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BIOGRAPHY - Jeffrey Samet MD, MA, MPH

Dr. Samet, a graduate of Brandeis University and Baylor College of Medicine, is Professor of Medicine and Social and Behavioral Sciences at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.  He is the Chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine at the medical school and at Boston Medical Center and Vice Chair for Public Health of the Department of Medicine.  He is responsible for a faculty of 90 general internists.  He has been a primary care physician in Boston since 1983.  In 1995 he became the Medical Director of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services Division of the Boston Public Health Commission providing supervision to its four physicians and guidance to the agency.  Between 1990 and 2002, he served as the Director of the HIV Diagnostic Evaluation Unit at Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center, a weekly intake clinic for newly diagnosed patients with HIV infection.  Over 2000 HIV-infected patients initiated medical care in this setting during this period.  He has been on the Executive Committee of the Association of Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) for 8 years and was National President (1999 - 2001).  He was Co-chair of the Society of General Internal Medicine Substance Abuse Task Force from 1992 to 2002.              

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, he now lives in Needham, Massachusetts with his wife (Michele) and 3 sons (Abel, Oren and Ethan). Dr. Samet served as the Director of the Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit over the past 10 years.  In this period, the unit grew from its inception to a group within the Section of General Internal Medicine housed on the second floor of the Maternity building currently involving over 20 individuals including faculty, research associates, and administrative staff with grant support topping $12 million since its creation.  I have also served since 1995 as the Medical Director of the Boston Public Health Commission’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services providing direct supervision to its three physicians.  Also, in this senior management position I work with the Director, Associate Director, and Clinical Director to provide guidance to this public health and clinical service with a $4 million annual budget.  I have directed the DEU clinic as previously noted since 1990, for its first 10 years with Dr. Ken Freedberg.  I recently completed a two year tenure as the National President of the Association of Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse.  I have been Co-chair of the Society of General Internal Medicine Substance Abuse Task Force for the past 10 years.  In this period it has grown from a group of 10 - 15 members meeting once each year to a group of 50+ members who meet twice annually and has received external grant support, edited journals, and presented precourses and workshops at national meetings.

My clinical skills are those of a general internist with the major focus on outpatient clinical care.  In my primary care practice, I provide medical care for patients over time and many have been in my care for 5 to 10+ years.  I have attended on the inpatient medical service one month each year.  I possess focussed clinical expertise concerning patients with HIV infection.  I have served for the past 11 years as the Medical Director of the HIV Diagnostic Evaluation Unit (DEU), the evaluation clinic for HIV-infected patients initiating primary medical care at BMC.  Over 2000 HIV-infected patients have been seen in this setting.  Many of the patients that I care for in all three of these settings have alcohol and other drug abuse and dependence.  I address these issues directly and with referral for both pharmacologic and non- pharmacological therapy. 

Teaching Portfolio: 

My teaching has occurred in the clinical sites listed above. Teaching in the DEU clinic remains very active and a popular site for training BUSM, Carney Hospital, and previously Malden Hospital residents.  The focus of this teaching is about outpatient management of the HIV-infected patients and a clinical approach to the substance abusing patient.  For this activity I received the Teacher of the Year Award for the Carney Hospital Residency Program in 1994.  Inpatient attending responsibilities have been a responsibility accepted with the utmost commitment to medical student and resident training.  Teaching in my primary care clinic has been quite limited over the past 5 years.  My other teaching has occurred with medical students in their preclinical years.  I give the lecture on alcohol and other drug abuse in the ICM course and  helped develop an ongoing pharmacology workshop on drugs of abuse 10 years ago.  Finally, I have worked with one to four BUSM students for the past 8 years for 10 weeks over the summer on clinical research projects; I dubbed this activity the “General Internal Medicine/Substance Abuse Medical Student Summer Fellowship Program.”  I also mentor general internal medicine fellows.  Other teaching activities have included national and international trainings of health professionals about care of the alcohol and drug dependent patient.

Scholarly Research Portfolio: 

Scholarly research addresses the area of alcohol and drug abuse, HIV infection and primary medical care.  Areas of particular focus include: delay in establishing primary medical care for HIV infection; linkage of substance abuse treatment and primary medical care; addressing substance abuse issues in the primary care setting; and the impact of alcohol and drug use on HIV-infected persons.  Publications and grant support speak to accomplishments in this domain.