Episode #145 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Dr Gene Hern on Prehospital Medicine

What role does Prehospital Medicine or First Responders have in treating addiction? Is it just naloxone, or is there more?

Dr. Gene Hern received his MS in Medical Ethics from UC Berkeley in 1994 and his MD from UCSF in 1996. He did his residency in Emergency Medicine at Highland Hospital in Oakland in 1996 and stayed on as faculty starting in 2000. In 2013, he was named US Emergency Medicine residency director of the year by the Emergency Medicine Residents Association. In 2014, he was honored by his residency director peers with the Micheal Wainscott Program Director Award by the Council of Residency Directors for his dedication to resident education. In 2022, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from CalACEP.

He works as Medical Director for both Public and Private EMS Agencies in California and has been the Medical Director for GMR Contra Costa Operations since 2007. He is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services. As a researcher, he has published 53 peer reviewed articles on topics as varied as racial differences in pre-hospital opiate use to illegal residency interview questions to the creation of Overdose Receiving Centers. He also has authored or co-authored 13 book chapters. His current research centers on the EMS treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and paramedic initiated buprenorphine.