The OHSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship provides intensive training in treating substance use disorders. It is great for physicians wishing to become experts across all parts of the healthcare spectrum.

History

The OHSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship was approved by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) in 2014 and recruited its first fellow in 2015. In 2018, the field of Addiction Medicine was approved as a subspecialty of the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM). OHSU was in the first wave of programs to apply for ABPM accreditation, which it received in 2018. The OHSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship has closely partnered with the OHSU Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship since 2016, with combined weekly didactic teaching conferences and faculty. The program has grown from 1 fellow per year in 2015 to 4 fellows per year since 2018. From the beginning, the fellowship has closely partnered with community-based opioid treatment programs and other addiction treatment centers around the state to provide diverse training experiences for fellows. Over time, training experiences on the IMPACT inpatient addiction consult service and at the Portland VHA Medical Center have become core experiences, along with weekly outpatient addiction continuity clinics. Addiction Medicine faculty have grown from four addiction-boarded faculty in 2014 to over 40 interdisciplinary university-based and community-based faculty in 2024, offering fellows a diverse range of mentoring opportunities.

Clinical and Research Training

This one-year clinical program is based in the community serving patients throughout the Portland-metro area. There is an optional second-year research track. Samuel H. Wise Fellowship - learn more. 

The addiction medicine fellowship hosts tele-mentoring (ECHO) CME programs. Dr. Daniel Hoover provides direction for these programs for providers throughout Oregon. Oregon ECHO Network - learn more. 

Overview

Fellows will rotate through inpatient consult services and outpatient clinics. Generally, rotations are in four-week rotations within eight-week blocks. Fellows will have continuity clinics at various sites once a week regardless of their rotation. The fellowship didactic series features:

• complex case conferences
• teaching conferences
• journal club
• case report/M&M
• research seminars
• also features the ECHO series, where OHSU addiction faculty connect with rural Oregon addiction providers 

Program Partners

Our core community partners include:

• Allied Health Services of Portland
• Central City Concern 
• Kaiser Permanente 
• Portland-area VA locations
• Madrona Recovery

Our elective community partners include: 

• Boston Children's Hospital
• Clackamas County Jail
• Fora Health of Portland
• Jackson County Health
• Oasis Center of the Rogue Valley
• The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

Program Aims

Our program aims are to:

Cultivate compassionate physicians who have a deep understanding of the evidence-based care of substance use disorders. This includes multiple contexts and among diverse populations.

Train practitioners in advanced clinical interventions in addiction medicine. Training includes exposing trainees to innovative and diverse treatment settings, including outpatient healthcare settings that integrate:

• addictions care
• opioid treatment programs
• medical withdrawal management
• residential settings
• specialty ambulatory settings
• hospital-based consult services and more

Produce practitioners who are clinical experts, change agents, educators and advocates in the field of addiction medicine within community-based organizations and/or academic centers.