Dr. Pouya Azar stops by the show to talk about his recent article Transition to Extended-release Buprenorphine Injectable Within Seven Days for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: A Scoping Narrative. He discusses the potential benefits of transitioning patients with opioid use disorder from traditional to extended-release or long-acting buprenorphine within 7 days or 24 hours, respectively, of treatment, as well as challenges and future questions that arose from his narrative review. Pouya Azar, MD, FRCPC, DABAM, is a clinician-scientist in addiction psychiatry and pain medicine based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He serves as co-medical manager of the Complex Pain and Addiction Service (CPAS) at Vancouver Coastal Health, a consult service providing management of pain, mental health disorders, and substance use disorders across Vancouver General Hospital, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Hospital, and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. He is also an assistant professor (tenure-track) in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, research scientist co-lead of the Substance Use Disorder Clinical Research Unit at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and a physician at the Vancouver General Hospital Transitional Pain Clinic. Dr. Azar’s clinical and translational research focuses on developing novel opioid agonist treatment initiation and withdrawal management protocols, medical devices, digital health apps, and prevention programs to improve patient outcomes. - Article Link: Transition to Extended-release Buprenorphine Injectable Within Seven Days for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: A Scoping Narrative

Host Dr. Shawn McNeil is joined by Dr. Robert Sherrick to discuss his new article Relationship Between Methadone Induction Dosing and Retention in Treatment in Opioid Treatment Programs featured in the July/August issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine.   Robert Sherrick, MD, DFASAM, is chief science officer for Community Medical Services, a company that serves patients through over 70 Opioid Treatment Programs in 12 states. He also has experience working at an inpatient addiction treatment facility, Pathways Treatment Center, treating all forms of substance use disorders and dual diagnosis patients.   Dr. Sherrick has been providing medication treatment for opioid use disorder since 2003, initially in an office setting using buprenorphine and subsequently with methadone in Opioid Treatment Programs. He established a state-wide buprenorphine treatment program for VA Montana with extensive use of telemedicine. He is board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine through the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He is past president of the Northwest Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). - Article: Relationship Between Methadone Induction Dosing and Retention in Treatment in Opioid Treatment Programs

Dr. Emily Pasman stops by the show to talk about her recent article Nonabstinence Among US Adults in Recovery From an Alcohol or Other Drug Problem. She discusses the findings from her study as well as the potential limitations of using a solely abstinence-focused treatment and recovery model for addiction care. Emily Pasman is a licensed social worker and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking, and Health. Her research aims to improve health equity for people who use drugs by expanding harm reduction interventions; supporting affected family members; and addressing disparities in service access, uptake, and outcomes. Grounded in her practice background in peer-delivered services, she uses participatory methods to engage people with lived and living experience in all aspects of the research process. - Article Link: Nonabstinence Among US Adults in Recovery From an Alcohol or Other Drug Problem

Dr. Jarratt Pytell stops by the show to discuss his recent article featured in the Journal of Addiction Medicine titled Post Void Residuals: Medications for Opioid Use Disorder, Patient Outcomes, and How Not to Get Fooled by Urine Toxicology Results - Article Link: Void Residuals: Medications for Opioid Use Disorder, Patient Outcomes, and How Not to Get Fooled by Urine Toxicology Results

In this episode, Regina LaBelle stops by to talk about her recent article featured in the Journal of Addiction Medicine titled, The First 100 Days: The Trump Administration and Changes to Addiction Policy. In this episode, Regina discusses structural, budgetary and personnel, and data collection changes that have occurred in the last 100 days and the potential impact on addiction policy. Regina LaBelle is the director of the Center on Addiction Policy at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center. She is also a member of the faculty at Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where she directs the Master of Science in Addiction Policy and Practice program, a program she founded in 2021. Regina has a history of public service, including in the Biden and Obama Administrations in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy where she was appointed acting director in the first year of the Biden Administration. Under President Obama, Regina served as chief of staff at ONDCP where she managed the agency's response to the overdose epidemic and the implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy. She also serves on the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. - Article Link: The First 100 Days: The Trump Administration and Changes to Addiction Policy

Recorded live at the 56th Annual ASAM Conference in Denver, Dr. Marcela Smid sits down to discuss article submissions and peer review, as well as demystifying the scientific publishing process for new authors.

