The Lumbee Tribe of N.C. Health and Human Services Department Receives First National Institutes of Health Award to Research Substance Misuse and Pain

PEMBROKE — On Thursday, the Lumbee Tribal Council accepted an awarded contract from the National Institutes of Health’s Other Transactions Division to research substance misuse and pain.

The contract will cover eleven and a half months of work at a cost of $608,042. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the program that will support Native American communities to lead public health research to address overdose, substance use, and pain, including related factors such as mental health and wellness.

Totaling approximately $268 million over seven years, this effort will support research projects that are led directly by Tribes and organizations that serve Native American communities, and was established in direct response to priorities identified by Tribes and Native American communities.

Dr. Cherry Beasley, director of the Health and Human Services Department worked with the team to apply for the funding.

This is the first time the Lumbee Tribe has received an award from the National Institutes of Health and also the first time having a project that is focusing on gathering research data to improve the health of tribal citizens.

“This two-year planning project has four aims: develop a Substance Misuse Research and Community Advisory Committee; create a Lumbee Substance Misuse Data Dashboard and Storyboard; form a research training protocol and lay the groundwork for an indigenous cultural adaption of pain management,” Beasley said.

She stressed that “the data can then be used to secure funding for addition projects, with the overall goal to offset opioid misuse in our community.”

The Lumbee project, entitled “Building iCRISP: Indigenous Community-Informed Research Infrastructure to address Substance Misuse and Pain Management” is part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborative contract with the Lumbee Tribe who will work with other organizations, including the UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University and School of Medicine, UNCP and CORE.

Dr. Ronny Bell, an active member of the Lumbee Tribe, was influential in obtaining the award. Bell and Beasley will work with a multi-disciplinary group that will utilize existing community and academic research resources to understand and address the underlying factors associated with substance misuse and pain management among Lumbee citizens.

“We are honored to have this opportunity to collaborate with the Lumbee Tribe to help address these important health issues,” said Bell, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s, Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor and chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP).

Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery said drug use and drug abuse within the Lumbee community is prevalent.

He thanked the internal team who worked on receiving this first-time funding from the National Institutes of Health. “This first award from NIH will help us research the causes and look for ways to decrease and hopefully eliminate the use of drugs among our Lumbee People,” Lowery said. “I am proud of this partnership with our Lumbee Health and Human Services Department, NIH and the collaboration with Dr. Ronnie Bell. We look forward to their findings. Drug use continues to destroy many lives and any opportunity we have to create programs to intervene and eliminate drug use is welcomed.”