The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has announced a three-year, $2 million grant to the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation to establish the National Center for Physician Training in Addiction Medicine.

Based at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Department of Family Medicine, the center will work to expand the education and training of physicians in addiction medicine. To that end, the center will emphasize prevention and screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment — particularly for adolescents and young adults. According to the ABAM Foundation, the long-term goal is to assure that primary care physicians are trained in addiction medicine and early intervention in adolescent substance abuse.

Under the direction of Richard Blondell, MD, professor of family medicine at the UB School of Medicine, the center will work to make prevention, brief intervention, and treatment for substance abuse available at all points of entry to the healthcare system, including physicians' offices, community clinics, school and college health centers, emergency rooms, trauma centers, hospitals, and other healthcare centers.

"We're pleased to partner with the ABAM Foundation to create the National Center for Physician Training in Addiction Medicine," said Hilton Foundation president and chairman Steven M. Hilton. "The ABAM Foundation's expertise in establishing programs that train and grow the addiction medicine workforce will help the center to promote the transformation of our nation's medical education and health care systems. This systemic change is necessary to help those in urgent need of substance abuse prevention and treatment services, especially adolescents and young adults."