Abstract : In this presentation, Dr. Sainfort will give an overview of the recently founded Health Foundation of South Florida Collaborative for Population Health Equity at Nova Southeastern University and its ongoing projects. Results from the opioid initiative and in particular the role of community-level factors in opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits before and during COVID-19. For this study, ED data from the Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) were combined with community-level variables from the American Community Survey.  The outcome measures of the study were quarterly zip code tabulation area (ZCTA)-level ED visit rates for opioid-related ED visits as well as visit rates for all other causes. Associations of community-level factors with opioid-related visit rates were estimated before and during COVID-19. The results inform health policy and suggest socio-economic status should be the focus of prevention and treatment efforts to reduce opioid-related visits in future pandemics. Healthcare organizations in charge of managing the health of their patient populations can use these results to target their prevention and treatment efforts during future pandemics.