Faculty member Tobias Gerhard is lending his expertise to a national committee that will examine the use of opioid medications among veterans. Working under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the ad hoc committee is charged with developing a protocol and study design to evaluate the relationship between concomitant opioid and benzodiazepine medications used to treat mental health and combat-related trauma at the Veterans Administration and the potential for death and suicide among veterans.

Gerhard is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration. In making the appointment, the National Academies cited Gerhard’s expertise in research areas that include comparative safety and effectiveness of antipsychotic medications as well as use and management of therapeutics among publicly and privately insured populations.

The committee will meet throughout the year in Washington, D.C., with its final report due in September 2019.