VA Pittsburgh Health System
Overview
The purpose of the Interprofessional Addiction Fellowship at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) is to train future generations of VA leaders to conduct research and quality improvement related to addiction treatment that will improve the health and healthcare of Veterans.
VA Pittsburgh Addiction Research Fellowship
VA Pittsburgh Addiction Pharmacy Outcomes Fellowship
Program Description
The Interprofessional Addiction Fellowship at VA Pittsburgh provides training experiences in addiction research and clinical addiction care to doctoral-level health providers (psychologists, pharmacists, physicians etc.). Trainees spend 75% of time in research and educational activities and up to 25% in providing clinical care. Fellows acquire knowledge and skills through mentored training experiences and workplace learning, guided by an individualized training plan jointly developed by the fellows and mentors. Fellows collaborate on in-progress research projects and analysis of existing datasets leading to peer-reviewed publications, and develop and lead independent research projects, with opportunity to apply for VA pilot funding, and VA and/or NIH Career Development Awards.
Pharmacists may apply for a specialized training experience in Addiction Medication Safety and Pharmacy Outcomes, focused on pharmacovigilance, medication safety, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacy outcomes, and policy. In this track, fellows work closely with the national VA Center for Medication Safety (VAMedSAFE) in Hines, IL on national quality improvement projects as part of their scholarly training.
Fellows join an academically rich and vibrant training environment for health professionals. VA Pittsburgh is host to a range of training experiences in addiction treatment. It is a clinical training site for Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry Residents from the University of Pittsburgh. Clinical psychology trainees can gain addiction treatment experience through the VAPHS clinical internship and clinical addiction fellowship. VAPHS also hosts several other Advanced Fellowships, through which doctoral and masters level trainees obtain research and scholarly training: Mental Illness Treatment, Geriatrics, Patient Safety, Clinical Simulation, and Women’s Health.
Focal Areas
- Quality, safety, effectiveness, and value of medication therapy related to addiction treatment
- Application of large database analytics to assess and improve addiction treatment and outcomes
- Implementation of addiction treatment across the continuum of healthcare
- Pharmacovigilance, medication safety, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacy outcomes, and policy
- Risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use in people who use opioids
- Opioid prescribing and risk prediction
- Management of patients with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders in specialty and general medical settings
- Development and evaluation of addiction treatment education for health professions trainees
- Equity in SUD treatment
- Genetics and pharmacological treatment of substance dependence, with a particular emphasis on precision addiction medicine
Eligibility: All fellows must meet eligibility requirements to train at VA Facilities
Physician Fellows:
- Completion of an ACGME accredited residency program
- Full and unrestricted license to practice in the US or any of its territories
- Board certified or eligible
Psychology Fellows:
- Graduate of an APA-accredited doctorate in clinical or counseling psychology
- Completion of an APA-accredited psychology internship
Pharmacy Fellows:
- Graduate of an ACPE-accredited PharmD program and licensed in any state or U.S. territory
- Completion of a general practice or specialty is preferred, but not required
For eligibility requirements of healthcare disciplines not listed above, please reach out to the program directors.
Application Process
- The Pittsburgh site accepts applications on a rolling basis. Applicants should submit a CV, letter of interest, and three letters of reference. The letter of interest should describe the applicant’s interest in the program, experience relevant to application, and career goals.
- Application materials may be submitted electronically to Karin.Daniels@va.gov
- Pharmacists applying for specialized training in Addiction Medication Safely and Pharmacy Outcomes please send materials to both VHAPBMMEDSAFEFellowshipRecruitment@va.gov and Karin.Daniels@va.gov
- For further information about the Pittsburgh site and application process please contact Co-Directors at Karin.Daniels@va.gov; TaeWoo.Park@va.gov; parkt4@upmc.edu
Pittsburgh Fellowship Directors
Dr. Park is a board-certified Addiction Psychiatrist and researcher affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). Dr. Park received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 2009 and completed his General Adult Psychiatry Residency and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in 2010. Dr. Park was a Research Fellow in the VA Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at the VA Boston Healthcare System from July 2011- June 2014, where he provided clinical care and developed a research portfolio under the mentorship of John Renner, MD and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH. Dr. Park’s research focuses on risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use in people who use opioids, management of patients with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders in specialty and general medical settings, and machine learning to predict and reduce opioid use and overdose. Dr. Park has experience mentoring residents and fellows in both clinical addiction treatment and research. At VAPHS, he is co-investigator on the VISN 4 MIRECC pilot 'Machine Learning for Effective Treatments to Reduce Opioid Recurrence in Veterans'. He is also a Co-Investigator on a Pitt/VA research proposal currently under review that aims to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical interventions on risk for new onset substance use disorders among Veterans with PTSD.
Karin Daniels PhD
Dr. Daniels earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University at Buffalo and is a Health Science Specialist at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). Dr. Daniels co-leads two national initiatives funded by VA program offices. She Co-Directs the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention-Substance Use Disorders (OMHSP-SUD) funded National Coordinating Center of the VA Advanced Interprofessional Fellowship in Addiction Treatment. In this role, she oversees the ongoing development and evaluation of the national curriculum and co-leads the OMHSP-SUD sponsored project Development of Competency-Based Addiction Curriculum for VA Internal Medicine Residencies. Dr. Daniels is also Associate Director of the Office of Primary Care Analytic Team (OPC-PCAT) High Risk Investigator Network and Analytic Core, promoting operations and research priorities related to the care of Veterans with complex, chronic conditions. In that role, she focuses on support of early career investigators and leads the mentoring core of the High-RIsk VETerans (RIVET) QUERI. She is also Co-Investigator on the OPC-PCAT funded project Veteran Panel Management Tool for High-Risk Subgroups (VET-PATHS), which integrates real-time health system data into existing VA panel management tools to develop new mechanisms for focused, prioritized panel management of complex, high-risk patients, including a subgroup of patients with SUD.
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