Denison Scientific Association: Optimizing Methadone Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Methadone is a safe and effective treatment for opioid use disorder, combating addiction and preventing overdoses. However, it must be dispensed daily, and only from highly regulated custom-purpose facilities. This talk will review three streams of research in operational and policy recommendations for increasing access to methadone. 

First, geographic coverage of existing methadone clinics is studied, and mathematical models make recommendations of where to open new clinics to maximize availability for patients without current access to care. Second, leveraging new rules by the DEA, we explore how mobile methadone clinics can optimally bring the medication to those in need. Finally, we partner with a chain of methadone clinics to explore retention in care and offer recommendations about optimal dose increase patterns.

About the speaker:

Dr. Bonifonte holds a B.A. in Math from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Georgia Tech. His scholarship is in healthcare analytics, using data and math models to improve medical decision making. For the last decade he has been studying the opioid epidemic from a variety of lenses including descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. A fun fact about Dr. Bonifonte is that for the last year he has been attending Improv comedy classes at the Granville Center for the Arts three times a month, where he has learned a great deal about theatrical talent from the retirees in the class.