Hendrée E Jones, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina, United States
and
Gabriele Fischer, M.D.
Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Individually experts in understanding and treating substance abuse among pregnant women, Hendrée Jones and Gabriele Fischer have worked together to benefit addicted mothers and their babies around the world. Dr. Jones led the multi-site clinical trial of Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research—the MOTHER study—and Dr. Fischer led the study’s Austrian site. The MOTHER study demonstrated that buprenorphine reduced the symptoms of neonatal opioid withdrawal when compared with methadone, and that the medication was a safe and effective treatment for opioid dependence during pregnancy. As consultants for national, regional, and international organizations, both researchers have served on numerous expert panels, including the Guidelines Development Group for the 2014 World Health Organization Guidelines for the Identification and Management of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders in Pregnancy. The NIDA International Program presents the 2015 Award of Excellence in International Collaborative Research to Hendrée Jones and Gabriele Fischer.