In this episode, Dr. Charles Schauberger discusses the difficulties clinicians face when identifying and treating inhalant use in pregnant patients, and the findings from his recent article Systematic Review of Obstetric and Child Outcomes of Prenatal Exposure to Inhalants in the Context of a Use Disorder.   Dr. Charles Schauberger lives and practices in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  He is board-certified in both Obstetrics and Addiction Medicine, and has developed a specialized pregnancy addiction clinic that champions a patient-centered approach to addiction care for pregnant women.  While he is mostly retired from obstetrics, he continues to provide addiction care and continues his interest in performing research studies to advance our knowledge of treatment for substances in pregnancy. - Article Link: Systematic Review of Obstetric and Child Outcomes of Prenatal Exposure to Inhalants in the Context of a Use Disorder

In this episode, Dr. Mishka Terplan discusses initiation of MAUD for pregnant patients, and the findings from his recent article Medications for Alcohol Use Disorder Among Birthing People With an Alcohol-related Diagnosis.   Dr. Mishka Terplan  is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in addiction medicine. His primary clinical, research, public health, and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health. He is Medical Director at Friends Research Institute and adjunct faculty at the University of California, San Francisco where he is a Substance Use Warmline clinician. He is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Doing Right By Birth, a non-profit that seeks to flip the script from drug exposure to early childhood development. Dr. Terplan has spoken at local high schools and before the United States Congress and is internationally recognized as an expert in the care of pregnant and parenting people who use drugs. - Article Link: Medications for Alcohol Use Disorder Among Birthing People With an Alcohol-related Diagnosis

In this episode, Dr. Ryan Alexander joins the show to discuss findings from his new study Withdrawal Signs and Symptoms Among Patients Positive for Fentanyl With and Without Xylazine.    Dr. Ryan Alexander is an addiction medicine specialist and is currently the medical director for substance use services at McNabb Center in Knoxville, TN and is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. He completed medical school at the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Tennessee, his residency in preventive medicine and public health at Griffin Hospital/Yale School of Medicine, and a fellowship in addiction medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. In addition, he completed a Masters of Public Health at Yale School of Public Health. In addition to treating patients, Dr. Alexander conducts clinical research and has published multiple articles related to addiction medicine. He also regularly teaches medical students, residents, and other medical professionals about treating substance use disorders, reducing community stigma toward individuals with substance use disorders, and expanding access to medication treatments. - Article link: Withdrawal Signs and Symptoms Among Patients Positive for Fentanyl With and Without Xylazine

In this episode, Dr. Ekaterina Pivovarova joins host Shawn McNeil to discuss the findings from her new article Collaborating With Jails to Provide Community-based Medication for Opioid Use Disorder: Qualitative Perspectives From MOUD Treatment Providers. Dr. Pivovarova is a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. - Article link: Collaborating With Jails to Provide Community-based Medication for Opioid Use Disorder: Qualitative Perspectives From MOUD Treatment Providers

In this episode, Dr. Christine Neeb sits down to discuss integrated treatment programs and how this model could potentially be adapted to other populations with SUD. Dr. Neeb is a Visiting Associate Professor and the Director of Integrated Primary Care and Addiction in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz. She is board certified in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine and focuses on novel strategies to expand access to treatment of substance use disorders, including methadone maintenance therapy, in underserved populations and in the primary care setting. - Integration of a Community Opioid Treatment Program Into a Federally Qualified Health Center

Podcast host Shawn McNiel, MD, is joined by Michael Incze, MD, MSEd to discuss his new article Expert Panel Consensus of the Effectiveness and Implementation of Models to Support Posthospitalization Care Transitions for People With Substance Use Disorders which aimed to establish a hierarchy of existing SUD care transition models in 2 categories-effectiveness and implementation-using an expert consensus approach. Dr. Michael Incze is a primary care physician in the Division of General Internal Medicine who is board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine. His clinical interests include patient education, high value care, and caring for vulnerable populations including people experiencing homelessness and people with substance use disorders. He regularly volunteers at the Fourth Street Clinic, a federally qualified health center that specialized in providing care to people experiencing homelessness. He is a volunteer physician at the Rosebud Indian Health Service hospital in South Dakota. He also founded a clinic that focuses on providing primary care-based addiction treatment at Sugarhouse Health Center.

