FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Contact: Leah C. Payne, Director of Public Affairs, Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, 304-691-1713

Marshall, WVU support CDC’s new opiate-prescribing guidelines

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A White House initiative requiring medical schools to educate future doctors on the new opiate-prescribing guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control has the joint support of Marshall University and West Virginia University schools of medicine.

The White House last week asked members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to endorse the following statement: “Beginning Fall of 2016, we will require all students to take some form of prescriber education in line with CDC guidelines in order to graduate.”

Joseph Shapiro, M.D., dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall, and Clay Marsh, M.D., vice president and executive dean for health sciences at WVU, discussed the request and decided the schools should take a leading role in the effort.

President Barack Obama will discuss the pledge today at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, an annual summit that is the largest national collaboration of professionals and advocates impacted by drug abuse and heroin use.

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Date Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2016