Harm Reduction & Addiction Interest Group

During my first year at UCSF, I came together with Hannah Tierney (UCSF SOM '22), Cara Eberhardt (UCSF SOM '20) and Laeesha Cornejo (UCSF SOM '21) to form the Harm Reduction & Addiction Medicine Interest Group (HRAM). Our objective was to engage health career students at UCSF with educational, curricular, professional and community opportunities to expand their skills for serving people who use drugs.

HRAM had membership from all the health schools at UCSF. In 2019, Hannah Tierney and Cara Eberhardt transformed the events we hosted in 2018 (see below) into a registered pre-clinical 10-week elective that continues annual today.

HRAM Events (co-organized by India):

  • "Using Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder" with Dr. Scott Stieger MD of UCSF (11/27/2018)

  • "How to Speak to your Patients about Overdose Prevention" with Kristen Marshall of DOPE Project (12/05/2018)

  • "Trauma-Informed Care with a Harm Reduction Approach" with TICKS

  • "Careers in Harm Reduction & Addiction Medicine Panel" with Dr. Paula Lum MD, Matt Tierney, NP, Dr. Veronika Mersheriakova, MD, and Asmara Gebre, CNM (04/24/2019)

  • Harm Reduction Meet & Greet with UCSF and community advocates/service providers (10/10/2019)

  • "How COVID19 is Impacting the Lives of People who use Drugs" with Dr. Kelly Knight, Phd, Dr. Jesse Ristau, MD, Dr. Hannah Snyder, Bill Buehlman, and Frances Fu (05/07/2020)

ADVOCACY

X the X Waiver National Week of Action

In April 2019, I formed a national coalition of medical student Harm Reductionists. In Nov. 2019, student groups from schools across the nation hosted a week of rallies, educational events and legislative efforts to call for the elimination of the DATA 2000 waiver for buprenorphine.

OUTREACH

DeLIVER Care Program

During my term, I co-founded and co-managed a student volunteer program with Dr. Jennifer Price, MD to provide outreach opportunities for students to engage in street-based hepatitis C care with the DeLIVER mobile van.

WATCH

"How COVID19 is Impacting the Lives of People who use Drugs"

05/07/2020