Cohort 13 RAM Scholars (2024-26)
Megan Heeney, MD
Addiction Medicine
Alameda Health System
Dr. Heeney is an Emergency Medicine physician and current Addiction Medicine Fellow at Alameda Health System. Her research interests include improving access to care at safety net hospitals for patients who use drugs; studying outcomes of initiation of XR buprenorphine in the ED, implementation of behavioral emergency response teams, and interventions to increase access to MAT and harm reduction supports for patients presenting to care due to traumatic injuries.
Tim Kelly, MD
Addiction Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Kelly is an Addiction Medicine Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Before entering medicine, he worked for 7 years in mental health research where much of his work focused on dissemination and implementation of evidence based mental health therapies. His RAMS research will be exploring barriers and facilitators to patients with substance use disorders seeking care in the emergency department. He hopes that his work can inform emergency departments about what programming and resources they can offer to encourage patients to seek out care earlier on in their disease process, thus reducing morbidity and mortality.
Clarissa 
O’Conor, MD
Addiction Medicine
Montefiore Einstein
Dr. O’Conor is an Addiction Medicine Fellow at Montefiore Einstein. She completed family medicine residency at West Suburban Medical Center in Chicago, where she became involved in research on integrating long-acting injectable buprenorphine (LAIB) into inpatient addiction care. Her RAMS project will continue this work by using implementation science methodology to examine barriers and facilitators to integrating LAIB into inpatient addiction care at Montefiore’s teaching hospitals, as well as studying early implementation outcomes.
Kristin Prewitt, MD, MPH
Addiction Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University
Dr. Prewitt is a dual Addiction Medicine and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellow at Oregon Health & Science University Her research and work focus on substance use in pregnancy and postpartum, family unification, birth trauma, abortion care, harm reduction, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in pregnancy, and acute pain management during procedures for patients with drug use. Her RAMS project is a prospective cohort study comparing cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) findings, electrocardiogram, and serum biomarkers in pregnant patients with methamphetamine use compared to those without methamphetamine use.
Tony Spadaro, MD, MPH
Addiction Medicine
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Dr. Spadaro is a Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine Fellow at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System. His research interests include naloxone distribution from the emergency department, buprenorphine precipitated withdrawal, and the impact of xylazine on patients with opioid use disorder. His RAMS project will focus on the acute management of patients with prolonged sedation after an opioid overdose.