As the Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center readies for launch, Senator Tammy Baldwin visits to witness the center’s early progress

By Archer Parquette

In March 2024, Sen. Tammy Baldwin made an appropriations request that secured $2 million in federal funds to launch the Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center (WOORC), a regional hub based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy that is leveraging community pharmacies to combat the opioid crisis. 

Now a year later, she saw the results of her work coming together during a visit to the School’s Rennebohm Hall. As the center is powering up, set to be fully operational this fall, Baldwin met with WOORC’s co-directors and key stakeholders in February 2025 to learn about the center’s first steps.

“The work being done here will save lives.”
—Tammy Baldwin

WOORC’s goal is to increase patient access treatments for opioid use disorder, as well as opioid overdose emergency medicine, through pharmacies and pharmacists. The center is coordinating with community pharmacies across urban and rural Wisconsin to provide pharmacists with naloxone, fentanyl testing strips, educational resources, long-term injectables to treat opioid use disorder and more. It’s also researching and developing new treatments for overdoses.

“Pharmacists are some of the most trusted and accessible health care providers — that’s what makes this center work,” says Jay Ford, an associate professor in the School’s Social and Administrative Sciences Division who co-directs WOORC with Cody Wenthur, associate professor in the School’s Pharmacy Practice and Translational Research Division. “Our goal is to get these life-saving resources into the hands of people who often don’t have easy access to them.”

While many Americans, particularly in rural areas, live a significant distance from the nearest hospital, nearly 90% live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, according to a 2022 study in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

“I’ve heard from countless Wisconsinites who have lost friends, family, neighbors and loved ones to this epidemic. Whether it’s stopping drugs from coming into the country or supporting Wisconsin universities’ groundbreaking research, I’m committed to fighting the opioid crisis on all fronts,” says Baldwin. “The work being done here will save lives.”

Laying the foundation

Baldwin met with Ford, Wenthur, and other staff to discuss WOORC’s progress. Ford says one of the biggest efforts right now is expanding the center’s network of community pharmacies across the state through the work of its pharmacy solutions implementation specialists. Outside of pharmacy, the center is also collaborating with law enforcement, local government, and other community stakeholders to shape its approach to combating the crisis.

“Senator Baldwin came prepared with insightful questions, and a real interest in learning more about the work we’re doing,” Ford says.

A number of WOORC’s community partners also met with Baldwin during her visit, including Michelle Haese, the director of Substance Use Initiatives at the Wisconsin Department of Human Services; and Matt Mabie (BS ’98), co-founder of Forward Pharmacy.

“Senator Baldwin was wonderful,” Mabie says. “She understands health care. She understands access. She has a grasp on the issues we face, and she’s willing to listen.”

The visit included a roundtable discussion about WOORC’s progress, as well as a tour of the clinical trial dosing space and the Wenthur Lab where researchers are working on new technologies to combat next-generation overdose threats from increasingly potent narcotics.

Ford also highlighted the center’s expanding outreach efforts, including working with Hayat Pharmacy, a Wisconsin chain based in Milwaukee, to distribute harm reduction information, as well as training pharmacists in the Aspire Rural Health System, based in Marlette, Michigan, to provide non-vaccine injectables, such as naltrexone.

“She really appreciated hearing about these early partnerships, as well as seeing the researchers and students at work in the lab,” Ford says. 

Expanding access

Baldwin told the group that their mission “could not be more reflective of the Wisconsin Idea.”

“Community pharmacies are primary care for a lot of people,” Mabie says. “If somebody scratches their leg or gets a bruise, we’re typically the first place people go. Otherwise, in many communities, they have to travel 20, 25 miles to access health care. As pharmacists, we’re in this unique position to dispense life-saving drugs and long-term injectables. If pharmacies close their doors, people lose that primary care.”

As WOORC moves toward its full launch later this year, Ford and Wenthur are excited about the possibilities. After the $2 million one-time federal grant, the center will be pursuing additional funding to keep its work going in the years ahead.

“We’re at the starting gate,” Ford says. “I’m really excited to get everyone out into the field, get all of these resources and tools into the hands of pharmacists, and see how this work helps people across the entire state.”