Impact Story: Mehruba Anwar Parris, MD, FACMT

Mehruba Anwar Parris, MD, FACMT
2023-2024 MTF/SAEMF Toxicology Research Grant

Grant Project: "Efficacy and Incidence of Adverse Events of High Dose Buprenorphine for MOUD in the ED"
Award Amount: $20,000

About Dr. Parris

Mehruba Anwar Parris, MD is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist. She is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ. She completed her fellowship in Medical Toxicology at Emory University/CDC in Atlanta, GA after which she served in multiple educational and administrative roles at Jackson Health System and Florida’s Poison Control Centers in Miami, FL. She is currently the Director of Clinical Services for the Division of Medical Toxicology. Her interests are in acute and critical care, herbals, and public health within medical toxicology and addiction medicine.  

Q: You received the 2023-2024 MTF/SAEMF Toxicology Research Grant. Please bring us up to date on your project, "Efficacy and Incidence of Adverse Events of High Dose Buprenorphine for MOUD in the ED." Any news or updates?

A: After a longer than expected IRB approval process, we did multiple educational sessions for our research assistants and informed our residents, faculty, and nurse practitioners within the urgent, acute care and observation units within the ED. We launched the patient enrollment and data collection process earlier this month.

Q: Good, bad, or otherwise, were there any surprises during the grant process? 

A: This continues to be a learning process for me and has taught me new lessons in persistence and perseverance in mid-career which I am thankful for. I have learned a significant amount in the IRB process involving human subjects at my institution and the importance of resetting expectations and perceived failures.

Q: How would you say this opportunity has benefitted or influenced your professional growth and development?

A: Aside from the factors mentioned above, it has helped me further pursue my interests in clinical research and demonstrated that it can be possible to attempt real research with a primary clinical focus.  

Q: Any guidance you would share with early-stage investigators tackling their first research endeavor?

A: Utilize your resources. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your mentors, others within your network who are doing more research, and other MTF/SAEMF grantees (what an amazing group of people!). There is no need to reinvent the wheel even.