Quality Care
The Science Initiative
Promoting research to address current clinical challenges and drive improvements in the quality of care for addiction.

ASAM’s Science Initiative – Join Us!
Are you currently involved in scientific research, or would you like to be? Would you like to join your colleagues in efforts to make addiction treatment research more clinically relevant?
ASAM is developing a new Science Initiative to boost ASAM members’ engagement with addiction treatment research.
If you are a current ASAM member and are interested in joining our efforts, please complete the following survey.
TAKE THE SURVEYGoals
- Promote research to address current clinical challenges and drive improvements in the quality of care for addiction
- Support ASAM members who want to become engaged in research
- Support more rapid dissemination of research
Current Activities
ASAM’s Quality and Science team are forging partnerships with several academic and policy organizations to stimulate addictions research:
- ASAM recently began work with the Friends Research Institute and the American Psychiatric Association on a NIDA-funded project that will establish an addiction medicine practice-based research network to address the national opioid crisis.
- The Q&S team is also in discussion with other health technology organizations, research institutes, and government entities regarding potential collaborations that would leverage data generated by ASAM CONTINUUM and CO-Triage in combination with other addiction treatment-relevant datasets, to address some of the field’s most pressing needs (e.g., robust longitudinal outcomes data).
Gathering data on ASAM members’ research interests and involvement
- Items asking about ASAM members’ research interests and involvement were included in the Education Department’s 2020 member survey. Analysis of these data is currently underway.
Background
- In 2019, ASAM’s Board of Directors decided to establish a new Science Initiative within ASAM.
- In early 2020, ASAM convened a Science Initiative Subcommittee comprising physician-scientists from the Board of Directors to help guide the Science Initiative’s strategic plan.
- The Subcommittee is convened under the Quality Improvement Council, and its Co-Chairs are Tami Mark, PhD, MBA, and Ken Freedman, MD, MS, MBA, FACG, AGAF, DFASAM.