The first ACAAM Virtual Addiction Medicine Training Recruitment Fair was held September 14, with residents from around the country meeting addiction medicine fellowships and learning about the specialty from a panel of program directors.
Thirty-nine addiction medicine fellowships participated in the event, which featured virtual breakout “tables” where interested residents could visit with fellowships one-on-one.
During the June 2021 Annual Meeting’s Fellows Lightning Round session, Bhavna Bali, MD, a 2021 graduate of the Interdisciplinary Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Penn State College of Medicine, shared her research titled Outpatient Buprenorphine Microinduction for Pain “A Safe Method to Transition High-Risk Patients.”
After reviewing the basics of microdosing buprenorphine, Dr. Bali’s presentation focused on a specific case where a high-risk patient on high-dose opioids was transitioned to suboxone for pain management. The patient in question had been diagnosed with Physiological Opioid Dependence with a high risk of developing Opioid Use Disorder.
During the 2021 ACAAM Annual Meeting, the organization’s Anti-Racism/Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee presented a session titled "Moving Beyond Kneeling: Promoting an Anti-Racist and Racial Justice Framework within Academic Addiction Medicine Fellowships."
During the session, the committee discussed the prevalence of microaggressions, and provided three tools that can be used to help combat them as they occur. These examples were related to specific scenarios discussed during the session, whose Powerpoint slides can be downloaded here for context.
The American College of Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) has established itself as the go-to resource and advocate for academic addiction medicine fellowship programs. Today the organization is excited to announce it has exceeded 30 fellowship program institutional members, with a total of 32 programs currently enrolled. The ACAAM membership program was launched in May 2021.
“We are ecstatic to see fellowship programs enrolling as members and unlocking access to valuable benefits and resources for the faculty and fellows in their programs,” says ACAAM Membership Committee Chair, Alex Walley, MD. “The more programs that join our ACAAM membership coalition, the stronger our voices will be as we continue to advocate for resources needed to expand a fellowship-trained addiction medicine workforce.”
Contact: Bruce Hammond, CAE
Executive Director
847-375-4814
[email protected]
Attributable to ACAAM President, Martha Wunsch, MD FAAP DFSAM:
Bethesda, Maryland – December 17, 2020 – The American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) today announced the appointment of Bruce E. Hammond, Jr., CAE, as Executive Director, effective January 1, 2021. Mr. Hammond will step into the new position following the long-planned end-of-year retirement of Kevin Kunz, MD MPH DFSAM, founding ACAAM President (2008) and Executive Vice President since 2013. ACAAM was formerly known as the ABAM Foundation and Addiction Medicine Foundation.
Mr. Hammond will work closely with the ACAAM Board of Directors and ACAAM Vice President for Medical and Academic Affairs Tim Brennan, MD MPH to help fulfill the organization’s mission. ACAAM’s mission is the development and comprehensive support of addiction medicine fellowship programs, faculty and fellows at academic medical institutions and treatment centers across the U.S. There are currently 81 addiction medicine fellowship programs recognized and accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), with more programs in development.