In this episode of Beyond The Abstract, Dr. Joji Suzuki stops by the show to discuss his recent co-authored review on GLP-1 agonists and their potential role in addiction treatment. Dr. Suzuki is the founding Director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He is board certified in both Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, and has continued to maintain his clinical role as an inpatient addiction consultant at BWH. He has received NIH funding continuously since 2017, having completed a K23 Career Development Award to receive training in conducting clinical trials with an emphasis on research to improve the care of hospitalized patients. He is now a principal investigator on multiple NIH funded trials to evaluate novel pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments for substance use disorders.   The Efficacy of GLP-1 Agonists in Treating Substance Use Disorder in Patients: A Scoping Review   Journal of Addiction Medicine 18(5):p 488-498, 9/10 2024   Sept-Oct 2024

Host Shawn McNeil, MD, is joined by Michelle Lofwall, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM,  a professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky and Medical Director of UK’s Robert Straus and First Bridge Clinics, which provide comprehensive OUD treatment within the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. Dr. Lofwall and  her co-authors examined the relationship between the dose in the early stages of treatment and the subsequent risk of death and found some surprising results.   Higher First 30-Day Dose of Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Is Associated With Decreased Mortality   Journal of Addiction Medicine 18(3):p 319-326, 5/6 2024 May-June 2024

Podcast host Shawn McNiel, MD, is joined by Noa Krawczyk, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and an author of Initiatives to Support the Transition of Patients With Substance Use Disorders From Acute Care to Community-based Services Among a National Sample of Nonprofit Hospitals. Dr. Krawczyk discusses the gap in transition of acute care to community care services among most US hospitals, efforts to increase acute care interventions, and how clinicians providing SUD treatment can help hospitals identify and implement best practices to support continuity of care.   Follow Dr. Krawczyk on Twitter @noakrawczyk     Article, Authors, and Links: Initiatives to Support the Transition of Patients With Substance Use Disorders From Acute Care to Community-based Services Among a National Sample of Nonprofit Hospitals. Krawczyk, Noa PhD; Rivera, Bianca D. MPH; Chang, Ji E. PhD; Lindenfeld, Zoe MPH; Franz, Berkeley PhD Journal of Addiction Medicine 18(2):p 115-121, 3/4 2024

Dr. Marissa Tan and her co-authors sought to help clinicians better identify individuals at risk and inform patients and clinicians about xylazine risk factors.

Podcast host Shawn McNeil, MD, is joined by Joshua Sharfstein, MD, and Sara Whaley, MPH, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who delve into the strategic allocation of $56 billion from opioid litigation settlements. As they discuss the principles for effective fund utilization, they highlight opportunities for addiction medicine specialists to play a pivotal role in guiding state and local governments to spend these resources wisely to save lives.

In episode 28 of  Addiction Medicine: Beyond the Abstract, host Shawn McNeil, MD is joined my Ashish Thakrar, MD, MS, an addiction medicine specialist and Assistant Professor of Medicine with the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Thakrar discusses the outcome of his research, which aimed to determine whether fentanyl concentration is associated with the severity of opioid withdrawal.   Article Link: https://journals.lww.com/journaladdictionmedicine/abstract/2023/07000/association_of_urine_fentanyl_concentration_with.18.aspx   Ashish Thakrar, MD,  X (Twitter) Handle: @especially_APT   Journal of Addiction Medicine. 17(4):447-453, July/August 2023.

The language used to describe people with substance use disorder impacts stigma and influences clinical decision-making. Host Dr. Shawn McNeil, MD discusses with Dr. Scott G. Weiner, MD the presence of stigmatizing language in clinical notes and detects patient- and provider-level differences. ----more---- Based on original research published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine July/August 2023 - Volume 17 - Issue 4   The Incidence and Disparities in Use of Stigmatizing Language in Clinical Notes for Patients With Substance Use Disorder

The language used to describe people with substance use disorder impacts stigma and influences clinical decision-making. Host Dr. Shawn McNeil, MD discusses with Dr. Scott G. Weiner, MD the presence of stigmatizing language in clinical notes and detects patient- and provider-level differences.   Based on original research published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine July/August 2023 - Volume 17 - Issue 4   The Incidence and Disparities in Use of Stigmatizing Language in Clinical Notes for Patients With Substance Use Disorder