Episode 2: Dr. Nick Christian shares his journey from musician to physician

In this episode, Dr. Nick Christian shares his journey from musician to physician and how he has taken addiction care to the street to meet patients where they are. Dr. Christian talks about the importance of viewing each patient as “a human being above all else” and how he hopes to see a revolution in addiction treatment. Dr. Christian shares some meaningful and transformational moments in his journey treating patients with addiction; he also discusses the importance of ending addiction-related stigma and the power of relationships when treating addiction.

Nicholaus “Nick” Christian is an internal medicine clinician-educator and current postdoctoral research fellow through the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development program and provider for veterans experiencing homelessness at the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (H-PACT) clinic. He completed his addiction medicine fellowship in the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine following completion of internal medicine residency training at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin where he helped start the “B-Team,” a national model for expanding access to buprenorphine for hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder. Throughout residency he lived as a “missional” resident at Community First! Village, a master-planned community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for people transitioning out of chronic homelessness where he has helped spearhead a community-based participatory research project to elevate the voice of his neighbors who use substances or are in recovery. His current clinical and research interests include improving care for people who use substances that are on the continuum of experiencing homelessness to being stably housed. He plans on joining the NIDA Intramural Research Program in Baltimore as a staff clinician in the fall of 2023.

Thank you for listening.  In honor of National Addiction Treatment Week, ASAM is providing the choice of two engaging on-demand 2023 ASAM Annual Conference sessions for free until Dec. 31, 2023. Use code NATW2023 at checkout when you register for either Stimulant Treatment for ADHD: Not Exactly Opioids 2.0, But Close? or Delta What? An Update on Novel Cannabinoids including Delta-8 and 10 THC

For more podcast episodes and resources, follow #TreatmentWeek and visit www.treataddictionsavelives.org.

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Links:

Dr. Nicholaus Christian: Finding the Path (asam.org)

Support Hospital Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (SHOUT) - Be Well Texas

NLC Cares | Allianceforliving

Community First! Village - Mobile Loaves & Fishes (mlf.org)

Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team (HPACT) Fact Sheet (va.gov)

8-BTeamOutcomes_Moriates-et-al.pdf (bewelltexas.org)