Drug Addiction


Drug Addiction in America
THE G-MAN INTERVIEWS: DR. LAWRENCE S. BROWN

CEO of START, Clinic Directors Say More Must Be Done to Help Patients and Fight the Heroin Epidemic

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Welcome.

Joining me for this special episode on drug addiction in America are Dr. Lawrence Brown, Patricia Williams, and Lucy Miro-Quesada. Dr. Brown serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Brooklyn-based START Treatment & Recovery Centers, and Ms. Williams and Ms. Miro-Quesada are the directors of the organization’s treatment clinics.

Dr. Brown is responsible for all aspects of health care services, oversight of health care professionals, and the conduct of behavioral and biomedical research. His scientific contributions have focused on addiction and improving treatment of substance use disorders, resulting in hundreds of articles, chapters, and published abstracts, reflecting research sponsored by government and private industry.

Dr. Brown’s experience includes past service as president and board chair of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM); board chair of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; Board member of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD); and Board member of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.

He currently serves as a member of the Drug Testing Advisory Board of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services. He was recently appointed by the governor, and confirmed by the New York State Senate to serve as a member of both the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council and Behavioral Health Services Advisory Council.

Other service on government committees includes the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Outside of government, Dr. Brown serves as medical advisor to the National Football League.

Dr. Brown is the recipient of multiple awards, including being named the Addiction Medicine Physician of the Year by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and a Fellow by The New York Academy of Medicine, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, ASAM, and CPDD.

Dr. Brown received a combined MD/MPH degree from New York University School of Medicine and Columbia University School of Public Health. After completing an internal medicine residency at Harlem Hospital and a fellowship in neuroendocrinology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he subsequently received academic appointments as associate physician at Rockefeller University Hospital and clinical associate professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College.

On April 24th, I conducted a Skype interview with Dr. Brown to discuss how START is playing a key role in not only battling drug addiction in America, but helping to place people on the road to recovery.

SECOND SEGMENT

On April 18th, I visited START’s Harlem office and conducted a roundtable interview with the Ms. Patricia Williams and Ms. Lucy Miro-Quesada.

Ms. Williams, entered Columbia University as a 9th-grade dropout and not only earned her psychology degree, but also was a magna cum laude, elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received honors in her field. She obtained her Master’s in social work from Hunter College School of Social Work and is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor.

Ms. Miro-Quesada earned her BA in psychology while living in Lima, Peru, and her master’s in social work from Fordham University School of Social Work and has attended the Institute for Modern Psychoanalysis. She has been with START since 1982 as a counselor, a mental health consultant, and is now the clinic director at Starting Point in Harlem. According to her peers, she has also worked at the Institute for Modern Psychoanalysis providing individual therapy to patients and is staunchly committed to patients in recovery. She believes that change is possible and that medication-assisted treatment is vitally important in the recovery process.

START website:
http://www.startny.org/