Program Curriculum

The CURATE Program spans from late May/early June through late July/early August for a total of 10 weeks, with a cohort of 5 undergraduate students every year. Participation can be in-person/on campus or remote.

CURATE students participating in a didactic led by Dr. Jeffrey Samet about the HEALing Communities Study

Our program has a 3-prong learning experience of addiction research, clinical, and educational exposure:

RESEARCH COMPONENT

The student will serve as an Research Assistant for an addiction research project. During the first two weeks of the internship, an orientation to various research methods will be conducted by the program and will include the NIH Certification on Human Subjects Protection. The remaining weeks will involve workshops on additional research skill building, as well as opportunities for networking and career development.

CLINICAL COMPONENT

The student will have several opportunities to shadow physicians and other expert care providers in various addiction treatment/services settings including:

  • Methadone maintenance clinic
  • Primary care-based opioid treatment program with buprenorphine
  • HIV clinic-based substance abuse treatment program
  • Needle exchange program
  • Inpatient addiction consult service

EDUCATION COMPONENT

Students will participate in 7-8 didactic/case presentations about addiction medicine over the internship. Potential topics include:

  • Overdose prevention and optimizing safety
  • Cannabis
  • Stimulants
  • Chronic pain and opioid use disorder
  • Social determinants of addiction
  • Substance use policy research