Sen. Markey to Give Keynote Address at MA Medical Society’s Summit on Opioids

Thursday, October 27, 2016
GoLocalWorcester News Team

Senator Ed Markey

United State Senator Edward Markey will deliver the keynote address at the Massachusetts Medical Society’s summit on opioids, Medication Assisted Treatment: Improving Access to Evidence-Based Care. 

The summit will be held on Monday, October 31 at the Society’s Waltham headquarters from 8 a.m. to noon. 

"If we are going to reduce the supply for heroin, fentanyl and illicit prescription opioids. We have to reduce the demand through treatment. Unfortunately, for too long, because of outdated federal restrictions, effective medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction was severely limited. When effective medication-assisted treatment is made available, people’s lives can be saved. I look forward to addressing the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Opioid Summit about how we can ensure treatment is available when and where it is needed most,” said Senator Markey.  

Marley’s address is scheduled for 10:25 a.m. 

The Summit 

The event is intended to raise awareness of the need for medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder. 

The society is convening leaders in medicine, public health, policy, industry, and the community to discuss strategies to expand availability and access to evidence based treatments for opioid addiction such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. 

“The Medical Society along with many other groups have focused on prevention and education in addressing the opioid epidemic and those efforts are critical and must continue. But we must also recognize that treatment for opioid addiction is a critical public health need, as access to evidence-based treatment programs and providers are limited. More access to treatment on demand is essential if we are to reduce the number of overdoses and provide hope to those suffering,” said Massachusetts Medical Society President James S. Gessner, M.D.

The program will be hosted by MMS President James S. Gessner, M.D. and moderated by Dennis M. Dimitri, M.D. immediate past president of the MMS and current Chair of the MMS Task Force on Opioid Therapy and Physician Communication. 

Other speakers include: 

• Daniel Alford, M.D., Director of the Safe and Competent Opioid Prescribing Education Program at Boston University School of Medicine
• Monica Bharel, M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner of Public Health, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Leo Beletsky, J.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor, School of Law & Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University
• Paul Bowman, Certified Methadone/Buprenorphine Advocate, National Alliance Medication Assisted Recovery
• Kathryn Cates-Wessell, Executive Director, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
• Kenneth Duckworth, M.D., Medical Director, National Alliance on Mental Illness
• Jessie M. Gaeta, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Boston Health Care for the Homeless
• Barbara L. Herbert, M.D., F.A.S.A.M., President, Massachusetts Chapter of the American Society of Addiction Medicine
• John F. Kelly, Ph.D., Elizabeth R. Spallin Associate Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director, Recovery Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Peter J. Koutoujian, J.D., M.S., Sheriff, Middlesex County
• Colleen T. Labelle, B.S.N., R.N.-B.C., C.A.R.N., Program Director, Boston University Office-Based Opioid Treatment Buprenorphine Program
• James J. O’Connell, M.D., President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
• Michael Otto, Ph.D., Professor, Boston University Psychological and Brain Science
• Josiah (Jody) D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Brown University Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights
• Luis T. Sanchez, M.D., Addiction Psychiatry
• Alexander Y. Walley, M.D., M.Sc., Medical Director, Opioid Overdose Prevention Pilot Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health