Northern Kentucky University is hosting the 1st annual Ohio River Valley Addiction Research Consortium  (ORVARC) conference to provide a forum for sharing addiction research from across the region, and an opportunity for discussion of collaborative opportunities across institutional and disciplinary boundaries. The theme for this year’s inaugural conference is Evidence based research on Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

America’s opioid epidemic has reached proportions that call us to a common cause. That cause is to find a way to end the devastation and death. Those of us who live and work in the Ohio River Valley know this all too well because we have suffered disproportionately, with overdose death rates well into double digits. Who among us doesn’t know a family, a community, or a classroom touched? We have become the nation’s Heroin Belt.

The ORVARC conference is designed to address this epidemic head on, with research presentations throughout the day and the final sessions dedicated to building collaborative opportunities.