The Mount Sinai Center for Research on Emerging Substances, Poisoning, Overdose, and New Discoveries (RESPOND) was founded in 2023 by Alex Manini, MD, to bridge gaps between basic and translational science, clinical research, and clinical care in substance use disorder research. As a collaborative center that values innovation, RESPOND embraces interdisciplinary approaches to advance knowledge and understanding of overdose, poisonings, and substance use disorders. Key collaborations for RESPOND Center include the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai (led by Yasmin Hurd, PhD), and the Medical Toxicology Division (led by Ruben Olmedo, MD) within the Department of Emergency Medicine.
The RESPOND Center embraces a multidisciplinary approach to advance knowledge and understanding of overdose, poisonings, and substance use disorders. Harnessing research focused on opioids, synthetic opioids, hallucinogens, emerging drugs of abuse, and health services, we address the most pressing issues in the field to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery.
Research conducted by RESPOND Center investigators (Meet Our Team) engages in clinical, basic science, and epidemiological research to understand, diagnose, and treat issues that include, but are not limited to, substance use disorders, people who use drugs, adverse drug events, poisoning, and overdose. Center-affiliated doctors typically manage patients in emergency departments, following drug overdose, for withdrawal symptoms, and longitudinally for substance use disorders.
Health services research provides evidence-based solutions to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery, while also promoting health equity and patient-centered care. This serves to bridge substance use disorder research to programmatic (screening and referral, overdose treatment) and clinical services; affiliated physicians serve in public health, clinical leadership, and research roles.
The RESPOND Center has received an array of grant funding from various sources in both the public and private sectors, including the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Centers for Disease Control, Federal Drug Administration, Emergency Medicine Foundation, and Medical Toxicology Foundation, among others.
Through research focused on opioids, synthetic opioids, hallucinogens, emerging drugs of abuse, and health services, we will address these pressing public health issues to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. The RESPOND Center provides resources to train the next generation of researchers and cultivate a center of excellence in research that values diverse, inclusive, and ethical conduct.