{"id":146616,"date":"2026-09-17T09:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=146616"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:44:16","slug":"immersion-training-helps-new-chief-residents-diagnose-treat-and-teach-about-addiction","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/medicine\/articles\/2026\/immersion-training-helps-new-chief-residents-diagnose-treat-and-teach-about-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersion Training Helps New Chief Residents Diagnose, Treat, and Teach About Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Denny DesRosiers explains the workings of the Healthy Streets van to some chief residents.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tImmersion Training Helps New Chief Residents Diagnose, Treat, and Teach About Addiction\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) program celebrates 25th anniversary<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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Denny DesRosiers pulled up in front of the Wylie Inn and Conference Center and threw open the rear doors of his van, revealing what could easily be mistaken for a tradesman\u2019s wall of shelves and bins. But these containers were not filled with pipe clamps or nuts and bolts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing at the open doors, Kiara Taquechel, MD, took a heroin \u201ccooker\u201d from DesRosiers, a harm reduction specialist for Healthy Streets Outreach Program providing HIV\/AIDS prevention and overdose prevention services to North Shore residents with active substance use, and their families. The cooker, used to dissolve powdered or solid drugs into an injectable solution, looked like a votive candle tin; Taquechel listened as DesRosiers explained that it wasn\u2019t perfect\u2014people could burn their fingers using it\u2014but it was more sanitary than using bottlecaps or other things found on the street.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe meet people where they\u2019re at. We do everything from blood draws to wound care out of the van. We give out supplies, anything from injection, smoke, to sniff supplies,\u201d said DesRosiers. \u201cWe\u2019re not doctors, but we try to take care of people the best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Taquechel is a doctor, a newly selected chief resident in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Along with 23 other incoming chief residents and three faculty mentors from all over the US, they were getting firsthand experience talking to those with substance use disorders, combined with lectures, attending mutual support meetings (Alcoholics Anonymous) and skills training, at the 25th Annual Chief Resident Immersion Training (CRIT) in Addiction Medicine, held May 4\u20136 on the campus of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. The Fellow Immersion Training program for clinical subspecialty fellows and the CARE Faculty Scholars program for residency program faculty also were held at the same time, with nine fellows and 12 faculty scholars participating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRIT began in 2002, led by Jeffrey Samet, MD, MA, MPH, professor of medicine, and Daniel Alford, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and associate dean of the Center for Continuing Education at BU\u2019s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. With faculty drawn mainly from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and BU\u2019s medical school, it is funded by the NIH\/National Institute on Drug Abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CRIT founders Jeffrey Samet, MD, and Daniel Alford, MD, standing in front of photos of 25 years of participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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CRIT founders Jeffrey Samet, MD, and Daniel Alford, MD, standing in front of photos of 25 years of participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI joined the faculty at BU in \u201989, and I was interested in addiction and HIV, but there weren’t too many of my colleagues with those interests,\u201d said Samet. \u201cOur CRIT program has proven to be highly effective in teaching the teachers creative approaches for elevating physicians\u2019 care of patients with alcohol and drug problems. The path is steep and long, but rewards are very satisfying\u2014for patients, physicians, and faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a chief resident and new faculty member at BU in \u201996 when Jeffrey introduced me to the field of addiction medicine and the need for educating others about this important area of clinical care,\u201d said Alford. The two decided to focus on training incoming chief residents, who are selected as outstanding clinician educators by their residency program directors, to spend a year training residents and medical students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clever, inspirational idea of how to be really creative in a system that\u2019s often not very creative,\u201d said Taquechel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSome of the most innovative and creative things come out of the communities that face the most stigma and adversity. People find a way to do their best to meet the needs of the people they\u2019re trying to take care of.\u201d<\/div>