Boston, MA
Boston, MA
VA Boston Healthcare System
The Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at the VA Boston Healthcare System is designed to train future generations of VA leaders to
- Conduct innovative addiction-related research
- Provide evidence-based clinical care for addictions and comorbid conditions
- Provide leadership for programs or services that support Veterans with substance use problems
Program Description
Trainees spend 75% of their time involved in research, management, and educational activities and up to 25% in direct service activities. Fellows develop competencies in the conduct of scholarly research, provision of evidence-based care, and leadership. Fellows acquire knowledge and skills through implementation of an Individualized Learning Plan developed by the fellow and their mentors.
Research, Clinical, and Mentorship Opportunities in Addiction
The VA Boston fellowship offers advanced scholarly training in a broad range of topic areas including treatment outcome, health services delivery and policy, AI and large language modeling, and the interconnectedness between addiction and trauma-related conditions, interpersonal violence, and suicide. Clinical mentorship is available across multiple sites including outpatient and residential programs for substance use disorders and programs focused on trauma recovery. Management training experiences are available at different levels of the organization.
The fellow joins an academically rich and vibrant training environment for health professionals in programs affiliated with Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. VA Boston is also home to multiple research centers including the National Center for PTSD.
Sample Projects
- Evaluation of technology-based interventions for alcohol use and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Federal policy, best practices, and treatment outcomes for Veterans with an opioid use disorder (OUD)
- Development of a precision treatment matching tool to link Veterans with untreated/undertreated OUD to the appropriate medication for an OUD
- Use of Natural Language Processing and large language models (LLM) to identify substance use and relapse indicators from electronic medical records to predict treatment outcome variables or risk markers for adverse outcomes
- Evaluation of suicide risk markers, suicide death, and lethal means among Veterans with Substance Use Disorders
- Evaluation of military sexual trauma and interpersonal violence among Veterans with addictions, modeling risk from exposures in relation to overdose, suicide death, and mortality
- Clinical assessment, genetics, epigenetics, and biomarkers of PTSD and its comorbidities, including Substance Use Disorders
Application Process
Applicants should submit
- CV
- A letter of interest describing their interest in the program, experience relevant to application, and career goals
- Three reference letters (sent directly to the program)
- Materials should be submitted electronically to BostonAddictionFellowship@va.gov
- For further information about the Boston site, application process and deadlines, please contact Deborah Brief, Ph.D. (deborah.brief@va.gov, 857-364-4689)
Physician Fellows
- U.S. citizen or possess a current visa suitable for participation in this paid educational activity
- Completion of an ACGME accredited residency program
- Full and unrestricted license to practice in the US or any of its territories
- Board certified or eligible
- If a foreign medical school graduate, ECFMG certification that is valid indefinitely
Psychology Fellows
- U.S. citizen
- Completion of and APA-accredited doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology (or meeting APA criteria for re-specialization training)
- Completion of an APA-accredited psychology internship
Deborah Brief, PhD
Dr. Deborah Brief is a licensed clinical psychologist, Director of the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at VA Boston Healthcare System, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Brief is also Director of Residential and Rehabilitation Services at VA Boston where she oversees residential treatment programs, outpatient alcohol and drug treatment programs, trauma recovery programs, and vocational services. Dr. Brief completed her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois-Chicago and an NIAAA fellowship at the University of Washington prior to joining the VA in Boston. She has conducted funded research focused on the outcome of combined treatments for alcohol use disorders, treatment interventions for individuals with HIV, substance use disorders, and trauma, post-detoxification telephone monitoring interventions for Veterans with substance use disorders, and technology-based interventions for Veterans with hazardous drinking and PTSD symptoms. Her current research focuses on the development and evaluation of web and mobile applications for Veterans with hazardous drinking and PTSD symptoms.
857-364-4689
MICHAEL DAWES, MD
Michael Dawes, M.D. is Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (BUSM), Program Director for the BU-VA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, and Co-Director of the VA Boston Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment. He is a staff psychiatrist at VA Boston Healthcare System and a member of the Psychiatry faculty at BUSM. Dr. Dawes earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is board certified in Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Dawes was PI on a Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Module Director for a Research Center funded by NIDA, studying risk and protective factors and health outcomes of sons and daughters born to parents with active substance use disorders (SUD). He has served as Site-PI on numerous clinical and prospective studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, has experience in designing and implementing quality improvement and systems redesign projects, and served as Co-PD and site supervisor on the BMC Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Addiction Medicine Fellowship grant (recently renewed). Dr. Dawes has over two decades of experience in mentoring and supervising faculty as well as residents, fellows, and other trainees and experience supervising trainees delivering care in carceral and pre-trial settings. He has a special interest in understanding social determinants of healthcare access, reducing stigma, and improving access to care.
About Boston
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