Marworth Announces Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program

Waverly (PA)—Marworth, Geisinger Health System’s Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Waverly, Pennsylvania, near Scranton, has announced a new Fellowship program for physicians interested in advanced training in addiction medicine.

“Approximately 20 percent of hospital beds across the United States are occupied by patients affected in some way by addiction, either as a primary diagnosis or a contributing factor to numerous other illnesses,” stated David Withers, MD, Marworth Associate Medical Director and Director of the Fellowship Program. “Given the scope of this problem, there are too few Fellowship trained addiction medicine physician specialists.”

The first physician Fellowship participant will begin the one-year program in July 2007. The 12-month curriculum will include one month in the psychiatry department at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. Topics included in the Fellowship experience include the neurobiology of addiction, genetics of addiction, the physiology of various chemical intoxication and withdrawal syndromes, opioid agonist treatment, inpatient and outpatient treatment, post-traumatic stress syndrome resolution, and individual, family and group counseling therapies.

“Research has shown that addiction is 60 percent genetic and 40 percent environmental,” added Marworth Medical Director Margaret Jarvis. “Given these contributing factors, it is imperative that addiction medicine physicians be skilled in a variety of clinical diagnostic and treatment options. This Fellowship program is designed to present an overall experience in addiction medicine preparing the Fellow to provide high quality care to patients with this chronic disease.”

The goal of the program is to increase the number of addiction medicine trained physicians in the United States and to prepare Fellows for the American Society of Addiction Medicine certification examination.

“Marworth has been recognized as a national leader in addiction medicine services for the past 25 years, and Geisinger Health System has nearly a century of commitment to medical education,” said Marworth Vice President James Dougherty. “Given our history we feel a responsibility to move forward with this much-needed addiction medicine Fellowship program.”

Interested physicians can obtain more information on the Fellowship program by calling Dr. David Withers at Marworth, 1-800-442-7722, or learn about Marworth and its services by visiting www.marworth.org.

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