HEROES-Houston ER Opioid System

02/22/2026

Team C-BEAR reaching out to the community in Galveston! Jessica Yeager, BSW, NCPRSS, and Kelly Kemp-kuhn, RSPS, were connecting people to treatment, counseling, and peer support at the Hope St. Vincent's House & St. Vincent's Hope Clinics Winter Family Health Fest in Galveston, Texas.

The Texas ICON program supports people to reduce the burden of and throughout the State of Texas.

If you or someone you know needs help call or email us now!

Phone: 833-696-5102
Email: icon@uth.tmc.edu
Direct Referral: https://go.uth.edu/iconreferral

02/21/2026

Today, Jessica Yeager, BSW, NCPRSS, and Kelly Kemp-kuhn, RSPS, are connecting people to treatment, counseling, and peer support at the Hope St. Vincent's House & St. Vincent's Hope Clinics Winter Family Health Fest in Galveston, Texas.

Reach out TODAY for connection to services near your county!

Phone: 833-696-5102
Email: icon@uth.tmc.edu
Direct Referral: https://go.uth.edu/iconreferral

Texas ICON supports treatment, recovery, overdose prevention and education, and patient navigation to reduce the burden of and throughout the State of Texas.

UTHealth Houston
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston

02/19/2026

Our team is presenting a poster called “Integrating Artificial Intelligence into the Evaluation of Opioid Overdose Education Programs" at the TMC AI Summit taking place at the Duncan Neurological Research Institute.

Congratulations to Audrey Lopez, Dr. Francine R. Vega, PhD, MS, Christine River Block (Bakos-Block), Ph.D., LCSW, Thu Le and other participants in this project.

The poster compares traditional unpaired statistical approaches with AI-assisted thematic interpretation (using ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot) to evaluate Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) training programs.

Key takeaways: both methods converged on meaningful post-training improvements (knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy), while AI added extra “why this matters” clarity by refining themes, proposing scoring logic, and highlighting item-level drivers of change.

Please stop by the seventh floor to learn more about the research group's findings.

For more information about the TMC AI Summit visit: https://tmc-ai-summit.org/

02/17/2026

Our very own Peer Support Specialist Kelly Kemp-kuhn, RSPS, goes to any length to help others from while on assertive outreach with our community partner, the Houston Fire Department!

02/17/2026

Hiring! Please share!

Apply for Peer Support Services Specialist (San Marcos region) McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics (HEROES) job with UTHealth Houston in Texas, United States. Administration at UTHealth Houston

02/06/2026

Hiring a Peer Specialist in the Austin/ San Marcos area!

Apply for Peer Support Services Specialist (San Marcos region) McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics (HEROES) job with UTHealth Houston in Texas, United States. Administration at UTHealth Houston

02/05/2026

Welcome to the team Osaze Ohonba, PA-C, MMS! Osaze is an Advanced Practice Provider with over 10 years of clinical experience in Emergency Medicine and Virtual/Telehealth settings. He is experienced in the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of both acute and chronic conditions across diverse patient populations. Osaze is known for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care in evolving clinical environments.
He will be practicing from our first floor Heroes clinic and will be seeing patients in person and virtually for MOUD induction and maintenance. Please join us congratulating him for his new role.

02/03/2026

01/30/2026

Please Share!
https://redcap.uthscsa.edu/REDCap/surveys/?s=NTTTXHXDJ4R4YECP

01/30/2026

Congratulations to ,Ph.D. for a stellar presentation on the HEROES program at the UT System Chancellors Council Executive Committee. Lots of interest in the innovative recovery program impacting Texas communities.
Thank you for your leadership and for showing what's possible when evidence, action and collaboration come together. 👏