NYU Langone, PEP Expand School-based Overdose Prevention with Anthem Foundation Support

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NYU Langone Family Health Centers (FHC) and NYU Langone’s Prevention Education Partnership (PEP) are sharing new progress from their shared work to help high schools prepare for—and prevent—opioid overdose emergencies. This work is supported by a $600,000 grant over three years (June 2024–May 2027) from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation.

The collaboration brings together FHC’s school-connected care teams and PEP’s on-the-ground prevention educators to deliver a “whole-school” approach: updating emergency response plans, training staff and school communities in overdose recognition and naloxone use, placing naloxone where it’s needed, and strengthening pathways for screening and referral to treatment and behavioral health supports.

To date, 500 school staff have been trained for the program. One school has completed all core components of PEP’s comprehensive overdose prevention model (emergency response planning, overdose education, and naloxone distribution), with two additional schools on track to complete implementation by the end of July 2026.

“Prevention is most effective when trusted partners show up consistently where families live, learn, and work,” said Dr. Christy Valentine-Theard, Anthem’s New York Medicaid and Medicare plan president. “That’s why this grant is so important. It helps NYU Langone’s Family Health Centers and PEP strengthen the health of our communities through preventive care by building readiness in schools through training, naloxone access, and stronger pathways to care, so staff and students are better prepared to respond and more young people can be connected to help earlier.”

A cornerstone of this work is PEP Talks: Doctors and Teens in Conversation, a curriculum that creates open dialogue between teenagers and medical professionals. The lessons focus on the unique risks associated with commonly encountered legal and illegal substances, and they teach harm-reduction strategies that prioritize wellness and safety.

One featured module, the Fentanyl PEP Talk, addresses how illicitly manufactured fentanyl in counterfeit pills and powders have made today’s illegal drug supply far more dangerous for youth. The session explains why opioid overdoses quickly become fatal and gives clear instruction on how to identify an opioid overdose and respond with naloxone. By educating teens and school staff about fentanyl risk and overdose response, the program helps schools build a stronger, more prepared community response to a crisis affecting families across New York City.

Dr. Larissa K. Laskowski, assistant professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and the creator of PEP Talks, emphasized the unique impact of the partnership. “What makes this work successful is the way the pieces fit together. PEP brings prevention education and training expertise, while the Family Health Centers’ school-based relationships help make implementation real. The result? Plans, training, and access to naloxone are more readily sustained and implemented in day-to-day school operations.”

In addition to these critical initiatives, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is helping lead the way in adolescent substance use prevention with the development and piloting of screening intervention protocols for NYU’s School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs). It is an approach that helps identify substance use earlier and connects youth to the right care when it is most needed, addressing a gap in preventive care that research has shown can reduce later-stage substance use escalation. With Anthem’s support, NYU Langone is expanding this work across their SBHC network, which serves the largest number of students in the NYC Public Schools system.

This is significant because SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) is widely endorsed for youth, including by the American Academy of Pediatrics and New York State’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports, but it is infrequently incorporated into daily SBHC workflows, even though SBHCs are well-positioned to reach vulnerable adolescents early. The pilot will support workflow design, electronic documentation tools, referral protocols, and staff training, and it includes structured evaluation to assess implementation consistency, feasibility for clinic staff, and referral follow-through.

About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is a philanthropic arm of the Elevance Health Foundation. The Foundation works to address health equity by focusing on improving the health of the socially vulnerable through strategic partnerships and programs in our communities with an emphasis on maternal child health; mental health; and food as medicine. Additionally, the Foundation also responds to disasters when our communities need us the most. The Foundation coordinates the company’s year-round Dollars for Dollars program which provides a 100 percent match of associates’ donations, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross names and symbol are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. To learn more about the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and the Elevance Health Foundation, please visit

https://www.elevancehealth.foundation/ and its blog at www.medium.com/elevancehealthfoundation.