Alexander Y. Walley, MD

Professor, Medicine

617.414.6975

801 Massachusetts Ave Crosstown Center

Biography

Dr Walley is Professor of Medicine and an addiction expert at Boston Medical Center and Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine focused on the medical complications of substance use, specifically HIV and overdose. Dr Walley has conducted multiple studies related to the opioid crisis and the integration of addiction specialty care and general medical care. He has served as PI on a CDC-SAMHSA-Epi-AID investigation of the surge in fentanyl-related overdose, a CDC-funded study of the Massachusetts community naloxone program which demonstrated community-level reductions in overdose death rates, and a SAMHSA-funded program that integrated addiction treatment into the clinical care of people with/at risk for HIV. He is principal investigator for CDC and NIH funded studies of community overdose interventions. For the NIH-funded HEALing Communities Study – Massachusetts, he served as the Care Continuum Core Director 2019-2025. He has worked as Co-I with addiction, overdose, and HIV expertise on NIDA and NIAAA-funded clinical trials and cohort studies.

Dr. Walley is a founding director of the Grayken Addiction Medicine Fellowship. From 2011 to 2022, 20 addiction specialists graduated, 6 of whom serve as directors for addiction medicine fellowships, 13 are faculty at medical schools, 9 at Boston University School of Medicine. He was a founding board member and treasurer of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Director’s Association 2016-2019 and American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) starting in 2019. He is currently the president for ACAAM for 2023-2025. With his mentor, Dr. Jeffrey Samet, he is multi-PI on the NIDA-funded R25 Clinical Addiction Research and Education Program, which supports the Chief Resident and Fellow Immersion Training and the CARE Faculty Scholar programs.

Dr. Walley provides primary care and addiction medicine consultations in the HIV primary care clinic at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine/BMC. He founded BMC’s inpatient Addiction Consult Service in 2015 and the Faster Paths low-barrier access substance use clinic in 2016. He previously was a site medical director for opioid treatment programs in Boston from 2007 to 2016. He serves as the medical director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, the Overdose Prevention Program, and the SafeSpot Overdose Prevention Hotline. Since 2007, the MDPH program has trained and equipped over 100,000 people in Massachusetts’s communities with naloxone rescue kits, including people at-risk for overdose and their social networks.

Other Positions

Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
Faculty, Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit, Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Courtesy Staff Privileges, Medicine, Boston Medical Center

Websites

Education

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD
Boston University School of Public Health, MSc
Harvard College, AB

Publications

Published on 2/5/2025
McCann NC, Yan S, McMahan VM, Pope E, Rolles A, Brennan S, Marti XL, Kosakowski S, Coffin PO, Walley AY. Test-Retest Reliability of a Timeline Follow-back Method to Assess Opioid Use and Treatment. J Addict Med. 2025 Feb 05. PMID: 39908533.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 1/23/2025
Zaragoza S, Silcox J, Rapisarda S, Summers C, Case P, To C, Chatterjee A, Walley AY, Komaromy M, Green TC. Developing a comprehensive inventory to define harm reduction housing. Harm Reduct J. 2025 Jan 23; 22(1):11. PMID: 39849487.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 12/18/2024
Reed G, Lugo H, Adams RS, Walley AY. Grayken Lessons: a patient who developed opioid use disorder after traumatic brain injury. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2024 Dec 18; 19(1):94. PMID: 39696642.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 12/16/2024
Barocas JA, Erdman EA, Westfall MY, Christine PJ, Bernson D, Villani J, Doogan NJ, White L, Walley AY, Bettano A, Wang J. Prevalence of adults with stimulant misuse and/or stimulant use disorder in Massachusetts, USA, 2014-2021. Addiction. 2025 Apr; 120(4):711-720. PMID: 39676746.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 11/8/2024
Rosenmoss S, LaRochelle M, Bearnot B, Weinstein Z, So-Armah K, Moyo P, Yan S, Walley AY, Kimmel SD. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Referral Rejection From Postacute Care Facilities Among People With Opioid Use Disorder in Massachusetts. J Addict Med. 2025 Mar-Apr 01; 19(2):165-171. PMID: 39514897.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 10/28/2024
Cummins ER, Walley AY, Xuan Z, Yan S, Schoenberger SF, Formica SW, Bagley SM, Beletsky L, Green TC, Lambert A, Carroll JJ. Use and perceptions of involuntary civil commitment among post-overdose outreach staff in Massachusetts, United States: A mixed-methods study. Addiction. 2025 Feb; 120(2):327-334. PMID: 39467382.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 10/25/2024
Zang X, Skinner A, Li Z, Shaw LC, Behrends CN, Chatterjee A, Jalali A, Jordan AE, Morgan JR, Nolen S, Schackman BR, Marshall BDL, Walley AY. Improving racial/ethnic health equity and naloxone access among people at risk for opioid overdose: A simulation modeling analysis of community-based naloxone distribution strategies in Massachusetts, United States. Addiction. 2025 Feb; 120(2):316-326. PMID: 39450522.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 10/15/2024
Zaragoza S, Silcox J, Rapisarda S, Summers C, Case P, To C, Chatterjee A, Walley A, Komaromy M, Green T. Developing a Comprehensive Inventory to Define Harm Reduction Housing. Res Sq. 2024 Oct 15. PMID: 39483918.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 10/10/2024
Freeman PR, Walley AY, Winhusen TJ, Oga EA, Villani J, Hunt T, Chandler RK, Oyler DR, Reilly B, Gelberg K, Douglas C, Lyons MS, Holloway J, Vandergrift NA, Adams JW, Asman K, Baker TJ, Brancato CJ, Cheng DM, Childerhose JE, David JL, Feaster DJ, Gilbert L, Glasgow LM, Goddard-Eckrich DA, Knott C, Knudsen HK, Lofwall MR, Marks KR, McMullan JT, Oser CB, Roberts MF, Shoben AB, Stein MD, Walters ST, Watson J, Zarkin GA, Jackson RD, Samet JH, Walsh SL, Bassel NE. Effect of the Communities That HEAL Intervention on Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution: A Cluster-Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Trial. Am J Public Health. 2025 Jan; 115(1):83-94. PMID: 39388670.
Read at: PubMed
Published on 10/1/2024
Freisthler B, Chahine RA, Villani J, Chandler R, Feaster DJ, Slavova S, Defiore-Hyrmer J, Walley AY, Kosakowski S, Aldridge A, Barbosa C, Bhatta S, Brancato C, Bridden C, Christopher M, Clarke T, David J, D'Costa L, Ewing I, Fernandez S, Gibson E, Gilbert L, Hall ME, Hargrove S, Hunt T, Kinnard EN, Larochelle L, Macoubray A, Nigam S, Nunes EV, Oser CB, Pagnano S, Rock P, Salsberry P, Shadwick A, Stopka TJ, Tan S, Taylor JL, Westgate PM, Wu E, Zarkin GA, Walsh SL, El-Bassel N, Winhusen TJ, Samet JH, Oga EA. Communities That HEAL Intervention and Mortality Including Polysubstance Overdose Deaths: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Oct 01; 7(10):e2440006. PMID: 39432308.
Read at: PubMed

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