Substance use disorder is a major public health problem. Recent research estimates the lifetime prevalence of DSM-5 drug use disorder at 10%1 and the lifetime prevalence of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder diagnoses at 29%2. The cost of substance use to the public is approximately $246 billion per year. Additionally, at least 20% of patients treated in general medical facilities and 30% in general psychiatric units have a co-occurring substance use disorders.
Important advances have been made in the addiction field. Neuroscience has advanced our understanding of addiction as a brain disease. New pharmacological and psychosocial treatments have been developed in the last decade, and the evidence base for their effectiveness is growing.
We look forward to providing an outstanding learning environment for the professional growth and development of our fellows in the Partners HealthCare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. The fellowship provides clinical rotations at multiple Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals including:
Fellows engage in a small tutorial style didactic program with Harvard Medical School faculty, as well as faculty members elsewhere in the city of Boston. Fellows are expected to gain competence and excellence in the practice of addiction psychiatry in public, private and academic settings. Fellows learn evidence-based treatments and enjoy increasing opportunities to participate in the development of the field’s knowledge base through research and writing. We place a special emphasis on a fellow’s active participation in their own education and welcome their input not only in formal committees, but also informally.
The primary goal of the one-year, full-time Partner’s HealthCare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship is to train outstanding psychiatrists who will become experts in the field of psychiatry. Graduates of the fellowship may pursue careers in the clinical care of individuals with substance use disorders and their families, addiction research, education or a combination of these activities.
The fellowship is a one-year full-time clinical fellowship, but for fellows who have established a research mentorship within Harvard Medical School, we have been able to offer the fellowship half-time for two years to be complemented by a half-time research position.
Fellows receive benefits through Partners Health Care. More information on policies for vacation time, sick leave, holidays, educational leave, family and medical leave act, bereavement time, moonlighting, health and other benefits can be found on the Partners benefits website.
1 Grant BF, Saha TD, Ruan WJ, Goldstein RB, Chou SP, Jung J, Zhang H, Smith SM Pickering RP, Huang B, Hasin DS. Epidemiology of DSM-5 drug use disorder: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions -III. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73:39-47.
2 Grant BF, Goldstein RB, Saha TD, Chou SP, Jung J, Zhang H, Pickering RP, Ruan WJ, Smith SM, Huang B, Hasin DS. Epidemiology of DSM-5 Alcohol Use Disorder: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions- III. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015 AUG; 72(8): 757-66
This one-year full time fellowship in addiction psychiatry is for graduates of accredited psychiatry residencies during the PGY–5 year. The fellowship is designed to meet the objectives of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In 1999, the program received full accreditation from the ACGME Residency Review Committee and was re-accredited in 2004 and 2010. Psychiatrists completing the fellowship are eligible to take the ABPN exam for Added Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry.
We also offer a two-year, half-time option for fellows who are interested. Some fellows have used the other half-time to pursue research interests.
Clinical training is based at four sites:
Core training includes an overview of the field of addiction psychiatry with an emphasis on identification, assessment, diagnosis and successful treatment. Training is provided in individual, group and family therapy using a variety of techniques, including:
Training is provided across the spectrum of levels of clinical care including:
Fellows are exposed to a range of twelve-step and other mutual-help programs and learn about integrating these treatment modalities into the overall program for individual patients. Fellows receive exposure to a diverse urban and suburban population from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and see patients with a range of substance use disorders, as well as co-occurring psychiatric and medical disorders. Specialized populations (e.g., law enforcement officers and other first responders, physicians and other health care personnel) are also seen. Fellows learn to work in a team model with other professionals including counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists and physicians from a variety of specialties.
Didactic seminars occur on Wednesday afternoons on core topics in addiction psychiatry with Harvard faculty and other experts from around the Boston area. The fellows meet as a group weekly with the program director and associate program director to review complicated cases, discuss topics not covered in the Wednesday seminars, read and discuss pivotal studies in the field and give academic presentations on topics of interest.
This seminar takes place weekly and is in tutorial style. The seminar covers core topics in addiction psychiatry specified in a curriculum outlined by the American Psychiatric Association Textbook of Substance Abuse Treatment (Galanter M, Kleber HD, Eds. APPI Press, Inc., 2008, 4th Edition). Each fellow is provided with this textbook and asked to prepare the chapters from the text assigned to the weekly seminars. Seminar leaders also assign additional readings as appropriate to their topics. Faculty conducting the seminars include leading clinicians, educators, and researchers across Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals as well as faculty from other institutions such as Boston University and Brandeis University.
