ATLANTA and WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Dr. William Jacobs — Medical Director of Georgia’s Bluff addiction treatment center and Chief of Addiction Medicine at Medical College of Georgia (MCG) — is joining invited national addiction experts today in Washington, D.C. at the “Medicine Responds to Addiction” summit meeting hosted by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). Dr. Jacobs, the only Georgia addiction treatment professional attending, was personally invited to participate by White House ‘Drug Czar’ and ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli and Patrick O’Connor, president of the ABAM Foundation. Dr. Jacobs was invited as one of the nation’s experts on pain medicines, opiate (pain) medicine addictions, treatment and recovery. “We were very fortunate to be able to recruit William Jacobs, MD, to lead our Addiction Medicine Division, start our addiction research program, train physicians, evaluate and treat patients at the Medical College of Georgia and the Bluff,” said Vaughn McCall, MD, MS, Case Distinguished University Chair of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at MCG.
In addition to Dr. Jacobs, this symposium brings together other leading experts in addiction medicine to brainstorm on the nation’s response to the opiate and addiction epidemic, and how to address the shortage of treatment providers trained to deal with that crisis. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), 24.6 million people 12 or older live with substance dependence or abuse. ASAM also estimates the need for approximately 100 new addiction training centers, like the Bluff, to meet the crisis. Currently, there is also a shortage in the number of physicians trained as experts in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry. Currently there are only 27 certified programs, and a handful of experts across the nation who offer addiction medicine training. Dr. Jacobs was a treatment and training program co-founder in Florida and plans to do the same for the state of Georgia.
The symposium is co-hosted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Cancer Institute.
“It’s an honor to participate in this influential symposium at the Nation’s capitol, with the leaders in addiction treatment across the United States,” said Dr. Jacobs. “I hope my experiences here in Georgia can help guide others who are thinking of starting fellowship programs in addiction medicine. These programs are an important step in training physicians to take better care of patients and families struggling with addiction, and to ultimately address an urgent need to expand treatment programs across this country.”
For more information about Bluff’s addiction services, please visit https://www.bluffaugusta.com.
About Bluff
Spanning 178 lush acres on the Savannah River in the heart of Augusta, Georgia, Bluff, part of Pyramid Healthcare and affiliated with the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, is one of the most comprehensive, scientifically-driven addiction treatment centers in the United States. Our team of renowned addiction medicine physicians and clinicians deliver multidisciplinary addiction treatment and rehabilitation therapies in a secluded, five star residential setting. Bluff has assembled the world’s preeminent experts in pain and addiction medicine, led by medical director William S. Jacobs, M.D., a nationally recognized expert triple board certified in addiction medicine, anesthesiology and pain medicine.
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