The AIR Center for Addiction Research and Effective Solutions (AIR CARES) is a multi-disciplinary center dedicated to preventing and reducing the negative consequences of substance misuse. Our team of experts includes practitioners and researchers in the fields of medicine, public health, health services, education, criminal justice, workforce, and behavioral health.

Who We Are

In this video, Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar discusses her personal experience in treating patients with addiction and how research can help tackle the opioid epidemic.

AIR CARES harnesses AIR’s 70 years of experience in the social and behavioral sciences to conduct research and promote evidence-based solutions to address substance use disorder and mitigate its impact on affected individuals, families, and communities.

At AIR CARES, we address substance use disorders holistically through focusing on the broader social factors, such as housing, living wage jobs, educational opportunities, and social connection. We are working to scale up effective prevention, treatment, and harm reduction solutions to meet the needs of our communities.

What We Do

We work with policymakers, providers, community leaders, employers, affected individuals, and their loved ones across health, education, justice, and workforce domains.

AIR CARES’ current work focuses on: 

• Health Professional Education, Training, and Technical Assistance. We develop and implement educational curricula and training programs on substance use disorder (SUD) diagnoses and treatment at addiction treatment facilities, and primary care and hospital settings. Our training and technical assistance meets a wide range of audiences ranging from hospitals and health systems to medical and nursing schools to individual primary care, specialty care and addiction treatment professionals.
• Practice Guidelines and Evidence Standards. We develop resources and provide technical assistance to support health care providers in implementing substance use-related practice guidelines, applying effective management approaches, and integrating SUD diagnosis and treatment protocols into their practice workflow.  
• Patient and Family Engagement. We incorporate the perspectives and lived experiences of people with SUDs and their friends and families to develop meaningful and patient-centered strategies to support effective treatment. People with SUDs are engaged as partners in formative research, knowledge translation, evaluation, and dissemination through advisory panels, learning collaboratives, and community-based participatory research.
• Data Interpretation and Public Health Strategy. Our experts work with local officials to analyze and present data illustrating substance misuse at the local level, connecting information from public health surveillance, healthcare, criminal justice, and emergency medical services. We facilitate data interpretation and strategy discussions with stakeholders across local agencies within the context of evidence-based practices to tailor data-driven strategies for addressing substance misuse.

Why We Must Work Together

Susan Heil talks about the barriers to adopting medication-assisted treatment and what can be done to assist its adoption.

A comprehensive approach must also address persistent social factors that strain our communities. By applying a socioeconomic framework and working across disciplines, AIR CARES is uniquely positioned to deliver comprehensive and sustainable solutions to alleviate the burden of substance use disorders for individuals and communities.