My name is Jeremy Hustead, MD, FASAM and I serve as an Assistant Professor and Medical Director of the outpatient Addiction Intensive Outpatient Program at West Virginia University Medicine’s Department of Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry in Morgantown, West Virginia. Prior to joining the WVU faculty in 2020, I completed 4 years of General Psychiatry training here including serving as Chief Resident. After residency graduation, I served as the first Addiction Psychiatry Fellow in program history and am now involved in training both Addiction Psychiatry and Medicine fellows. Since June 2020, I have served as the state chapter president of the West Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine (WVSAM), a position that I have enjoyed tremendously.

Growing up, I did not come from a traditional medical family but instead grew up in the inner-city to a disabled father who had muscular dystrophy and a mother who had a traumatic brain injury. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment and I started working as soon as possible to supplement our family’s income. Becoming a doctor was largely a pipe-dream but became a reality with much guidance and support from academic mentors who saw potential. My background in no way has held me back but instead has served to help me empathize with my patients and become a more effective healer. It has also led to a profound determination to advocate for those who come from similarly disenfranchised backgrounds. Regardless of where my career takes me, I plan to forever advocate for effective substance use treatment and to reduce the enormous amount of stigma that follows those with the terrible disease of addiction.