Addiction Medicine Fellowship
MAHEC is the knowledge hub for addiction medicine and technical assistance in Western North Carolina and a national leader in medical education and clinical practice for the treatment of opioid use disorder in primary care settings.
Our faculty have created a strong and supportive curriculum to ensure physicians are comfortable and knowledgeable in treating substance use disorders in primary care settings. Our fellowship provides a unique opportunity to practice team-based care across a variety of settings and populations.
The goal of our fellowship is to train physicians to provide addiction treatment services in rural and medically underserved communities in Western North Carolina where these services are needed most and overdose rates are higher than state and national averages and rising.
Fellows will train at inpatient and outpatient sites that provide treatment and recovery services for vulnerable populations. Interdisciplinary training includes medical detoxification, pharmacotherapy, motivational interviewing, psychosocial approaches, harm reduction, 12-step facilitation, working with peer support specialists, and providing consultative services.
Upon successful completion of our program, fellows will be well prepared to apply for board certification and practice in addiction medicine.
Sincerely,
Nathan Mullins, MDMAHEC is committed to creating an equitable and inclusive place to work, learn, and receive care. We actively recruit physicians, staff, and students from underrepresented minorities, and we strive to implement policies and procedures that value and support diverse backgrounds and experiences. MAHEC does not discriminate on the basis of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, spiritual practice, geography, disability, or age.
The overall education goals and objectives for the addiction medicine fellowship will be obtained through continuity of care experiences, learning experiences, clinical core rotations, program-specific rotations, elective rotations, and scholarly activities. Upon completion of the fellowship, proficiency will be expected in the following:
Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) was established in 1974 and serves a 16-county region in Western North Carolina. MAHEC is the largest Area Health Education Center in North Carolina and evolved to address national and state concerns with the supply, retention, and quality of healthcare professionals. MAHEC’s approach to caring for patients is based on an advanced care team model. MAHEC's Biltmore campus houses residency training programs in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, pharmacy, and dentistry.
MAHEC's Biltmore campus is also home to UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, an academic health center in partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill that includes programs from the UNC School of Medicine, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Mission Hospital, an operating division of HCA Healthcare located in Asheville, NC, serves as the regional referral center for tertiary and quaternary care in Western North Carolina and the adjoining region. Mission Hospital is licensed for 730 beds and houses the region’s only dedicated Level II trauma center. It also includes Mission Children’s Hospital—the region’s only children’s hospital. The flagship hospital of Mission Health, Mission Hospital was ranked as one of the nation’s Top 100 Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics from 2009 to 2015.
Behavioral Health Group is the largest network of Joint Commission-accredited outpatient opioid treatment and recovery centers in the U.S., with 64 locations across 14 states. BHG provides comprehensive, evidence-based, medical and behavioral therapies including FDA-approved medications (buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone), counseling, and wraparound services for individuals with opioid use disorder.
The Charles George VA Medical Center is a Joint Commission-accredited, tertiary referral, 1C facility that provides a full spectrum of health services to Veterans residing in a 23-county area of Western North Carolina. The medical center has 119 authorized acute care beds (including a 16-bed inpatient psychiatric unit), two state-of-the-art ICUs, 120 authorized community living center (CLC) beds, and 18 beds authorized for a substance use residential rehabilitation treatment program. The medical center also operates community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) in Franklin, Rutherford County, and Hickory, NC.
October Road is a behavioral health and substance use treatment services provider based in Asheville and Charlotte. October Road strives to support clients by actively participating in integrated care models, assisting communities in developing recovery-oriented systems of care, and providing proven evidence-based treatment. Services include assertive community treatment teams (ACTT), an opioid treatment program (OTP), intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment, a partial hospitalization program, a men’s residential program, medication management, and outpatient therapy.
The Julian F. Keith Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center in Black Mountain, NC (20 minutes east of Asheville) is one of three state-operated ADATCs designed to provide inpatient treatment, psychiatric stabilization, and medical detoxification for individuals with substance use and other co-occurring mental health diagnoses to prepare for ongoing community-based treatment and recovery.
All selected applicants will be required to submit the following:
Any resident who has a disability, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and/or special restrictions on his/her medical license must report this information and any requests for accommodations to the program director and the Graduate Medical Education (GME) office no later than the first day his/her residency program begins.
Prior to starting the fellowship, selected applicants will be required to demonstrate:
All graduates of foreign medical schools must have completed an ACGME-accredited residency, must be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), and must meet all Visa Qualifying Examination (VQE) or Foreign Medical Graduate Exam in the Medical Sciences (FMGEMS) requirements prior to application. MAHEC will accept resident physicians who have been issued a J-1 Visa through the ECFMG and who hold a current ECFMG Certificate. H1-B visas are not sponsored at MAHEC.
Questions regarding the international/foreign medical graduates' process should be directed to the GME office at 828-257-4769 or gme@mahec.net.
The MAHEC Addiction Medicine Fellowship accepts applications from July through October 15th. Initial interviews will be conducted as applications are received, ending in October. Applicants will only be considered for an interview at MAHEC in Asheville, NC once application materials have been received.
We will be using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for application submission and review. Currently there is no option for addiction medicine fellowship programs to use the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), otherwise known as the match, although we may in the future.
Applicants will be required to submit:
Tealok Ray
Blake Fagan, MD
Carriedelle Fusco, MSN, FNP-BC
Marc DeBell, MD
Margaret “Maggie” McDonough, MD
Clara Novotny, MD