The Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse offers a two-year ACGME-accredited fellowship program designed to train faculty for medical centers of the future, provide high-quality clinical care and conduct investigations into the etiology and treatment of addictive illness. The Division itself is the home of the National Center for Medical Fellowships in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, a coordinating body for 46 programs across the United States.

Fellows serve as faculty at the NYU School of Medicine, contributing to the development of the field of substance abuse in the same way that fellows have done in earlier decades in cardiology and endocrinology. Fellows evaluate and treat patients under faculty supervision in rounds and individual supervisory sessions. They rotate through the dual diagnosis ward, the alcohol inpatient and outpatient services, the methadone program and the cocaine treatment service. Patients can be followed from detoxification through rehabilitation utilizing the therapies that have proven to be most effective in addictive disorders. These include pharmacotherapy, self-help, and individual, group and family therapies. As faculty, fellows teach medical students, residents and other personnel; they provide consultation and team leadership, run seminars and supervise clerkships.

The didactic work is organized around a weekly seminar, along with a practicum, which continues throughout the two-year fellowship. A special training program for office treatment of the substance abuser is provided to all fellows. There is basic science training relevant to addictive illness in biochemistry, pharmacology, epidemiology, social theories, genetic models, and behavioral conditioning models.

Each fellow conducts an independent research project that is submitted for publication prior to completing the program. Work begins in the first year and is supported by close faculty supervision, including instruction in research methodology and data analysis. Fellows also teach medical students at clinical and classroom sites.

Recent projects have addressed differential psychopathology associated with cocaine addition, the interaction between substance abuse and major mental illness among homeless people, crack abuse and sexual behavior, and addiction in mothers and families of children with AIDS.

For further information contact:
Marc Galanter, M.D.
(212) 263-6960