Training Sites

Boston Medical Center Health System (BMCHS), is an integrated health system with locations in Boston, Brighton, and Brockton. The main training site for fellows is the Boston Medical Center campus located in the South End of Boston. BMC is an equity-led academic medical center where innovative and equitable care empowers all patients to thrive. The institution has extensive experience treating historically marginalized populations, many of whom have SUDs. BMC has been a national leader in addiction treatment, research, and education for decades and in 2017 BMC formally established the Grayken Center for Addiction to oversee clinical programming, research, education, and advocacy related to SUD. In 2025 the Grayken Center’s 11 outpatient SUD programs at BMC supported close to 5,000 patients through more than 28,000 encounters. In addition to the Addiction Psychiatry fellowship, BMC also has Addiction Medicine and Addiction Nursing fellowships as well as numerous opportunities for additional training in research.

At BMC, Fellows rotate through a range of services under the supervision of Drs. William Reid-Varley (Site Director) and Dr. Amy Yule, including:

  1. Inpatient Addiction Consult Service provides addiction consultation services to all inpatient medical and surgical units at BMC
  2. Addiction Treatment Program (APTP) is a multidisciplinary clinic that provides care to individuals with co-occurring SUD and mental health conditions
  3. CATALYST (Center for Addiction Treatment for AdoLescent/Young adults who use SubsTances) which provides addiction outpatient services for adolescents and young adults
  4. Faster Paths program, which rapidly stabilizes patients referred from the emergency department for withdrawal management and acute stabilization.
  5. Stimulant Treatment and Recovery Clinic (START) uses evidence-based medication and behavioral health interventions (including contingency management) to address the unique needs of individuals with a stimulant use disorder.

Additionally, elective rotations are available with programs that care for pregnant and parenting individuals (Project Respect), community-based treatment for youth with substance use and psychosis (WRAP Without Walls), males who are incarcerated (Project Evolve).

 

The VA Boston Healthcare System is the primary tertiary care referral center for five New England states, as well as a large primary care system that serves eastern Massachusetts. VA Boston comprises three main campuses – Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Brockton – plus six community-based outpatient clinics. VA Boston is one of the primary training affiliates of the BUSM Department of Psychiatry.

 

 

  • VA Boston- Jamaica Plain Campus

Jamaica Plain campus houses primary care services along with psychiatric and subspecialty care for patients with SUDs. Jamaica Plain Psychiatry Clinic is one of the largest in the VA system and includes an Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program (ADTP) with over 25,000 visits per year, and over 1,600 SUD patients and patients with co-morbid psychiatric disorders are seen in treatment each year.

At VA Boston, Jamaica Plain Campus fellows rotate through a range of services under the supervision of Dr. Michael Dawes (Site Director) and Dr. John Renner including:

  • The Drug Dependence Treatment Center, which provides methadone treatment services for 120 veterans with opiate use disorder. Methadone treatment patients range in age from 27 to 76.
  • The Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program (ADTP) which provides same-day and home inductions for buprenorphine through the Opioid Rapid Access Clinic (ORACL). They also provide longitudinal office-based buprenorphine treatment for over 130 veterans.
  • ADTP and the DDTC offer individual and group-based psychotherapy including motivational enhancement therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (including relapse prevention approaches), Fellows will have 3 hours/week of psychotherapy cases supervised by Psychologists at VA Boston.
  • Chronic pain clinics—An Interdisciplinary Pain Clinic and Opioid Reassessment Clinic.

Within the VA Boston system elective opportunities include:

  • the Consult-Liaison service at VA West Roxbury which manages a high volume of individuals needing alcohol withdrawal management
  • the Neuromodulation clinic at VA Brockton which provides treatment with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Ketamine infusions.
  • The residential Substance Abuse Recovery and Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP) at VA Brockton

Lastly, VA Boston has a two-year IAFAT (Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment) Program. Psychiatrists are eligible to apply to this program, and program participants spend 75% of their time in educational, management, and research training with 25% of their time spent on direct clinical care. Please contact Michael Dawes, MD (617-232-9500)) or Deborah Brief, Ph.D. (857-364-4689, deborah.brief@va.gov) for further information about positions for physicians and psychologists, respectively.

 

  • VA Bedford

VA Bedford provides mental health and substance use disorder treatment across the continuum of care. Behavioral health services at VA Bedford include residential substance use treatment and the Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Program (VMHAP), which is a partial-hospital interdisciplinary program for individuals with SUD/COD including geriatric patients.

At VA Bedford, fellows rotate through a range of services under the supervision of Dr. Dongchan Park (Site Director) and Dr. Elvis Espero including:

  • Partial Hospital and Intensive Day Treatment Programs
  • Outpatient longitudinal care.
  • Consultations to nursing home patients at VA Bedford

On these services fellows will also gain specialized experience with induction and maintenance of Buprenorphine, Extended-Release Buprenorphine, Extended-Release Naltrexone, and other medications for persons with SUD/COD. Fellows also get additional exposure to psychosocial treatments including contingency management, motivational interviewing, and behavioral treatment for behavioral addictions such as gambling.