They Followed Doctors’ Orders. Then Their Children Were Taken Away: Dr. Ruchi Fitzgerald, an addiction-medicine doctor in Chicago, says some of her postpartum patients never recover from a child removal. “I can’t tell you the number of times we try to reach these mothers after their child has been removed and we can’t find them,” she says. “They’re out there using again because they’ve losthope.”
Dr. Neeral Sheth and Dr. Celeste Napier receive the 2023 Research in Medical Education Poster Award at the Association of Directors in Medical School Education in Psychiatry .
Dr. Gail Basch was presented with The Award For Excellence in Addiction Leadership Education and Mentorship; Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program at the 2023 Addiction Medicine Fellowship Graduation Ceremony.
Dr. Nicholas Chien, MD, received the Excellence in Clinical Education in Core Clerkships Award a Faculty award for accomplishments related to exceptional work in medical student education.
Dr. Ruchi Fitgerald presented The Project LIFE Program (Long ActingInjectableBuprenorphine to End Overdose at NIDA on June 13th, 2023
Dr. T. Celeste Napier provided the Plenary presentation for the first state (IDPH)-sponsored LatinX Conference on Problem Gambling held at Morgan College in Cicero, Il.
Our program fellow, Dr. Amanda Donald, receives the Ruth Fox Scholarship and her recognition as Scholar and receives all the benefits associated with this honor and funding support for the April 2023 ASAM meeting.
Dr. T. Celeste Napier was invited to serve on the state BehavioralHealth Workforce Center (BHWC) Advisory, created by Governor Pritzker on March 8, 2023, to “connect education, healthcare, and social service agencies statewide to grow workforce development programs for all behavioral health professions in Illinois.
Substance Use Intervention Team: Providing Evidence-Based, Compassionate Care; A Founders Day Award Winner Story: Team of the Year; SUIT was able to adapt both the inpatient process and outpatient clinic workflow to meet patients’ needs during the pandemic by offering virtual appointments. Since the return-to-person visits, the team has added new providers to expand services for patients with substance use disorders throughout the Medical Center.
Our program fellow, Dr.Francesco Tani, receives the Ruth Fox Scholarship and her recognition as Scholar and receives all the benefits associated with this honor and funding support for the April 2022 ASAM meeting.
Dr. Nicholas Chien is our recent fellowship graduate. Now the Assistant Program Director, he closely mentors our fellows.
Our program fellow, Dr. Nicholas Chien, receives the Ruth Fox Scholarship and her recognition as Scholar and receives all the benefits associated with this honor and funding support for the April 2021 ASAM meeting.
International Overdose Awareness Day: (IOAD) is a global event held on August 31 each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. The day also acknowledges the grief families and friends feel, remembering those who have died or suffered permanent injuries due to drug overdose. Rush students, faculty, and community partners provided overdose reversal training and distribution of Narcan/naloxone; PPE distribution; referral to medication-assisted recovery for addiction treatment; and housing assistance.
Overcoming Barriers to Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a plan to publish Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder. This announcement caused enthusiasm, skepticism, and confusion in the medical community. The reaction of the plan to publish the guidelines less than two weeks later by the Biden administration has created an opportunity for fundamental and needed reform, written by Yngvild Olsen, MD, MPH, Institutes for Behavior Resources Inc., Ruchi M. Fitzgerald, MD, Associate Program Director Addiction Medicine Program at Rush, and Sarah E. Wakeman, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital online in American Medical Association Journal, February 25, 2021.
Dr. Ruchi Fitzgerald received the Attendees’ Choice Award at the 2021 Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP) Virtual Education Conference - World Disrupted: Caring for the Caregivers in Uncertain Times for her poster presentation entitled “Rewrite the Stars”: How PHPas Enhance Recovery and Foster Resiliency.”
2nd Annual Problem & Compulsive Gambling Symposium: Centerstone and the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling (ICPG) teamed up to put on the 2nd annual Centerstone Problem and Compulsive Gambling Symposium featuring the ICPG Administrator Bill Johnson speaking about “The Stigma of Addiction.” Professor T. Celeste Napier presented the “Neuroscience of factors that contribute to gambling disorders.”
Curriculum emphasizes student and physician mental health: Dr. Ruchi Fitzgerald shares her positive experience with the Physicians Health Program (PHP) and talks about heightening awareness through her substance-abuse disorder (SUD) work with Rush.
Overdose spike prompts doc to speak out: Dr. Ruchi Fitzgerald speaks with police and residents of her hometown, Hinsdale. She emphasizes the importance of people carrying naloxone – “You never know when you might use it and save someone’s life.”
Practice Patterns of Family Physicians With and Without Addiction: This study enumerates and characterizes physicians dually certified in Family Medicine and ADM. Sebastian T Tong, Zachary J Morgan, Andrew W Bazemore, Aimee R Eden, Ruchi M Fitzgerald, Lars E Peterson.
The Pandemic Has Forced A Mental Health Reckoning In Medicine: Two key challenges in addressing physician stress have been breaking through the mental health stigma barrier and ensuring that physicians know that their licenses will not be impacted if they do seek help, says Gail Basch, a psychiatrist and associate professor who leads the internal mental health crisis response at Rush University Medical Center.
