Sixth Annual Program Seeks Greater Understanding of Addiction
ALBANY, N.Y., November 3, 2009—Substance abuse is a leading cause of death, disability and disease in the United States, yet several surveys have shown that physicians are always not adequately trained to recognize and treat addiction or help prevent it. In an effort to address this issue, Albany Medical College will hold its sixth annual “Addiction Medicine Weekend” conference. Several presenters will discuss the latest in the field and what health care workers need to know. The conference takes place November 13 and 14 at Albany Medical College.
The program is a collaborative effort between the College and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). Organizer Stanley Glick, Ph.D., M.D., director of the Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience at Albany Medical College, has been involved in the investigation of new drugs to treat addiction and he has conducted research aimed at understanding why certain people are more prone to addiction than others. Glick says it has frustrated him to see addiction still often neglected in the medical community.
“The scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports that addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain, but that’s not always been embraced,” says Glick.
Other organizers include Isabelle Maisonneuve, Ph.D., Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience at Albany Med, and Steven Kipnis, M.D., medical director of OASAS. The conference has grown from 33 participants the first year to 126 last year and Glick hopes for an even larger turn-out this year.
Topics presented at this year’s conference will include: the neuroscience of addiction; medical marijuana; the treatment of stimulant dependence; fetal alcohol disorders; legal issues in addiction treatment; and patients with special problems (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders).
In addition to experts from Albany Medical College and OASAS, lecturers are from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the International Center for the Disabled in NYC, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, and The Addiction Institute of New York in NYC, and more.
To register, contact Amy Eglin at 262- 5617 or eglina@mail.amc.edu. Registration information can also be found on Albany’s web site (www.amc.edu) under Continuing Medical Education.
Albany Medical Center, a not-for-profit institution, is northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center. The institution consists of Albany Medical Center Hospital, one of New York’s largest teaching hospitals; Albany Medical College, one of the nation’s oldest medical schools; and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc., one of the region’s most active fundraising organizations.
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*Questions & Comments:
Beth Engeler
