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Contact Principal Investigator's Welcome

Welcome to the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) among Mississippi’s Moms: Initiative to Prevent and Treat (SIMM Initiative).

The SIMM Initiative is a three-year project designed to train substance use disorder (SUD) providers in intimate partner violence (IPV) and address the intersection of IPV and SUD during pregnancy and postpartum period. The SIMM Initiative team will identify, utilize, disseminate best practice, and integrate IPV and SUD protocols into medical practice.

Mississippi has the highest prevalence of any physical intimate partner violence, as well as before pregnancy, and second highest during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The association between IPV and SUD is well established. To decrease IPV, the SIMM Initiative has developed and implemented a SUD training program for Mississippi’s community-based IPV staff.

Funded by the Department of Human Health Services (HHS), the SIMM Initiative investigators includes UMMC nursing, psychiatry, women’s health, telehealth, emergency medicine, the University of Mississippi along with four community health partners.

Lei Zhang, PhD, MBA
Contact Principal Investigator
SIMM Initiative

Violence research focus of $7.5M grants to School of Nursing (UMMC News)