Media Contact: Hannah Echols, echolsh@uab.edu
Stefan Kertesz, M.D.
Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
Division of Preventive Medicine
Areas of expertise:
- Opioids use
- Addiction treatment
- Opioid and drug policy
- Access to quality addiction/medical care for homeless and other underserved populations
- Development of health professionals to address unmet health needs among disadvantaged populations
- Natural history and consequences of substance misuse in adults
Kertesz, certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, has a 22-year history of delivering primary care for vulnerable populations such as the homeless, and an 18-year history of research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Veterans Administration on care and services for problems of addiction and drug use. An addiction scholar, Kertesz serves on multiple task forces and teams related to opioid safety. He also led a national petition that resulted in major changes to a planned policy set up by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Media appearances:
- Opioid crackdown forces pain patients to taper off drugs they say they need, The Washington Post
- Experts discuss potential benefits, disadvantages to Cigna-Express Scripts, CVS-Aetna mergers, Healio
- At what age should you not try each drug for the first time? MEL Magazine
- The DEA is worried sick about touching contaminated drug money, The Daily Beast
- Say goodbye to backaches: Science confirms how to end the pain once and for all, MSN
- From America’s warriors to victims of its opioid epidemic, Huffington Post
- Medicare is cracking down on opioids. Doctors fear pain patients will suffer, The New York Times
- Why a better economy won’t stop the opioid epidemic, CNBC
- Walmart to limit opioid prescriptions to 7-day supply, will require e-prescriptions by 2020, Gizmodo
- 'Uninteded consequences' Inside the crackdown on opioids, The Washington Post
- Few black patients get buprenorphine for opioid addiction, Dail Mail
- Medical boards lack process for opioid complaints, KGOU
- Crackdown on opioids has its own victims: People who need them to live, Yahoo!
- COVID-19 testing in homeless shelters: Care, compassion and combatting structural inequalities, Forbes
- FDA Requires Opioid Labels to Include Information on Naloxone, Everyday Health