VUMC Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
"Novel Workforce and Treatments to Help Persons with Opioid Use Disorder Across the Care Continuum"
April 15 Orr Lecture in Addiction Psychiatry | Michelle Lofwall, MD
Abstract:
There are growing unmet needs for persons living with opioid use disorder (OUD) along the care continuum. This talk addresses how long-acting injectable buprenorphine along with two ongoing studies evaluating novel workforces to help link and retain persons in OUD treatment and an integrated addiction and infectious disease transitional care model may help meet some of these complex needs.
About the Speaker
Dr. Michelle Lofwall, board-certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine, is a Professor in the Departments of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry and the Bell Alcohol and Addictions Endowed Chair at the University of Kentucky (UK). She received her bachelors degree from Northwestern University in Psychology and her MD and Masters in Pathology from Chicago Medical School. She completed internship, psychiatry residency, and a fellowship in behavioral pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, she is the medical director of UK’s Robert Straus and First Bridge Clinics, which provide comprehensive opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment within the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. Her passion is in improving the care of patients with addiction, and her research has included evaluation of novel treatments for opioid use disorder (e.g., buprenorphine implants and depot injections), physician training, understanding factors associated with buprenorphine diversion, and improving care of complex patients with OUD and deep-seated infections. She was elected as a Distinguished Fellow of American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Psychiatric Association, is a past ASAM board member and co-director of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry’s annual addiction treatment review course. She has received numerous teaching and mentoring awards and was an expert panel member for SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocol on Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder and invited speaker to the National Academy of Medicine.
Objectives:
The activity is designed to help learners:
1. Describe two current gaps in the care continuum for opioid use disorder treatment
2. Discuss two goals of the peer support and nurse/social worker linkage and retention programs
3. Explain the rationale for developing an outpatient transitional care model integrating addiction and infectious disease treatment
CME/CE credit for Psychiatry Grand Rounds is only available during the live feed time and for a brief time immediately following. The code for this week's session is displayed at the opening and closing of the meeting and also in the Chair's Office Zoom Account Name during the meeting.
For CME/CE information about this session, please visit:
Grand Rounds Enrichment Discussion
For a deeper understanding of the topic ahead of Dr. Lofwall's talk, please join Dr. David Marcovitz on Wednesday April 13 on Zoom as he delves a little deeper into the subject matter. Background article for discussion for this week can be found here:
This talk is sponsored by the
Orr Lecture Fund
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
This educational activity received no commercial support.