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Watch Monday: President Clinton Brings Faith and Science Leaders Together to Fight the Overdose Crisis


For Immediate Release: September 17, 2021

Contact: press@clintonfoundation.org

Watch Monday: President Clinton Brings Faith and Science Leaders Together to Fight the Overdose Crisis

The second convening in the series, held in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and The Centre for Responsible Leadership, follows news this summer that overdose deaths in 2020 spiked nearly 30 percent, to their highest levels ever.

Participants in Monday’s convening include Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health; and Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic Sister of Social Service, religious leader, attorney, and author with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change.

New York, NY – On Monday, September 20, 2021, President Bill Clinton is bringing leaders from faith and science together to take action on the worsening crisis of addiction and overdose in the United States. This follows the release of data this summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that overdose deaths rose by nearly 30 percent in 2020, with more than 93,000 lives lost. The convening is the second in the virtual series “Bridging Faith and Science to Combat the Overdose Crisis,” co-hosted by the Clinton Foundation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and The Centre for Responsible Leadership.

Public health experts agree on many approaches to reduce harm from addiction and overdose – stigma reduction, treatment expansion, and mental health support. These approaches can be advanced through public policy. However, communities of faith have been under-utilized in the public health effort to fight substance use disorders. This virtual series, which will extend through the coming year, offers an opportunity to explore this topic in-depth and to inspire leaders to action.

You can watch Monday’s event at 12:30 p.m. EDT on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School website here: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/events/bridging-faith-and-science-to-combat-the-overdose-crisis-series

Upon launch of the series in May, The Centre for Responsible Leadership launched an Addiction and Overdose Action Center with concrete steps that faith and community leaders could take to fight the overdose crisis, informed by expertise from the Clinton Foundation and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. You can visit the Action Center here: https://www.thecrl.org/profiles/addiction-and-overdose-action-center

The Clinton Foundation’s Opioid Response Network has worked with groups of religious leaders across different faiths and denominations, in communities across the country, to address the opioid epidemic. These faith leaders, armed with the knowledge, skills, resources, and confidence to effectively address substance use disorders in their local communities, are able to provide critical support for individuals, families, and communities.

In addition to work with faith leaders, the Clinton Foundation has worked for nearly a decade to address the opioid crisis, bringing together experts from across sectors to research, compile, and disseminate the best available science on substance use disorders. A convening with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2017 led to a widely cited white paper, “The Opioid Epidemic: From Evidence to Impact,” that outlines concrete steps to address this crisis. The Foundation also works to distribute the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone across the country, with more than 500,000 doses deployed to recovery residences, schools and universities, and other community organizations through ongoing partnerships. 

Details on Monday’s event are below.

 

Bridging Faith and Science to Combat the Overdose Crisis

WHEN:            

  • Monday, September 20, 2021; 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EDT

WHO:

  • President Bill Clinton; Founder and Board Chair, Clinton Foundation; 42nd President of the United States
  • Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
  • Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health
  • Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic Sister of Social Service, religious leader, attorney, and author with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change
  • H.E. Dr. Mohammad Abdulkarim Al-Issa; Chairman of The Centre for Responsible Leadership
  • Ellen J. MacKenzie, Ph.D., ScM; Dean, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

For more information and to watch the virtual event Monday, visit: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/events/bridging-faith-and-science-to-combat-the-overdose-crisis-series

 

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About the Clinton Foundation

Building on a lifetime of public service, President Clinton established the Clinton Foundation on the simple belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, everyone has a responsibility to act, and we all do better when we work together. For nearly two decades, those values have energized the work of the Foundation in overcoming complex challenges and improving the lives of people across the United States and around the world.

As an operating foundation, we work on issues directly or with strategic partners from the business, government, and nonprofit sectors to create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service. Our programs are designed to make a real difference today while serving as proven models for tomorrow. The goal of every effort is to use available resources to get better results faster – at the lowest possible cost.

We firmly believe that when diverse groups of people bring resources together in the spirit of true cooperation, transformative ideas will emerge to drive life-changing action.

Learn more at https://www.clintonfoundation.org, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation, and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.

 

About the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Founded in 1916 as part of the Johns Hopkins University, the Bloomberg School of Public Health is the world’s oldest and largest independent school of public health. Every day, the Bloomberg School works to keep millions safe from illness and injury by pioneering new research, deploying its knowledge and expertise in the field, and educating tomorrow’s scientists and practitioners in the global defense of human life. You can follow the Bloomberg School’s work on substance abuse disorder here and by subscribing to their newsletter.

 

About The Centre for Responsible Leadership

The Centre for Responsible Leadership is dedicated to assembling global thought leaders to find sustainable solutions to the major challenges plaguing our world today and drive their rapid adoption. The world needs leadership now, and we must all do our part. Join us – https://www.thecrl.org