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Hello everyone, welcome to the C-DIAS summer newsletter!

Over the past three months, there has been a great deal of productive activity across the C-DIAS network. I can only highlight two of these happenings in this issue. 

One of the more exciting and innovative developments is our effort to pool together data and findings across projects. The fields of addiction research and implementation science have been compromised in impact in part because of the lack of standardized measures. This makes it challenging if not impossible to replicate or pool findings across studies toward generalizable knowledge. This severely limits the impact of research projects beyond one-shot research studies. Led by Hendricks Brown and Jane Kim, a focused team is striving to harmonize quantitative data from measures across the C-DIAS and related research projects. In parallel, C-DIAS administrative core teams are working to harmonize qualitative data from the projects using both traditional and large language model (LLM) AI techniques. Ironically, implementation science has suffered a translational problem—particularly in the overuse of theories, models and frameworks, as well as obfuscating language and acronyms. In our “market research” this feedback is loud and consistent. We have and will continue to communicate and leverage our work by designing pragmatic tools and translating complex findings for broader audiences. Everyday people who want to use implementation science to solve health care delivery problems should be able to do so. 

Pivotal to both of these efforts, data harmonization and translational communication, are a couple terrific new C-DIAS people, Bryan Chauvel and Hannah Begna, who you will read more about next. 

As for our aim to build capacity, the C-DIAS Fellowship application pool was once again large and stellar—no drop-off from the two prior years. The Educational Program Committee did not have an easy task evaluating the applicants and making hard choices. The new and third class of seven C-DIAS Fellows in addiction implementation science will be announced soon! 

I recommend you take some time to reflect, relax and recharge this summertime. Hopefully this is already your plan. 

Please reach out anytime to me directly by email, text and old-school phone call: (603) 381-1160. 

—Mark

Bryan Chauvel, MS – Communications Director, C-DIAS

We are excited to welcome Bryan Chauvel, MS, as communications director for C-DIAS. Bryan brings experience from Google, Williams-Sonoma and more than 15 years of nonprofit consulting through Taproot Foundation. He previously led communications at St. Anthony Foundation, where he elevated visibility and fundraising through strategic communications initiatives. He holds a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. At C-DIAS, Bryan oversees communications strategy, translating complex research into actionable messaging, promoting faculty and their work, and supporting implementation, policy and practice change across the center’s initiatives.

Hannah Begna, MS – Research Data Analyst, C-DIAS

We are excited to welcome Hannah Begna, MS, as data analyst for C-DIAS. Hannah has dedicated her career to advancing public health and academic research, with experience spanning communicable diseases, HIV, women’s health and mental health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario and a master’s degree in global health sciences from the University of California, San Francisco. At C-DIAS, Hannah supports research and data harmonization and analysis to help drive implementation, policy and practice change across the center’s initiatives.

Who Reads Scientific Journal Articles?

Although publications in scientific journals are a key metric in academia, the potential to reach a broader audience is dubious. We’re excited to introduce C-DIAS infographics — clear, visual communications designed to distill key research findings from the work of C-DIAS faculty and fellows.



Infographics translate sophisticated and complex research findings into pragmatic takeaways for policymakers, health care organization leaders and providers, and patients and families.

Check out our newest infographics on the C-DIAS website.

Current titles include



• Model-driven decision support: A community-based meta-implementation strategy to predict population impact. Annals of Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2024.05.002
• Rollout trial designs in implementation research are often necessary and sometimes preferred. Implementation Science, 20(11). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-025-01422-x

Howard Kim, MD, MS, is an emergency physician and health services researcher dedicated to improving care for acute pain and substance use disorders in emergency department (ED) settings. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and principal investigator on several NIH-funded addiction-related studies.

Dr. Kim earned his MD at Duke University and completed his emergency medicine residency at Denver Health Medical Center. He later received a master’s degree in health services and outcomes research at Northwestern University.

As a C-DIAS fellow, mentored by Dr. Greg Simon, Dr. Kim is leading a multisite feasibility study of an embedded ED physical therapy intervention for low back pain — a leading cause of opioid prescribing. He is using implementation science methods to assess implementation outcomes and strategies in preparation for a future hybrid type 2 trial. His goal is to reduce unnecessary opioid exposure and improve patient-centered outcomes.

