliest epidemic in the history of the U.S., The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth is taking a lead role...

HSC’s Dr. Kari Northeim and Parker County collaborators awarded SAMHSA grant for rural EMS training and education

Dr. Kari Northeim, School of Public Health assistant professor of population and community health at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has been awarded the SAMHSA Rural EMS Training and Education grant in conjunction with HSC community partners, Parker County Hospital District and BEST EMS. BEST EMS is a physician-led medical control group that provides management and oversight to EMS systems. On behalf of HSC, Dr. Northeim...

Two HSC programs to host maternal health conference centered on fourth trimester

In the U.S., more than 20% of maternal deaths during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth are because of drug use, suicide or homicide, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In the absence of access to mental health services, many women who recently gave birth turn to self-medicating with illegal substances or misusing prescription opioids for conditions such as...

HSC creates Addiction Interest Group

According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 29.5 million people aged 12 or older experienced alcohol use disorder in the previous year. In 2019, 20.4 million people in the United States were diagnosed with substance use disorders, an NSDUH survey found. More than 106,000 persons in the U.S. died from substance-involved overdose in 2021, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids. To tackle this critical health issue,...

HSC professor offers insights on reducing drug-related harms

Dr. Scott Walters, Regents Professor at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth’s School of Public Health, recently presented an online training for substance use providers through the Mountain Plains Addiction Technology and Transfer Center. “The Perfect and the Good: Engaging People around Harm Reduction and Non-Abstinence Based Goals” focused on ways to help people reduce harm from drug use, even if they are not ready...

HSC executive loses brother to opioid addiction

She remembered his boisterous, baritone laugh. She smiled out the corner of her mouth recalling her baby brother’s lush blond hair bouncing atop his head. He was a deep thinker — often burdened by his own world-weary brilliance. Hans Maack was cerebral, charismatic and tortured. He died in 2020 of a combined overdose of opioids and liver failure at 53 years old. His sister, Jessica...

SaferCare Texas to host Health Literacy Conference

In the face of a nationwide opioid epidemic, a patient’s health literacy can be the difference between life and death. One out of four patients prescribed opioids to treat chronic pain misuse them because they don’t understand the often dense, jargon-filled language of medicine, according to data from the National Institutes of Health. To address the need for greater health literacy in Texas, SaferCare Texas — the patient safety arm...

Award-Winning Academic and Community Partnership Earns Statewide Recognition

As part of her ongoing collaboration with Challenge of Tarrant County, an organization dedicated to addressing substance use and misuse the local community, Dr. Dana Litt, an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health, is a member of the Red Ribbon Week sub-committee, a group of multidisciplinary prevention professions, led by Challenge of Tarrant […]

HSC Researcher found deaths that involved heroin or fentanyl skyrocketed

As the nation finds itself in the grips of an ongoing deadly fentanyl crisis, a recent study involving a researcher at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth has revealed an equally staggering drug-related threat to public health. Dr. Andrew Yockey, an assistant professor of biostatistics and epidemiology in HSC’s School of Public Health...

SaferCare Texas to host Narcan Lifesaving Training Event

SaferCare Texas is continuing its mission of eliminating preventable harm by offering free training on how to use Narcan, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. From 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, HSC’s patient safety-focused program will host the Narcan Lifesaving Training Event on campus at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. It will take place in the...

Through NIH HEAL Initiative, Dr. Scott Walters and colleagues accelerate fight against the nation’s opioid crisis

Four years ago, the National Institutes of Health introduced the unprecedented HEAL Initiative to address the nation’s public health crisis of opioid misuse, addiction and overdose. More than $2 billion has been invested in 1,000 research projects to date, spanning basic and clinical research to prevention and implementation science.   For the last three years, Dr. Scott Walters, a Regents Professor at The University of...