Alexander Y. Walley, MD
Professor, Medicine
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 2019-2022. 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-elect for ACAAM. With his mentor, Dr. Jeffrey Samet, he is multi-PI on the NIDA-funded R25 Clinical Addiction Research and Education Program, which produces the Chief Resident and Fellow Immersion Training 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 and the Overdose Prevention Program. 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
- BU Profile
- Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit
- Grayken Fellowship in Addiction Medicine
- Fellow Immersion Training Program in Addiction Medicine
- Boston Medical Center Provider Profile
- Prescribe to Prevent
- PRONTO Post-Overdose Outreach
- Alex Walley Twitter Account
- Grayken Fellowship in Addiction Medicine Twitter
Education
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD
- Boston University School of Public Health, MSc
- Harvard College, AB
Publications
- Published on 12/1/2023
Canfield J, Truong V, Bereznicka A, Bridden C, Liebschutz J, Alford DP, Saitz R, Samet JH, Walley AY, Lunze K. Evaluation of a student clinical research education program in addiction medicine. Ann Med. 2023 Dec; 55(1):361-370. PMID: 36629696.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/5/2023
Chatterjee A, Yan S, Lambert A, Morgan JR, Green TC, Jeng PJ, Jalali A, Xuan Z, Krieger M, Marshall BDL, Walley AY, Murphy SM. Comparison of a national commercial pharmacy naloxone data source to state and city pharmacy naloxone data sources-Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York City, 2013-2019. Health Serv Res. 2023 Oct; 58(5):1141-1150. PMID: 37408299.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/6/2023
Friedmann PD, Jawa R, Wilson D, Ramsey SE, Hoskinson R, McKenzie M, Walley AY, Green TC, Bratberg J, Rich JD. Prescribe to Save Lives: An Intervention to Increase Naloxone Prescribing Among HIV Clinicians. J Addict Med. 2023 Jun 06. PMID: 37279076.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/25/2023
Slocum S, Paquette CE, Walley AY, Pollini RA. Civil commitment perspectives and experiences among friends and family of people who use illicit opioids in Massachusetts, USA. Int J Drug Policy. 2023 Jul; 117:104074. PMID: 37244144.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/18/2023
Klepp TD, Heeren TC, Winter MR, Lloyd-Travaglini CA, Magane KM, Romero-Rodríguez E, Kim TW, Walley AY, Mason T, Saitz R. Cannabis use frequency and pain interference among people with HIV. AIDS Care. 2023 Aug; 35(8):1235-1242. PMID: 37201209.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/1/2023
Xuan Z, Yan S, Formica SW, Green TC, Beletsky L, Rosenbloom D, Bagley SM, Kimmel SD, Carroll JJ, Lambert AM, Walley AY. Association of Implementation of Postoverdose Outreach Programs With Subsequent Opioid Overdose Deaths Among Massachusetts Municipalities. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023 May 01; 80(5):468-477. PMID: 36920385.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/14/2023
Taylor JL, Wakeman SE, Walley AY, Kehoe LG. Substance use disorder bridge clinics: models, evidence, and future directions. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2023 Apr 14; 18(1):23. PMID: 37055851.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/3/2023
Chatterjee A, Weitz M, Savinkina A, Macmadu A, Madushani RWMA, Potee RA, Ryan D, Murphy SM, Walley AY, Linas BP. Estimated Costs and Outcomes Associated With Use and Nonuse of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder During Incarceration and at Release in Massachusetts. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Apr 03; 6(4):e237036. PMID: 37058306.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/6/2023
Brothers TD, Walley AY, Rivers-Bowerman H, McLeod M, Genge L. Grayken lessons: between a rock and a hard place? A 37-year-old man with acute liver injury while enrolled in a managed alcohol program for severe alcohol use disorder. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2023 Mar 06; 18(1):14. PMID: 36879279.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/10/2023
Chandler R, Nunes EV, Tan S, Freeman PR, Walley AY, Lofwall M, Oga E, Glasgow L, Brown JL, Fanucchi L, Beers D, Hunt T, Bowers-Sword R, Roeber C, Baker T, Winhusen TJ. Community selected strategies to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths in the HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term SM) communities study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2023 Apr 01; 245:109804. PMID: 36780768.
Read at: PubMed
View 196 more publications: View full profile at BUMC