UGA recently hosted a daylong symposium that brought faculty members and policymakers together to explore current research and seek solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic, a widespread issue that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resulted in almost 50,000 deaths nationwide in 2017. Fazal Khan, an associate professor in the School of Law who chaired the planning committee for the symposium, opened the dialogue with the current state of the national epidemic and emphasized the desperate need for interdisciplinary partnerships. “[The opioid epidemic] is predicted to get worse before it gets better,” said Khan. “It’s really imperative that we address this problem. Part of this effort is to catalyze collaboration, catalyze discussions.”

The University of Georgia will host a symposium on Oct. 20 that will bring more than 200 researchers and policymakers together to seek solutions to the nation’s opioid epidemic. The symposium will kick off at 9 a.m. with a lecture by journalist Beth Macy, author of “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America,” a New York Times bestseller that the newspaper described as “a harrowing, deeply compassionate dispatch from the heart of a national emergency.” Dr. Rita Noonan, who oversees the majority of opioid addiction prevention efforts that are funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will deliver the lunchtime keynote.