Episode 27: Dr. Alta DeRoo shares stories from her career as a Naval Flight Officer, and how addiction medicine intersects with all specialties

Alta DeRoo, MD, MBA, FACOG, DFASAM, joins host, Zach, to talk about her experience in the US Navy (USN) and her path to practicing OBGYN and addiction medicine. She discusses the intersection of general medicine or primary specialty practice and addiction and shares her perspectives on stigma related to addiction. Dr. DeRoo explains the potential challenges of transitioning from active duty to veteran status and how these can sometimes lead to substance use, addiction, or mental health issues. Finally, she shares what inspired (and continues to inspire) her sense of service and offers advice to the next generation of addiction medicine specialists.

Dr. DeRoo’s father was active-duty Navy when she was born on Midway Island in the South Pacific. A sense of service was branded in her character, and after earning a BA in psychology from Connecticut College, she joined the Navy and served for 24 years. She was selected for combat Naval Aviation and was among the first cohort of women to fly in combat. Dr. DeRoo was the first female in her community of the E2C Hawkeye, a carrier airborne early warning plane. (They have a short cameo in Top Gun, but you would not see Mav flying her plane.)

After 8 years of aviation and over 40 combat missions, Dr. DeRoo was awarded a scholarship to attend medical school. After graduating from the University of Florida College of Medicine, she completed residency in OBGYN. She completed several missions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and 5 deployments on the USNS Mercy performing surgeries in Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and she was the mission commander of a Papua, New Guinea mission.

Dr. DeRoo became very aware of the alcohol and drugs that sailors and soldiers used on deployment (for various reasons). Her father was also one of these sailors who eventually developed alcohol use disorder. From his stories and the stories of her shipmates and battle buddies, she became very interested in the science of addiction. Her Commanding Officer at the time allowed her to moonlight at a nearby methadone clinic, which was the beginning of her career in addiction medicine.

Dr. DeRoo later became board certified in addiction medicine and practiced both OBGYN and addiction medicine. She retired from the USN to Culpeper, VA, where she started the county’s first ever OBOT with their Community Services Board, started treating pregnant women with SUD, and incorporated this into a clinic in her town. Through aggressive naloxone distribution and OUD treatment, they were able to decrease their opioid overdose rate between 2016-2018.

It was during this time Dr. DeRoo also became interested in the Virginia Chapter of ASAM. She served as secretary for two years, then president elect in 2020. The only thing that drew her away from serving as president in 2020 was a job opportunity that, to her, was a calling. She was asked to be the medical director of the Betty Ford Center and all California sites. She made dramatic changes there and was promoted to chief medical officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and their 16 sites across the US. During this time, she also earned an MBA from the University of Virginia and became a Distinguished Fellow of ASAM.

 

Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine (VASAM)

American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Distinguished Fellows of ASAM (DFASAM)

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Treatment is available and recovery is possible. Visit ASAM’s Patient Resources page for more information.

The information shared in this podcast episode is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or ASAM management.