Overdose prevention training, engineered to feel less like a lecture and more like a game people actually finish.
DopaGE sells something that sounds impossible to sell: a course about drug overdoses that college students want to take. That is the whole trick, and it is a bigger trick than it sounds.
Here is the setup. Overdose is a leading cause of death for young adults in America. The tools to prevent a lot of those deaths are not secret - naloxone works, fentanyl test strips work, and a bystander who knows what an overdose looks like and isn't afraid to call for help works. The problem was never that the knowledge didn't exist. The problem is a distribution and engagement problem: the training is boring, students skip it, and skipped training saves nobody.
DopaGE's insight is to treat that as the actual product. They built virtual, cartoon-animated, gamified lessons - designed by neuroscientists to maximize how much students engage with and remember - that hand young adults peer-reviewed data and let them make their own decisions. The company describes its approach as teaching people to "prevent, recognize, and respond to overdoses in the ways they enjoy learning." Autonomy over abstinence. Data over don't.
The business model is the tidy part. Colleges and universities buy an annual subscription, students complete a roughly one-hour online course, and everyone keeps portal access for 12 months. There is also a direct-to-consumer version families can buy for $25. It is edtech pricing attached to a public-health emergency, which is a combination you do not see very often.
The content is specific rather than vague. Four modules - Cocaine Decisions, Xanax Decisions, MDMA Decisions, and Opioid Overdose Response - run on adaptive testing that adjusts to how fast you learn. The portal bundles a Good Samaritan Law database, fentanyl test strip instructions, and a certificate. It's built for computers and tablets, not phones, specifically to keep learners from getting distracted mid-lesson. That last detail tells you the whole design philosophy: they thought about the failure modes.
An annual subscription colleges deploy to their students. A ~60-minute gamified course, four substance-specific modules, adaptive testing, and a certificate of achievement - built to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility with Vision, Hearing, Motor, and Cognitive support modes.
The cloud-based learner home at train.dopa.ge. Animated lessons, quizzes that award experience points, a Good Samaritan Law database, and fentanyl test strip instructions - all kept accessible for 12 months from purchase.
A direct-to-consumer version families can buy for $25 with a year of access. Overdose recognition and response skills that don't stay locked on campus - they come home.
DopaGE reports these figures from its own learners. They're self-reported and approximate, but the shape of the story is consistent - people finish the training, and they leave feeling ready to act.
In spring 2020, Hilliard was a university student watching overdose deaths on her campus climb into double digits in a single school year. The last one was her friend. She studied computational neuroscience and completed pre-medical coursework at USC, and worked as a Nationally Registered EMT treating overdose patients in ambulances and ERs. She started with a student non-profit, T.A.C.O., then won the 2022 Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab Venture Competition to fund DopaGE.
"Overdose deaths could be prevented."
The belief that started the company
Co-founder Amanda Grennan joined Hilliard on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Education. Investor Pierre Rolin of Ankh Impact Ventures backed the seed round.
Overdose deaths rise on campus; Hilliard founds the student non-profit T.A.C.O. (Team Awareness Combating Overdose), now run by nearly 300 volunteers nationwide.
Hilliard's team wins the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab Venture Competition, securing initial funding to build DopaGE as a scalable product.
Seed funding; investor Pierre Rolin of Ankh Impact Ventures comes on board.
Co-founders Madeline Hilliard and Amanda Grennan named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Education.
After developing and researching the curriculum since 2020, DopaGE launches with academic institutions.
Campus partner deploying DopaGE overdose prevention training.
Piloted DopaGE's free, virtual, game-like overdose prevention portal for students.
"Pleased to partner with DopaGE to implement an innovative drug education and prevention training program."
Institutional partner using DopaGE training for its students.
DopaGE plays on dopamine - the neuroscience runs straight into the branding.
Courses are built for computers and tablets, deliberately, to minimize distraction during training.
Founder Hilliard treated overdose patients in ambulances and ERs before starting the company.
The portal bundles a Good Samaritan Law database so learners know their legal protection when they call for help.
Lessons are cartoon-animated and award experience points - overdose prevention, gamified.
T.A.C.O.'s student volunteers are credited with saving lives numbering in the four digits.
Profile compiled from public sources. Figures are self-reported by DopaGE and approximate. Facts current as of mid-2026.