The UW Medical Student Addiction Research (MedStAR) Program to Address Substance Use and Disorders in Urban and Rural Communities in Five Western States

ABSTRACT/PROJECT SUMMARY Substance use disorders (SUDs) affect millions of Americans and have enormous impact on health and mortality. Physicians are on the frontlines of identifying and treating patients with SUD and are thus uniquely situated to implement evidence-based care and identify areas for research, yet there is a scarcity of addiction medicine-trained physician-scientists to advance the field. The University of Washington (UW) Medical Student Addiction Research (MedStAR) program was funded in 2019 to train first-year medical students in research methods and encourage them toward an Addiction Medicine career path. The UW School of Medicine provides training to students across a 5-state region: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. In the four years of funding to date, the program has achieved its goal of training 7–8 students each year from all 5 sites and met milestones for the first graduated student cohort with 100% presenting at a national or regional conference and 63% publishing their research. With this renewal, we will continue to build upon prior successes and lessons learned while enhancing the program. The Specific Aims are to 1) enhance and grow the MedStAR Program by increasing focus on implementation, health services, and behavioral and clinical research that is guided by input from persons with lived experience; 2) encourage medical students to pursue careers in Addiction Medicine and research by establishing longitudinal mentoring and professional networks; and 3) improve tracking of MedStAR trainee outcomes post-graduation. As per prior years, students will be paired with a primary research mentor, an Addiction Medicine-trained clinical mentor, and a research coach to conduct research culminating in a poster presentation and opportunity to present at a national conference and publish. For this renewal, we have an outstanding group of NIH-funded researchers from different schools and departments at UW with backgrounds in implementation, health services, and behavioral and clinical research with demonstrated commitment to mentoring. Program enhancements include training students in community-engaged research, expanding opportunities to engage with persons with lived/living experience via a community advisory board, developing a system for evaluating longitudinal outcomes of graduates to measure program success, and supporting mentors by offering an annual retreat that will include mentor skills training. This application fulfills the FOA’s intentions to support “activities that enhance the knowledge of substance abuse and addiction research” targeting clinicians. Medical students are a key population to train to provide non-stigmatizing addiction care. Providing training early is key, as the initial years of medical school are a time of rapid differentiation and establishment of professional behaviors. Through this renewal of the MedStAR program, we will continue to develop a cadre of medical students to become the next generation of clinicians and scientists to implement and disseminate evidence-based care for patients with SUD.