# Rural Drug Addiction Research Center

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN · 2021 · $2,329,916

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
The nature and challenge of illicit drug use in the United States continues to change rapidly, evolving in reaction
to myriad social, economic, and local forces. While drug addiction affects every region of the country, most
information about drug use comes from large urban areas. Emerging data on rural addiction and its harms justify
greater attention. Record drug use, addiction, and overdose rates in rural states, coupled with a dearth of
treatment facilities, point to a rapidly worsening health situation. While health sciences have made considerable
progress in understanding the etiology of drug use and uncovering the link between drug use and its many
associated harms, this promising scientific news has yet to translate to better rural health outcomes. The goal of
this application is to create a sustainable, nationally recognized Center—the Rural Drug Addition Research
Center (RDAR)—dedicated to understanding the causes and impacts of rural drug addiction and its related
challenges and harms. Given the multifactorial nature of addiction, this research must unfold across a continuum
of domains, ranging from the microscopic level of the synapse to larger social contexts. As such, RDAR will draw
on senior investigators and existing resources from the University of Nebraska to mentor early career scientists
in conducting cutting-edge research that addresses rural drug use challenges from multiple angles (i.e., from
synapse to society). For example, initial research projects will focus on the neuroscience of addiction, cognitive
implications of chronic drug use, the relationship between rural drug use and violence exposure, and spatial and
structural simulation of drug-related disease epidemiology. To support these projects, RDAR will found the
Longitudinal Networks Core (LNC), a research core built around cutting-edge cohort tracking and retention
software developed by RDAR senior investigators to offer longitudinal cohort study capacity to RDAR projects.
LNC will recruit and retain a cohort of rural drug users from which RDAR projects will regularly collect data. The
Center will provide dedicated mentoring, professional development, and Center resources to enable early stage
investigators engaged in rural drug addiction research to become independently funded researchers (Aim 1)
while creating a sustainable environment for interdisciplinary research excellence on rural illicit drug use and its
harms (Aim 2). This will lay the groundwork for long-term Center infrastructure (Aim 3) that allows RDAR
researchers to lead efforts to address specific challenges raised by drug addiction in rural settings and develop
appropriate interventions for those settings. RDAR will combine the resources of a nationally recognized
research university (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and a university-based medical center (University of
Nebraska Medical Center) to create a sustainable research environment, capitalizing on existing collaborations
with...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10117080
- **Project number:** 5P20GM130461-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN
- **Principal Investigator:** Rick A Bevins
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $2,329,916
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-05 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10117080

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10117080, Rural Drug Addiction Research Center (5P20GM130461-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10117080. Licensed CC0.

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