Closing the Circle

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was previously published in the fall 2025 issue of the UB Medicine alumni magazine.)

By Dirk Hoffman

Since her arrival in 2021 as UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, has repeatedly articulated UB’s goal of “transforming the health of the Western New York community.”

UB research takes on many forms, but the focus always remains on improved disease management, better access to care, community-based research partnerships and equity-driven health initiatives.

Jacobs School investigators are leading advances in many areas including opioid addiction treatment, cystic fibrosis (CF) and multiple sclerosis (MS).

The MATTERS program, a novel statewide electronic referral network, was born out of frustration. It was developed by Joshua J. Lynch, DO, professor of emergency medicine and addiction medicine, because he saw inadequacies in how the health care system treated patients with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Lynch created the MATTERS network to provide medication-assisted treatment to OUD patients in emergency departments and rapidly transition them into long-term treatment at a community clinic. The program provides stigma-free treatment and education.

He explains the MATTERS network is based on the premise that patients must be linked to treatment promptly and they must see that they have plenty of choices.

“We know that the window of opportunity when we can intervene with a patient may only be open for a very short time,” Lynch says.

MATTERS is one of a number of multidisciplinary UB initiatives involving faculty from the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions, who investigate addiction, from exploring its basic scientific mechanisms to developing new approaches to patient care.

Research has shown that quick, barrier-free access to treatment is essential, and MATTERS has grown from a Buffalo-based pilot into a national model for tackling the opioid epidemic.

Through its partnership with the New York State Department of Health and other agencies, MATTERS has expanded its network to include inpatient units, medical offices, correctional facilities, first responders and community-based organizations. It has also expanded to offer telemedicine evaluations and harm reduction services.

To date, MATTERS has distributed over 23 million test strips, distributed over 34,000 doses of naloxone (the antidote for an opioid overdose), made more than 5,000 referrals and conducted more than 130 community trainings. It partners with over 100 hospitals throughout New York State, and with over 200 treatment organizations. 

MATTERS has also installed more than 25 “no stigma” vending machines throughout New York State. They provide free naloxone and free test strips for fentanyl and xylazine.

“People with opioid use disorder can be reluctant to walk into a pharmacy to obtain test strips or naloxone,” Lynch says. “So, we wanted the vending machines to be in different types of places, outside and always accessible.” 

UB has a rich history in being an innovative leader in CF research.

Drucy S. Borowitz, MD, clinical professor emeritus of pediatrics, who directed the Cystic Fibrosis Center at the former Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo for more than 25 years, was instrumental in helping the development of the breakthrough drug ivacaftor — a CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator. The first patient in a multisite clinical study was enrolled in Buffalo in 2009.

The research contributed greatly to longer lifespans. For people born with CF since 2020, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation estimates the median age of survival is 65. The same statistic was 28 years of age in 1990.

Danielle M. Goetz, MD ’03, clinical associate professor of pediatrics, succeeded Borowitz, and is director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center of Western New York at Oishei Children’s Hospital. 

Last year, Goetz was asked by the CF Foundation to write a position paper on redefining the CF Care Model that was pioneered in the 1960s and defined by clinical practice guidelines in 1997.

Evolution of the CF Care Model was necessary due to improved survival and outcomes, development of CFTR modulators, and technology advances allowing telemedicine and home monitoring, Goetz says.

“CF care is changing, but it is still important to have an interdisciplinary team and to have patient-centered care,” Goetz says.

Citing the advent of CFTR modulators, the position paper recommended slightly more flexibility in the timing of clinic visits.

“If a person is stable, they can space out visits to every four to six months instead of every three months,” Goetz says. “Less frequent visits can make their lives a little less hectic.”

Even with a reduction of in-person visits, Goetz says health care providers must still maintain close follow-up and initiate interventions if necessary.

“We need to maintain access to treatments and medications because they have proven to be so beneficial,” she says.

Jack Reeves, a trainee in the MD-PhD Program, has received accolades for his clinical research work with MS patients and his focus on paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) — chronic active lesions believed to represent smoldering inflammation in MS.

He received the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center’s highly competitive 2025 Marc Stecker Award for Excellence in Multiple Sclerosis Research, which recognizes a student whose research is deeply informed by the lived experiences of people with MS.

One of the award’s criteria is demonstrating a willingness to pursue ideas that are not necessarily part of the mainstream of MS research.

“My main contribution on this front is my work on ‘iron networks.’ Previous research in mice showed that iron is transported between brain areas. My initial results support that a similar phenomenon may be occurring in humans and disrupted in people with MS,” Reeves says. “This work is novel not just for MS but for neuroscience in general, and I hope that it leads to a deeper understanding of the disease and new treatments for people with MS.”

The bulk of Reeves’ research has looked at the relationship between clinical MS disease progression and PRLs. Specifically, he investigated whether PRLs are related to clinical relapse and clinical disease progression, both of which profoundly impact patients’ quality of life.

He has authored or co-authored seven top-tier peer-reviewed publications on PRLs, contributing significantly to the understanding of chronic inflammation in MS. Reeves was first author on two 2024 papers that represented the first published longitudinal studies of PRLs.

“My research showed that PRLs predict higher rates of clinical relapse and increased clinical disability,” Reeves says. “These findings could help individual patient/clinician teams select appropriate disease-modifying therapies.”

The resolution of existing PRLs may preserve brain tissue (or slow its loss), helping to retain motor and cognitive function longer. And using PRLs as a biomarker to identify people likely to benefit more from certain therapies could allow more personalized treatment, such as starting more aggressive therapy earlier for those with PRLs, thus improving long‑term outcomes.

Working with center director Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, in the Jacobs Multiple Sclerosis Center for Treatment and Research at UBMD Neurology, Reeves says he has learned that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to treating MS.

“Each patient’s disease is as unique as the person themselves, so it’s important to take the whole person into account when deciding on a medical care plan,” he says.

By continuing to identify key challenges, exploring innovative solutions and applying new knowledge to real-world problems, UB’s research remains a driving force for positive change in Western New York and beyond.