Beyond his core project, Dr. Kim participates in the Design and Modeling Section and collaborates with the Research Adoption Support Center (RASC) on evidence-based practice guides for substance use disorder care, alongside K02 mentor Dr. Sara Becker.

He aims to deepen his expertise in implementation science, secure related funding, and foster lasting collaborations. His broader agenda includes ED-based harm reduction, such as distributing naloxone and fentanyl test strips. His clinical experience across diverse ED settings continues to motivate his pursuit of scalable, sustainable solutions for both patients and providers.

A Leader in Behavioral Health

Dr. Sara Becker’s path to becoming a national leader in implementation science began nearly 30 years ago, rooted in a dual undergraduate degree in psychology and economics. “I was really fascinated about the interplay between human behavior and organizational issues,” she said, a curiosity that eventually guided her from undergraduate studies, to strategy consulting, to academia.

As PI of C-DIAS Research Project, Implementing Contingency Management for Stimulant Use in Specialty Addiction Treatment organizations, Dr. Becker has helped shape scaling evidence-based practices. Her research on implementing contingency management (CM) —a behavioral treatment offering incentives for treatment adherence—has informed the implementation of CM across more than 180 organizations in California. “The strategy my team developed has now been used across eight states to help front-line clinicians implement contingency management,” she noted.

Her guiding philosophy remains rooted in collaboration and practicality. “There’s no research project too big; there are only teams that are too small,” she often tells mentees. “You don’t need to know how to do everything. You need to build a team that has the knowledge and skills to do what you want to do.”

Dr. Becker also champions pragmatic tools for the field. “We need to simplify the methods and package them for widespread consumption,” she said, pointing to user-friendly guides like STAR Log developed by C-DIAS affiliate, Dr. Bryan Garner, to track implementation strategies.

In her downtime, she recharges by spending time with her family. “I love watching my kids in their element... Anything that allows me to bear witness to them finding their joy is my happy place.”

Promoting Access to Substance Use Treatment in Private Health Systems (ABC-SUD; PI: Joe Glass)

The ABC-SUD team has completed data collection for the Inventory of Factors Affecting Successful Implementation and Sustainment (IFASIS), Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM), and Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), and shared key findings with leadership at Kaiser Permanente Washington’s Mental Health Access Center through an executive summary. Clinician and patient interviews have also wrapped, with an executive summary and manuscript currently in development.



The trial is preparing for a crossover of treatment assignments on July 16. At that point, clinicians who had been offering care navigation (CN) will transition to usual care, and those previously offering usual care will begin delivering CN.

Matson, T. E., Hermes, E. D. A., Lyon, A. R., Quanbeck, A., Schueller, S. M., Wilson, S. M., & Glass, J. E. (2025). A framework for designing hybrid effectiveness-implementation trials for digital health interventions. Annals of epidemiology, 104, 35–47. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2025.02.007



Rossi, F. S., Adams, M. C. B., Aarons, G., & McGovern, M. P. From glitter to gold: Recommendations for effective dashboards from design through sustainment. Implementation Science. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-025-01430-x

We’ve recently been tuning into two insightful podcasts at the intersection of research, policy, and practice:

“That Implementation Science Podcast” (Mike Pullmann and Kevin King)

A fresh and accessible take on implementation science, this podcast explores real-world applications and emerging challenges with leading voices in the field. Great for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of how implementation works in practice.

Byron Powell, PhD, of the Methods & Measures section, was featured in the episode, "Byron Powell: Implementation Strategies and Mechanism Diagramming."

Listen Here »

“Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet” (Freakanomics Radio)

An engaging conversation on how data, research, and design thinking could radically improve public policy. A compelling listen for those interested in evidence-based decision-making.

Listen here »

We Want to Hear Your Voice!

Did you learn something new or hear something inspiring during a recent talk, presentation, or event that you recently attended? We want to hear from you! Please submit your thoughts, musings, or quotes to info@c-dias.org.