Mission & Goals

The overarching mission of the Center for Dissemination & Implementation at Stanford (C-DIAS) is to advance the science of implementation and improve equitable access to the best addiction treatments available for the people who need them the most.

C-DIAS’s goals are set to eliminate the three major gaps in addiction treatment services and research by:

  • Public health: Innovating advanced methods and measures, designs and models, and levers for policymakers and funders to improve equitable access to proven high-quality addiction treatment
  • Scientific: Hosting four high-impact research projects to serve as laboratories for innovations and improve access to high-quality addiction treatment in communities across the United States
  • Expert capacity: Developing the next generation of rising leaders in the field through a stratified range of programs from online resources to the C-DIAS Fellowship in Addiction D&I Science

Background

There are three gaps that severely limit access to evidence-based addiction treatment services:

1. Public Health Gap

Most people who need addiction treatment do not receive it, and of those who do, the chances of getting proven evidence-based care are less likely. Disparities in access are amplified for individuals from marginalized communities.

2. Scientific Gap

As a newer scientific discipline, implementation science has turned the corner from terminology and definitions, and models and frameworks. Yet the field is limited by a wide variety of methods including reliance on qualitative approaches. Novel measures and methods are needed to pool findings from across independent studies and generate reproducible and generalizable impact.

3. Expert Capacity Gap

The demand for implementation science expertise, particularly in the field of addiction, exceeds capacity. Emerging, early career, and even established addiction researchers seek education and training in implementation science to make their work more meaningful and impactful.

Image of a person briding a gap

Two Centers, Mission

In Fall 2022, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) awarded Stanford University School of Medicine two national centers focused on dissemination and implementation science in addiction and its treatment.

The Center for Dissemination & Implementation at Stanford [C-DIAS] is dedicated to improving the science of implementation in addiction treatment through designing and testing measures and tools for the field, and training the next generation of addiction D&I experts (P50DA05402). The U2C Research Adoption Support Center [RASC] is committed to improving NIDA-funded innovative research projects’ chances for generalizable and sustainable impact by using practical methods to elevate the potential “implementability” of their findings (U2CDA057717).

Whereas C-DIAS primarily focuses on creating novel designs and adapting inventions, RASC focuses on practical and widespread translation to the field and community.

Both centers assemble a national team of experts with a joint mission: To get the best addiction treatment available to the people who need it the most.

C-DIAS RASC Figure (6)