Dr. Joy Alonzo's Lab
Research Goals
- Design, develop and demonstrate interventions, especially technological, to address inequities in access to healthcare.
- Design, develop and demonstrate novel methods to address gaps in mental and behavioral healthcare, to include substance use disorders.
- Implement novel methodologies related to decentralized clinical trials with the goal of increasing URM participation.
- Evaluation and implementation of strategies to incorporate social messaging to improve communication and healthcare outcomes.
Telehealth Care Devices, Applications, Policy and Methodologies
Dr. Joy P. Alonzo is a pioneering figure in the field of telehealth innovations, with a remarkable portfolio of projects aimed at transforming healthcare delivery. Her work includes the development of the Texas A&M OnMed Healthcare Station, a groundbreaking telemedicine platform that enhances access to medical care. Dr. Alonzo's COVID Key is a distributed device and database system, offering touchless vital sign and clinical metric collection, addressing the pressing needs of pandemic response. Her innovative MyRecovery mobile application implements contingency management techniques to provide crucial support for patients in Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Use Disorder recovery. Furthermore, her MyDiabetes Score initiative combines a distributed database system, mobile phone application, and medication dispensing device integration to enhance adherence and improve patient outcomes for those with diabetes. Finally, through her Lifeline project, Dr. Alonzo integrates rural dispatch units, revolutionizing communication for citizen emergency response and augmenting emergency services, particularly for catastrophic health events like cardiac and overdose events. Dr. Alonzo's pioneering work in telehealth is poised to make a lasting impact on healthcare accessibility and patient outcomes.
Mental and Behavioral Health Care Interventions
Dr. Joy Alonzo has played a pivotal role in collaborative efforts between the School of Public Health and the School of Nursing to address the devastating opioid crisis. Her interventions include Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Administration Training (OENA), a program that equips individuals with the knowledge and tools to save lives through naloxone rescue kit distribution. Dr. Alonzo's initiatives also encompass education and training regarding Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), promoting evidence-based approaches to treatment. Moreover, her work extends to novel prevention and awareness programming, covering crucial topics such as illicit fentanyl education, youth refusal skills, and the establishment of community recovery-oriented systems of care. Dr. Alonzo's expertise in technology-assisted substance use disorder recovery and opioid overdose community response systems is at the forefront of combating this crisis, alongside her efforts to integrate mental and behavioral health care within the community, collectively fostering a comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid epidemic.