Sarah S. Kawasaki, MD
- Co-I, Penn State University
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
- Director of Addiction Services
Dr. Kawasaki is Site PI at Penn State Health within the CTN Appalachian Node and is thrilled to work with Drs. Liebschutz and Winstanley in this role. She directs research activities based at Penn State Health and surrounding clinical sites for the CTN in central Pennsylvania. She is a site lead for the Subthreshold Opioid Use Disorder Prevention (STOP) Trial, an NIH HEAL Initiative trial. She serves on the Rural Special Interest Group and the CTN Methadone Task Force.
Dr. Kawasaki’s research is focused on the enhancement of treatment retention and the optimization of medications in the treatment of opioid use disorders. She has been studying clinical outcomes of individuals with opioid use disorders using a hybrid model of care throughout her work at Penn State Health, and is co-leading an NIH funded study looking at digital technology and its potential to prolong treatment retention. Finally, she is leading an effort to investigate better treatment induction in individuals using synthetic opioids.