{"id":136452,"date":"2024-10-18T14:20:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136452"},"modified":"2024-10-18T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T18:20:11","slug":"st-lukes-adds-addiction-psychiatry-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=136452","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s Adds Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pictured from Left to right, Gregory Dobash, M.D.\u00a0 and Gibson George, M.D.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Treating patients for addiction is not for the faint of heart. But it\u2019s imperative, particularly in rural regions of the country where the opioid epidemic\u00a0kills<\/a>\u00a0thousands of people every year<\/a>. That\u2019s why St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network created two fellowship programs\u2014Addiction Medicine<\/a>\u00a0and Addiction Psychiatry\u2014which are designed to certify physicians and psychiatrists in these growing fields.<\/p>\n

Led by\u00a0Gregory Dobash, M.D.<\/a>, the year-long Addiction Medicine Fellowship launched with two fellows in July 2024. And now the Network is also recruiting fellows for the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, led by\u00a0Gibson George, M.D.<\/a>, which will start in July 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur overarching mission is to train the workforce of addiction specialists who can provide care in the Lehigh Valley and in rural locations,\u201d Dobash said. \u201cUnfortunately, some people will fall through the cracks. They go to the ER for treatment for an overdose. They\u2019re treated, revived, but there\u2019s no warm handoff for that individual\u2026Our goal is to have someone available to pick that patient up from the ER and continue their therapy and treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobash specializes in treating patients who are experiencing homelessness, suffering from mental illness and the disease of addiction, and those who are \u201ceconomically challenged\u201d or \u201cchronically sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a workforce who understands addiction,\u201d he said. \u201cDetox is easy. Recovery is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to treating addiction, Dobash and George, a psychiatrist, understand medicine and psychiatry are often inextricably linked, so having specialists in both fields can better serve the affected population.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need both,\u201d Dobash said. \u201cI\u2019d be hard pressed to think of a patient who did not have a psychiatric comorbidity that\u2019s linked to addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

George pointed out that St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network is uniquely positioned to serve these patients thanks, in part, to the Network acquiring\u00a0Penn Foundation<\/a>\u00a0in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have the expertise in the [mental health and addiction] field and a backing of a huge health network,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

Dobash and George are looking for physicians who understand the pathology and stigma of addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big issue we face is being able to be compassionate in the face of people who can be rude and manipulative. We need to understand that that\u2019s the pathology; it\u2019s not that person\u2019s choice,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

Dobash said that this field of work, while challenging, can also be \u201cextremely fulfilling\u2026We can help people change and recover from years of abuse and misuse and become productive members of society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ideal applicant, Dobash said, is someone who is willing to meet people where they are. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to treat folks otherwise,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not willing to get down to where they are, if you\u2019re waiting for them to get up to a certain level, you\u2019re not going to have a lot of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Addiction Medicine Fellowship is available to individuals who have completed an ACGME-accredited residency in pediatrics, emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, obstetrics\/gynecology, preventative medicine, anesthesiology or psychiatry.<\/p>\n

The Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship is available to individuals who have completed a residency in psychiatry.<\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictured from Left to right, Gregory Dobash, M.D.\u00a0 and Gibson George, M.D. Treating patients for addiction is not for the faint of heart. But it\u2019s imperative, particularly in rural regions … Continue reading St. Luke\u2019s Adds Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dobash-gibson.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/136454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}