Drs. Jeanette Tetrault and Kenneth Morford of Yale School of Medicine (YSM) have been awarded a grant totaling $2 million to develop a behavioral health and addiction training program for primary care residents and physician associate (PA) students at Yale.
To address the opioid crisis, which affects an estimated 2.1 million Americans with opioid use disorder, the researchers have received the funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The five-year grant will support a project called Collaborative behavioral Health and Addiction Medicine in Primary care, or CHAMP. Project goals include enhanced training for residents and PAs in settings where behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment are integrated. Additionally, the project will provide opportunities for faculty development focused on integrated addiction care. By training future primary care providers, Tetrault, Morford, and colleagues aim to reach patients from medically underserved and rural communities who are most at risk.
Tetrault is an associate professor of medicine and program director of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at YSM. Her research focuses on the care of patients with addiction and illnesses associated with substance use. Morford is a postdoctoral associate and addiction medicine fellow who will be joining the Section of General Internal Medicine faculty in July 2019.