Alexander Y. Walley MD
Professor, General Internal Medicine
Courtesy Staff Privileges, Medicine
801 Massachusetts Ave | (617) 414-6975alexander.walley@bmc.org
awalley@bu.edu
Sections
General Internal Medicine
Centers
Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
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.
Websites
Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit
Grayken Fellowship in Addiction Medicine
Fellow Immersion Training Program in Addiction Medicine
Education
Medicine-Internal, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Epidemiology, MSc, Boston University School of Public Health
History and Literature, AB, Harvard College
Publications
Paradise RK, Bazzi AR, Clarke J, Desmarais J, Hoyos-Cespedes A, Nurani A, O'Malley SE, Taylor S, Walley AY, Dooley D, Kimmel SD. Multilevel Factors Impacting Substance Use Treatment Access, Engagement, and Racial Equity Among Opioid Overdose Survivors in Boston, MA. J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Jul 12. PMID: 38997532.
Published on 6/16/2024Samet JH, El-Bassel N, Winhusen TJ, Jackson RD, Oga EA, Chandler RK, Villani J, Freisthler B, Adams J, Aldridge A, Angerame A, Babineau DC, Bagley SM, Baker TJ, Balvanz P, Barbosa C, Barocas J, Battaglia TA, Beard DD, Beers D, Blevins D, Bove N, Bridden C, Brown JL, Bush HM, Bush JL, Caldwell R, Calver K, Calvert D, Campbell ANC, Carpenter J, Caspar R, Chassler D, Chaya J, Cheng DM, Cunningham CO, Dasgupta A, David JL, Davis A, Dean T, Drainoni ML, Eggleston B, Fanucchi LC, Feaster DJ, Fernandez S, Figueroa W, Freedman DA, Freeman PR, Freiermuth CE, Friedlander E, Gelberg KH, Gibson EB, Gilbert L, Glasgow L, Goddard-Eckrich DA, Gomori S, Gruss DE, Gulley J, Gutnick D, Hall ME, Harger Dykes N, Hargrove SL, Harlow K, Harris A, Harris D, Helme DW, Holloway J, Hotchkiss J, Huang T, Huerta TR, Hunt T, Hyder A, Ingram VL, Ingram T, Kauffman E, Kimball JL, Kinnard EN, Knott C, Knudsen HK, Konstan MW, Kosakowski S, Larochelle MR, Leaver HM, LeBaron PA, Lefebvre RC, Levin FR, Lewis N, Lewis N, Lofwall MR, Lounsbury DW, Luster JE, Lyons MS, Mack A, Marks KR, Marquesano S, Mauk R, McAlearney AS, McConnell K, McGladrey ML, McMullan J, Miles J, Munoz Lopez R, Nelson A, Neufeld JL, Newman L, Nguyen TQ, Nunes EV, Oller DA, Oser CB, Oyler DR, Pagnano S, Parran TV, Powell J, Powers K, Ralston W, Ramsey K, Rapkin BD, Reynolds JG, Roberts MF, Robertson W, Rock P, Rodgers E, Rodriguez S, Rudorf M, Ryan S, Salsberry P, Salvage M, Sabounchi N, Saucier M, Savitzky C, Schackman B, Schady E, Seiber EE, Shadwick A, Shoben A, Slater MD, Slavova S, Speer D, Sprunger J, Starbird LE, Staton M, Stein MD, Stevens-Watkins DJ, Stopka TJ, Sullivan A, Surratt HL, Sword Cruz R, Talbert JC, Taylor JL, Thompson KL, Vandergrift N, Vickers-Smith RA, Vietze DJ, Walker DM, Walley AY, Walters ST, Weiss R, Westgate PM, Wu E, Young AM, Zarkin GA, Walsh SL. Community-Based Cluster-Randomized Trial to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths. N Engl J Med. 2024 Jun 16. PMID: 38884347.
Published on 6/3/2024Harris MT, Weinberger E, O'Brien C, Althoff M, Paltrow-Krulwich S, Taylor JL, Judge A, Samet JH, Walley AY, Gunn CM. PrEP facilitators and barriers in substance use bridge clinics for women who engage in sex work and who use drugs. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2024 Jun 03; 19(1):47. PMID: 38831359.
Published on 5/1/2024Zang X, Skinner A, Krieger MS, Behrends CN, Park JN, Green TC, Walley AY, Morgan JR, Linas BP, Yedinak JL, Schackman BR, Marshall BDL. Evaluation of Strategies to Enhance Community-Based Naloxone Distribution Supported by an Opioid Settlement. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 May 01; 7(5):e2413861. PMID: 38814644.
Published on 4/20/2024Beaugard CA, Walley AY, Amodeo M. "Everything is kind of the same except my mind is with me": exploring cannabis substitution in a sample of adults in early recovery from an opioid or stimulant addiction. Harm Reduct J. 2024 Apr 20; 21(1):83. PMID: 38643152.
Published on 4/9/2024Freibott CE, Jalali A, Murphy SM, Walley AY, Linas BP, Jeng PJ, Bratberg J, Marshall BDL, Zang X, Green TC, Morgan JR. The association between naloxone claims and proportion of independent vs. chain pharmacies: A longitudinal analysis of naloxone claims in the US. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2024 Apr 09; 102093. PMID: 38604474.
Published on 3/22/2024Christine PJ, Lodi S, Hsu HE, Bovell-Ammon B, Yan S, Bernson D, Novo P, Lee JD, Rotrosen J, Liebschutz J, Walley AY, Larochelle MR. Target trial emulation for comparative effectiveness research with observational data: Promise and challenges for studying medications for opioid use disorder. Addiction. 2024 Jul; 119(7):1313-1321. PMID: 38519819.
Published on 3/19/2024Schoenberger SF, Cummins ER, Carroll JJ, Yan S, Lambert A, Bagley SM, Xuan Z, Green TC, Cook F, Yule AM, Walley AY, Formica SW. "Wanna cry this out real quick?": an examination of secondary traumatic stress risk and resilience among post-overdose outreach staff in Massachusetts. Harm Reduct J. 2024 Mar 19; 21(1):66. PMID: 38504244.
Published on 3/18/2024Fielman S, McNeely J, Fitzpatrick A, Kerensky T, Tomanovich M, Walley AY, Kosakowski S, King C, Appleton N, Weinstein ZM. A Clinical Guide to Support the Implementation of Addiction Consult Services and the Value of Teaching and Technical Assistance. J Addict Med. 2024 May-Jun 01; 18(3):215-217. PMID: 38498619.
Published on 3/8/2024Chang YG, McMahan VM, Marti XL, Pope E, Wolfe S, Majeski A, Reed G, Walley AY, Coffin PO. Perception and Correlates of Opioid Overdose Risk Among Overdose Survivors Who Use Nonprescribed Opioids in San Francisco and Boston. Subst Use Addctn J. 2024 Mar 08; 29767342241237202. PMID: 38456483.
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View full list of 35 media mentions.