The Treat Addiction Save Lives Podcast

In today's episode, Dr. Scott Hadland sits down to discuss the ASAM Criteria 4th Edition: Volume 2, Adolescents & Transition-Aged Youth.
 
Resources:
The ASAM Criteria, Fourth Edition, Volume 2: Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth
Print Purchase
Digital Purchase
Implementation Tools *Includes training slides and a treatment planning template
Editorial: New Standards for Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Care

In today's episode, LPN Jessica Brooks sits down to discuss community engagement and parallel services in addiction medicine.

In today's episode, Dr. Mitika Kanabar sits down to discuss process and behavioral addiction as it relates to devices, social media and AI.

In this episode recorded live at this year's ASAM Annual Conference in San Diego, Dr. Holly Geyer sits down to discuss addiction policy, behavioral and medical models of addiction and the STOP IT Campaign.

In this episode, three conference goers (Dr. Anthony Accurso, Dr. Michael Baca-Atlas and Cryssy Miller) share their conference experiences, words of wisdom and top tips for getting the most out of the conference.

Three addiction medicine doctors in three different states share advocacy wins from 2025. Learn about the policies shaping addiction medicine across the country, and what helped push these legislative wins over the finish line. 
Plus, discover highlights from ASAM’s new report on major state-level addiction medicine trends this year. 
Featured in this episode: 
Chad Elkin, MD, Tennessee Society of Addiction Medicine 
Cate Heil, MD, Idaho Society of Addiction Medicine 
Stephanie Stewart, MD, Colorado Society of Addiction Medicine 
 
Links: 
ASAM’s 2025 Mid-year Report: Trends in Addiction Medicine State Legislation  
List of 2025 Enacted State Legislation 

Author and journalist Maia Szalavitz - winner of this year's 2025 ASAM Media Award - sat down to talk about her career covering addiction and public policy, as well as her most recent book Undoing Drugs: How Harm Reduction is Changing the Future of Drugs and Addiction
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🏅ASAM Awards & Recognition
👉 Maia Szalavitz Official Website
📕 Undoing Drugs: How Harm Reduction is Changing the Future of Drugs and Addiction

ASAM President Elect Tim Wiegand, MD, FACMT, FAACT, DFASAM, sat down with us at this year's 56th ASAM Annual Conference to discuss his road to addiction medicine and why he wanted to get involved in a leadership position with ASAM.
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🏅ASAM Awards & Recognition

Grab your tissues for this moving and powerful episode! Flora Sadri-Azarbayejani, DO, MPH, FAAFP, FASAM, joins host, Zach, to talk about her path to and passion for practicing addiction medicine. During the conversation, she shares stories and experiences that have been impactful on her journey and shaped both how she practices medicine – emphasizing the critical component of compassion – and her perspectives on addiction.
Dr. Flora Sadri-Azarbayejani attended Boston University, where she earned an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and a dual master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, and medical science. She attained a doctorate in medicine from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Sadri-Azarbayejani worked as an epidemiologist in infectious disease at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; completed residency and became a family physician and eventually chief medical officer at The Community Health Center of Franklin County (Massachusetts); and, after becoming board certified in addiction medicine, has worked in the addiction medicine space since 2014 in both inpatient and outpatient settings and has opened programs in both arenas.  
Dr. Sadri-Azarbayejani serves as the medical director for substance use services at Lowell Community Health Center and medical director for an inpatient addiction treatment center. She is active in various medical societies, including the Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). She has been involved with the development of CARF guidelines for outpatient addiction treatment programs and hopes to make an impact on passing legislation of supervised consumption sites in the near future.
LINKS:
Massachusetts Medical Society
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
CARF International
 
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.

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.