Administrative Core

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Administrative Core Abstract The opioid crisis has become a polysubstance crisis involving synthetic opioids, and structural inequalities and systemic racism have exacerbated burdens for the populations affected. Efforts to address the crisis must occur in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected opioid use and policies related to treatment. The RAND-USC Schaeffer Opioid Policy Tools and Information Center (OPTIC) enhances the ability of the opioid policy research community to evaluate policy effects in this dynamic environment while also enhancing policymakers’ use of opioid policy research. OPTIC’s Administrative Core (AC) supports OPTIC Investigators in pursuing these objectives. The AC has and will continue to provide overall scientific oversight, develop and monitor a master timeline for all tasks, and provide budgetary oversight. It will convene bi-annual meetings of an External Advisory Board, which ensures that Center activities are focused on the most pressing policy issues and addressing the field’s most salient methodological challenges. The AC fosters a collaborative OPTIC community identity in multiple ways, including facilitating regular meetings of Research Project teams as well as a bi-annual “all hands” meetings and producing an internal OPTIC newsletter informing staff of current work and new resources. The AC is responsible for OPTIC’s internal list servs and Kiteworks and Teams sites used to share all pertinent internal OPTIC communications and information among OPTIC staff. The AC also supports efforts to support the development of junior investigators through Pilot Projects, grant workshops, and “meet n’ greets” at national conferences. The AC maximizes research dissemination and policy impact through a dedicated Communications and Dissemination Arm, ensuring that OPTIC leverages RAND’s robust communications infrastructure across all Center activities. Another AC dissemination activity includes a quarterly external e-newsletter that highlights recent work by OPTIC researchers and by other experts in the field. A key dissemination focus is OPTIC’s website, which describes Center activities and houses recent publications and products, data visualizations and research tools, and educational materials and webinars. The AC collaborates with RAND’s Digital Strategy and Communications Group to curate the site, ensuring that resources and tools are promptly and appropriately posted. Among the site’s many resources, policymakers especially value the Key Takeaways, one-page summaries of OPTIC’s opioid research findings tailored for policymakers. The AC manages the process of identifying appropriate Key Takeaway topics, producing and reviewing content, and posting them on OPTIC’s site.