VCU news

Virginia Commonwealth University and Richmond communities are invited to a panel discussion on Wednesday, September 19 on the opioid epidemic in Virginia.

The event, “The Opioid Epidemic in Virginia: Individual, Family and Community Consequences,” is sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences in the College of Humanities and Sciences and will be held at 7 p.m. in Room 1107 of the Academic Learning Commons, 1000 Floyd Ave.

“With the looming opioid epidemic and its dire consequences, these panelists will provide multiple perspectives from government policy, to education and awareness strategies, to VCU's recovery program, to the voices of those in recovery,” said Joann T. Richardson, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences.

The panelists featured at the discussion will be:

Jodi Manz, assistant secretary of health and human resources in the office of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam

Omar Abubaker, D.M.D., Ph.D., professor and S. Elmer Bear Endowed Chair in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, VCU School of Dentistry

Thomas N. Bannard, recovery program coordinator at The Wellness Resource Center at VCU and program director of RAMS in Recovery