Insights
Research, data tools, and extensions of OEPS data.
Understanding the drivers and impacts of opioid use disorder (OUD) necessitates a nuanced, place-based consideration of communities and varying dimensions of risk. We lead, collaborate, and consult on multiple projects that bring a holistic perspective to OUD social and spatial epidemiology, building on a “risk environment” conceptual model with a social determinants of health sensibility.
Researchers also access and reference OEPS data in their own research. If you have used OEPS and would like to be added to the research list below, please let us know! Submit your addition as a new issue in Github.
Research Completed Using OEPS
2025
Balawajder, E.F., Ducharme, L., Taylor, B.G., Lamuda, P.A., Kolak, M., Friedmann, P.D., Pollack, H.A. and Schneider, J.A., 2025. Barriers to Universal Availability of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in US Jails. JAMA network open, 8(4), pp.e255340-e255340.
2024
Aalsma, M.C., Bell, L.A., Schwartz, K., Ouyang, F., Kolak, M., Monahan, P.O., Mermelstein, S.P., Carson, I., Hulvershorn, L.A. and Adams, Z.W., 2024. Clinician willingness to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder to adolescents in Indiana.JAMA network open, 7(9), pp.e2435416-e2435416.
Balawajder, E.F., Ducharme, L., Taylor, B.G., Lamuda, P.A., Kolak, M., Friedmann, P.D., Pollack, H.A. and Schneider, J.A., 2024. Factors associated with the availability of medications for opioid use disorder in US jails. JAMA network open, 7(9), pp.e2434704-e2434704.
Tatara, E., Lin, Q., Ozik, J., Kolak, M., Collier, N., Halpern, D., Anselin, L., Dahari, H., Boodram, B. and Schneider, J., 2024. Spatial inequities in access to medications for treatment of opioid use disorder highlight scarcity of methadone providers under counterfactual scenarios. PLoS computational biology, 20(7), p.e1012307.
2023
Grella, C.E., Scott, C.K., Dennis, M.L. and LaVallee, R.A., 2023. Access to services for pregnant people with opioid use disorder in jails in the United States. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 29(4), pp.299-307.
2021
Schneider, J.A., Taylor, B.G., Hotton, A.L., Lamuda, P.A., Ozik, J., Lin, Q., Flanagan, E., Tuyet Pho, M., Kolak, M., Brewer, R. and Pagkas-Bather, J., 2021. National variability in Americans’ COVID-19 protective behaviors: Implications for vaccine roll-out. PloS one, 16(11), p.e0259257.
Additional Resources
Geospatial Consortium & Community of Practice (GCCP)
The GCCP, launched in 2025, is a collaboration of researchers and practitioners that meet regularly to share, discuss, and learn how geospatial methods, tools, and models can be used to build understanding and develop resources for the opioid epidemic. As part of the JCOIN Community, we focus on justice populations, though we’ll also be seeking how to measure and model multiple communities & places across the U.S. To do that, we’ll be linking fields across epidemiology, medicine, geography, GIS, data science, and more. Learn more and sign up at the GCCP Website.
Opioid Environment Toolkit
The Opioid Environment Toolkit provides an introduction to GIS and spatial analysis in R for opioid environment applications that will allow researchers, analysts, and practitioners to support their communities with better data analytics and visualization services. Chapters include Introduction to Spatial Data, Geocoding Resource Locations, Thematic Mapping, and Nearest Resource Analysis.
US COVID Atlas
For historical Pandemic data, resources have been moved to the US COVID Atlas, a historic, interactive data visualization platform and archive. The Atlas worked to understand, represent, and share stories of the often unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, from January 2020 through the end of 2023. Data includes daily and weekly case counts, vaccination rates, and community health contexts. Read more and explore at USCovidAtlas.org.