Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Program Overview
The UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship is a unique 12-month program crossing several disciplines and specialties, with the goal of training the next generation of addiction medicine specialists. The program is the longest operating addiction medicine fellowship in North Carolina. The fellowship program accepts fellows from any ACGME-accredited specialty, and the program is strongly committed to providing an integrated training experience, addressing addiction in a multitude of settings. The addiction medicine faculty at UNC actively promotes innovation in the field of addiction medicine, creating a supportive learning environment for fellows while at the same time expanding capacity for addiction treatment in North Carolina.
The fellows work in a variety of teams and settings, learning firsthand how addiction interfaces with other medical specialties and professions. The learning environment incorporates didactic training, case-based learning, and direct patient care.
The UNC addiction medicine fellowship was created in July 2018 and received ACGME accreditation in April 2019. The training program, which is situated in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, provides full financial support for its addiction medicine fellows. The program also funds the fellows’ attendance at the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Annual Conference in the spring.
The UNC addiction medicine supervising and core faculty come from diverse specialty backgrounds and areas of expertise, including addiction medicine, addiction psychiatry, general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine, anesthesiology, pain medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, internal medicine, and hepatology.
The training program’s fellows have come from the following backgrounds: family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, preventive medicine, anesthesiology, and obstetrics & gynecology.
During the academic year, fellows teach UNC medical students and psychiatry residents. Fellows are provided with protected time to work on scholarship activities throughout the entire year. They are also provided with protected time for their 5 seminars that are held each week. In addition, fellows participate in the NC STAR Network, helping to train providers to treat substance use disorders throughout the entire state.
The UNC addiction medicine fellows have no call responsibilities. They do not work on weekends and are off work on the following holidays: Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Good Friday, and Memorial Day. Also, fellows are permitted to moonlight during the fellowship year.
To contact us, please email Taryn Hardy, Program Coordinator, at: taryn_hardy@med.unc.edu
Joseph Williams, M.D.
Program Director, UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Lucien Gonzalez, M.D.
Associate Program Director, UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship
In the UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship, I had the privilege to learn from some of the most experienced and talented addiction physicians in North Carolina. The diverse pathology and practice locations combined with the excellent adult education curriculum have prepared me to both treat all types of addictive disorders and teach the next generation of addiction physicians.”– Kory Dawson, MD, Fellowship Class of 2024
I have seen that the UNC Addiction Medicine Fellowship really provides rigorous training in Addiction Medicine. We have an interdisciplinary group of experts in this field, from addiction psychiatrists to peer support specialists, who are dedicated to improving the lives of patients affected with addiction, and together, it has been inspiring to work with our patients and see them get better in their recovery. The faculty and staff are very supportive and invested in the success of the fellows, and I am so grateful to have been part of this dynamic and inclusive program at UNC! -Dr. Parth Saraiya, Class of 2022