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Addiction Medicine Fellowship

Accredited, Comprehensive Fellowship Training

The Addiction Medicine Fellowship at the University of Kentucky has been in existence since 2015 and is now accredited by the American College of Graduate Medical Education. Graduates of this program have come from various specialties including surgery, family medicine, internal medicine, as well as physical medicine and rehabilitation. While the program is sponsored by the UK College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, the fellow receives training within multiple departments at UK and at various clinical sites in the surrounding community. The fellowship encompasses experiences in inpatient care, outpatient settings, office-based medication-assisted treatment, and consultation-liaison services.

Preparing Well-Rounded Clinicians

Our goal in the Addiction Medicine Fellowship is to train excellent clinicians who will be equipped to deliver high-quality care to a population in great need. We hope to instill a holistic understanding of addiction and its treatment through a broad range of clinical experiences and educational activities. Our trainees gain experience in providing care throughout the life cycle and in a variety of clinical contexts and levels of care. We believe that this produces well-rounded clinicians who are able to navigate the complex system of substance use disorder treatment. We strive to provide our trainees with the knowledge, skills, and experience that will make them successful addiction medicine specialists. 

James Hawthorne, MD

James D. Hawthorne, MD

James Hawthorne, MD, is the program director for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Hawthorne is a graduate of the psychiatry residency program at the University of Kentucky and is board-certified in addiction medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Since joining the faculty at UK in 2014, he has consistently worked with recovering patients in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings. Currently, Dr. Hawthorne sees patients for treatment of substance use disorders in the department of psychiatry’s Supportive Medication Assisted Recovery Treatment (SMART) Clinic and provides psychiatric and substance use disorder consultations at the Beyond Birth Comprehensive Recovery Center. He is also extensively involved in medical student and resident education. 

Lon Hays, MD

Lon Hays, MD, MBA

Lon Hays, MD, MBA, is the founder and current associate program director for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship. He is the immediate past president of the American Board of Addiction Medicine and the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine. He is actively involved in National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grants investigating treatment of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, opioid, and methamphetamine use disorders. Dr. Hays teaches at all levels of medical training, including medical students and residents. His clinical work includes seeing patients in both early and long-term recovery as well as the evaluation of medical professionals with substance use disorders.