Addiction Medicine Working Group
Supporting Addiction Recovery
The Addiction Medicine Working Group at UCLA – Ronald Reagan Hospital aims to help engage patients with substance use disorder in evidence-based medical and behavioral treatment for intoxication, withdrawal, and long-term outpatient management. We work in the inpatient wards, the emergency department and in bridge/longitudinal clinics. In addition to guideline-based medical care, we work to destigmatize our patients and create an environment where patients' concerns are heard and validated with compassion and professionalism.
Working Group Leadership
Felipe Vasudevan, MD
Dr. Kumar Felipe Vasudevan is one of the directors of the Addiction Consult Service at UCLA. After completing Internal Medicine residency & Addiction medicine fellowship, he directed an addiction consult service at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, NY for two years before coming to UCLA in October 2022. His passions are in education, stigma reduction and promoting access to addiction treatment.
Catherine M. Weaver, MD
Dr. Catherine Weaver is faculty in the UCLA Emergency Department, where she launched a Substance Use Navigator program with the support of multiple grants. She also serves as Medical Director of the UCLA Health Homeless Collaborative, a program consisting of multiple mobile clinics that provide addiction treatment, primary care, urgent care, and psychiatric services to people experiencing homelessness in their lived environment.
Jonathan N. Quach, MD
Dr. Jon Quach received his Doctorate of Medicine from New York University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at UCLA – Olive View and an addiction medicine fellowship at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. In addition to serving in the development of the bridge clinic and inpatient addiction consult service, Dr Quach serves as the medical director of CLARE|Matrix.
Evan Schwarz, MD
Dr. Evan Schwarz is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Addiction Medicine. Prior to his arrival to UCLA, he started and directed ED, inpatient, and outpatient addiction services at Washington University. At UCLA, he is an attending on the Addiction Medicine consult service at Ronald Reagan and works with others in the ED to improve the care of patients presenting with substance use disorders.
Maya A. Appley, MD, MPH
Dr. Maya Appley received her Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health degrees from Tulane University. She completed Internal Medicine-Primary Care Residency at UCSF and Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is an attending in the Addiction Medicine Bridge Clinic in Westwood and on the Addiction Consult service at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center where she supervises medical students, residents and fellows.
Clinical Training Experiences
Eisenhower Health-UCLA Health Addiction Medicine Fellowship
This program is a collaborative effort between Eisenhower Health and UCLA Department of Medicine’s Medicine-Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine Division. This one-year program is committed to providing their fellows with a range of experiences that will prepare them for the realities of addiction medicine. With a wide array of training sites, including the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, LA County Department of Mental Health, the VA, Clare/Matrix, Venice Family Clinic, and the Addiction Consult Service at Ronald Reagan Medical Center, their fellows have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience treating patients from all walks of life.
Addiction Medicine Fellowship at UCLA Department of Family Medicine
The UCLA Department of Family Medicine sponsors a one-year clinical fellowship in Addiction Medicine to provide physicians with the training necessary to recognize and treat patients with substance use disorders (SUD). This program utilizes a variety of treatment settings from inpatient/residential to outpatient programs at UCLA and the West LA VA Medical Center, as well as community-based programs and residential units. Further, the program utilizes the LA County Correctional Medicine unit, which is located within the largest men’s prison in the US.
UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program
This fellowship is a one-year program that provides clinical training in addiction psychiatry. Clinical training occurs in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment programs, pain clinic settings, acute detoxification, and methadone clinic settings. Fellows gain expertise using all FDA approved pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders as well as evidence-based group therapy training. Rotations occur at Greater Los Angeles VA and UCLA-based sites.
UCLA Medical Toxicology Fellowship Program
This program, established in 2023, is a two-year, post-graduate training program. The fellowship aims to train highly qualified emergency physicians to become skilled clinicians and leaders in the specialty of medical toxicology. The program combines the benefits of working in and participating in the management of an internationally renowned, academic university hospital with both a community emergency department and a county hospital. Fellows rotate at the Addiction Consult Services for a total of 10 weeks.
Additional Trainees Rotating at the Addiction Consult Services & Bridge Clinic
Internal Medicine Residents
Internal Medicine residents have the opportunity to participate in the UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Addiction Medicine Core Rotation. This one-week experience aims to humanize substance use and addiction and deliver core competencies in addiction medicine practice to resident learners through experiential, interactive, and didactic educational sessions across outpatient and inpatient care settings. During the rotation, residents spend 2 days at the Bridge Clinic & Consult Service at Ronald Reagan Medical Center and 3 days with the Department of Family Medicine at the Santa Monica Hospital.
4th Year Medical Students
Addiction Psychiatry offers an elective for medical students that provides a seven-day immersion experience at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center's Consult Services; allowing them the opportunity to rotate with fellows and residents.
Contact Us
Inquiries and requests for further information regarding the Addiction Medicine Working Group at UCLA can be directed to [email protected].