(Boston) – Boston Medical Center (BMC) physician Jeffrey Samet, MD, chief, section of general internal medicine, in collaboration with Co-Principal Investigator, Patrick O'Connor, MD, chief section of general internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine, were awarded a five-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) to aid the development of formal addiction medicine training programs.
With the number of addiction medicine residency programs steadily increasing, the proposed Research in Addiction Medicine Scholars (RAMS) Program will aim to create an infrastructure to facilitate these programs' development of strong research components and encourage physician careers in this area.
"The RAMS Program is significant because it will expand the nation's research capacity among trainees in the new medical specialty of addiction medicine," said Samet. "This will ultimately improve patient care and reduce the medical, social and financial burden of drug abuse and addiction."
The program will be eligible to addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry trainees who are based in medical schools and teaching hospitals. The RAMS Program will collaborate with the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation whose goal is to have the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accredit the addiction medicine training programs and have the American Board of Medical Specialties recognize addiction medicine. In addition to facilitating addiction medicine research, the program's goal is to integrate mentor training as well as develop a RAMS alumni network to provide career guidance and perspective on a potential future research career advancing addiction research.