Individual Supervision is, for many trainees, the most important and powerful component of their fellowship. It is individualized, personal, immediate and clinically-based. Optimally it is a forum to discuss all clinically relevant material with someone who has been around the block a few times.
Residents will have regularly scheduled supervision, which is usually divided as follows:
Rotation-based clinical rounds provide rotation-based opportunities to discuss clinical cases and receive peer supervision. These rounds take place in a number of locations:
Clinical rounds covers topics in addiction treatment and promote effective treatment resource utilization through quality assurance and utilization review.
North Charles Seminar takes place weekly during the fellows' methadone maintenance and outpatient opioid treatment rotation.
The Mass General and McLean Departments of Psychiatry sponsor grand rounds from September through June. At McLean Hospital, these are held on Thursday 12-1 and at Mass General on Friday 8:30-9:30.
Nationally and internationally known speakers are invited for formal presentations to the hospital community. These rounds are an excellent opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most well-known individuals in the field. While most of the presentations are oriented to General Psychiatry, addiction psychiatry topics are generally included in the course of the year.
Journal Club takes place monthly. Articles are selected jointly by faculty and fellows for their relevance, timeliness and interest. Fellows are taught how to review different types of articles and how to use the information from the articles in clinical practice
McLean Hospital ADATP Research Seminar takes place monthly. Faculty present their current research at these seminars and topics may include research trials from the NIDA Clinical Trials Network studies, women and substance use disorders, HIV and substance use disorders, chronic pain and substance use disorders, among others.
A variety of other educational opportunities are available. The Partners Graduate Medical Education Office sponsors seminars and retreats during the year. In Addiction, most fellows will attend the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry annual meeting in December. The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School continuing medical education office sponsors a two-day conference on Addiction Psychiatry in March each year and this provides another opportunity for learning in the field as well.
Roger D. Weiss, MD
Director, Partners HealthCare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship
Chief, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, McLean Hospital
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Olivera Bogunovic, MD
Associate Program Director, Partners Healthcare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship
Medical Director of Ambulatory Services, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program, McLean Hospital
Craig Boyajian, MD
Psychiatrist-in-Charge, Inpatient Program
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program, McLean Hospital
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Hilary Smith Connery, MD, PhD
Clinical Director, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program, McLean Hospital
Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
A. Eden Evins, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Addiction Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
William Cox Family Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Martha T. Kane, PhD
Clinical Director, Center for Addiction Medicine
Clinical Director, Substance Use Disorders Strategic Initiative
Clinical Director, Ambulatory Psychiatry
Massachusetts General Hospital
Janice F. Kauffman, RN, MPH, CAS, LADC 1
Vice President, Addiction Treatment Services, North Charles Foundation, Inc.
Director, Addiction Consultation, Cambridge Health Alliance
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Joji Suzuki, MD
Medical Director, Addiction Psychiatry Service, Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Vinod Rao, MD, PhD
West End Clinic, Mass General
Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Kristine M Trustey Endowed Professor of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital
Chief Academic Officer, Chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health, McLean Hospital
Director of Clinical and Health Services Research and Education in the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, McLean Hospital
Mark Albanese, MD
Medical Director Addiction Treatment Services, North Charles Foundation, Inc.
Eligible candidates will have completed an ACGME–accredited psychiatry residency program prior to start date of the fellowship.
The Fellowship Training Committee will review all applications and the Training Director may conduct a telephone interview before extending an invitation for an interview. Applicants provide their own transportation and accommodations. Information regarding convenient hotels and rates may be available from the fellowship coordinator.
The following documents will be necessary to process your application.
Sent electronically:
Sent via fax & mail:
NOTE: We strongly advise that applicants begin the process of applications for the full licensure in the state of Massachusetts by January 1 of their potential training year if they anticipate moving to the state. If there are documents from previous positions or schools where you have trained that you think may be difficult to obtain, we suggest that you begin this process to obtain those documents as soon as possible.
Four letters of recommendation are required. One letter must be from the residency program director documenting successful completion and graduation from the program.
Letters must come under a separate cover (they cannot come from the candidate). Please ask your supervisors to send the letters by email to Roger D. Weiss, MD (rweiss@mclean.harvard.edu) with a copy to Scott Provost (sprovost@mclean.harvard.edu) with the hard copy to follow.
Applications for the fellowship should be submitted electronically to Dr. Roger Weiss with a copy to Scott Provost. While email is preferred, if necessary, hard copies of letters of recommendation can be sent via mail to:
Roger D. Weiss, MD
Director, Partners HealthCare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship
Chief, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
McLean Hospital, Proctor House III
115 Mill Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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