UMass Medical School has created the Warren J. Ferguson Scholarship to honor its namesake’s contributions to the field of criminal justice health. The scholarship was announced March 16 at the Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, which Dr. Ferguson co-founded 10 years ago.
The 10th annual Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health will include a peer session on implementing medication assisted treatment for opioid abuse, and a town hall featuring the perspectives of justice-involved individuals when it convenes March 16-17 at the Atlanta Airport Marriott in Atlanta, Georgia.
To improve treatment of substance use disorder in prison and jail populations, UMass Medical School has teamed up with the departments of corrections in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the sheriffs in the Massachusetts counties of Middlesex and Barnstable. This correctional health practice collaborative will help participants implement evidence-based approaches in correctional settings.
The Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH) will increase the number of scholarships, structured mentorships, and networking opportunities available to students, junior investigators and stakeholders with funding from The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. ACCJH is supported by UMass Medical School.
Incarcerated elders are the fastest growing segment of the prison population, and their numbers have increased nearly 200 percent since the 1990s, according to the National Institute of Corrections. These inmates pose a challenge to correctional administrators because they often suffer from chronic illnesses and disabilities that can be complex to manage and expensive to treat.
More academic health centers should partner with correctional facilities to improve clinical care and advance education and research, according to an Academic Medicine commentary co-authored by Warren Ferguson, MD, professor and vice chair of family medicine & community health and a correctional health expert at UMass Medical School.
The newest research concerning the health care of incarcerated populations will be presented by national experts at the 8th Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health March 19-20 at the Hyatt Boston Harbor.
UMass Medical School will partner with academic medical centers to create a correctional health practice collaborative focused on implementing evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders and Hepatitis C in state prison systems.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recognized UMass Medical School’s Health and Criminal Justice Program for its efforts in improving the health and outcomes of individuals involved in the criminal justice system during the AAMC’s 126th annual meeting Nov. 8 in Baltimore, Maryland.
UMass Medical School’s criminal justice health expert Warren J. Ferguson, MD, calls on academic health science centers to address the effect of criminal justice involvement on public health through research, training and clinical care in a lead commentary that he co-authored in a special issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.