# An Integrated Geospatial and Community-based Model to Prevent Opioid Overdose among Black Americans

> **NIH NIH K08** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $166,775

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Opioid overdose death (OOD) rates in the among Black individuals in the U.S. have increased unabated since
2015, outpacing those of White individuals at a rate of two to one. Racial disparities in the growth rate of OOD
have been documented in at least 23 states, including Missouri, which has second highest rate of OOD among
Black individuals: 44 per 100,000 (relative to 16 per 100,000 nationally). There is a critical need to identify and
mitigate social determinants of health (SDOH) that drive increasing racial inequities in OOD and opioid use
disorder treatment utilization. One strategy that addresses SDOH—such as low geographic access to
treatment and high neighborhood deprivation—is community-based outreach, which dispatches peers and
community health workers to provide harm reduction tools and linkages to evidence-based treatment. Although
outreach efforts improve psychoeducation and access to treatment for Black people who use opioids, existing
efforts are limited by a lack of data-driven targets. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify and disseminate
geographic and structural drivers of OOD among Black individuals to improve the efficacy of existing outreach
interventions and in turn, improve treatment access. The current K08 proposal addresses this need by
integrating geospatial information systems (GIS) technology and community based participatory research to
create a digital tool designed to 1) identify current SDOH that underlie OOD among Black individuals and 2)
provide data-driven targets to improve the efficacy of community-based outreach interventions. The project
aims and career development plan will concurrently support Dr. Banks’ transition to an independent clinical
investigator focused on the integration of technology and community engagement to improve substance use
treatment among minoritized racial/ethnic groups. Specific aims of the project are to 1) develop and evaluate
the predictive validity of a GIS-enabled index (the “Overdose Racial Equity Index”) to model risk for OOD
among Black individuals based on SDOH identified and rated by community experts and 2) demonstrate initial
acceptability and utility of the Overdose Racial Equity Index to guide outreach interventions for Black OOD via
focus groups with peers and community health workers. Aims and related training opportunities facilitated by
the rich intellectual environment of the University of Missouri—St. Louis and the two other research institutions
in St. Louis will support Dr. Banks’ training goals to gain expertise in digital/mobile health therapeutics, opioid
use disorder treatment, and implementation science. Outcomes include the identification of SDOH that underlie
OOD among Black Americans and a research and replicable implementation model for other regions to identify
policy and intervention targets that reduce the disproportionate burden of OOD among Black Americans. The
research will provide the training and data necessary for an R01 a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10975439
- **Project number:** 7K08DA058080-02
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Devin Banks
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $166,775
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2023-04-01 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10975439

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10975439, An Integrated Geospatial and Community-based Model to Prevent Opioid Overdose among Black Americans (7K08DA058080-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-07-18 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10975439. Licensed CC0.

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