Actress Blythe Danner leads an impressive cast in the Addiction Performance Project, an innovative continuing medical education (CME) program for doctors and other health providers, next Saturday, April 16th at the Washington Hilton. The performance is a project of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is designed to help doctors and other health professionals better identify and help drug-abusing patients in primary care settings, and to break down the stigma associated with drug addiction.
Research suggests that primary care providers could significantly help reduce drug abuse; yet many express concern that they lack the experience or tools to identify drug use in their patients. The program will begin with a dramatic reading of Act III of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, with Blythe Danner reading the part of Mary Tyrone, the morphine addicted matriarch of a family devastated by addiction. It will be followed by an expert panel reaction, which will include NIDA director Nora D. Volkow, MD, and facilitated audience discussion to foster compassion, cooperation, and understanding for addicted patients and their families. The project is part of NIDAMED, NIDA's outreach to practicing physicians, physicians in training, and other health professionals. The Addiction Performance Project has a limited run during 2011 and 2012.
All performances are free of charge, but seating is limited, and registration is recommended. There will be a preview performance at Georgetown University Medical School on April 15.
If you are a journalist and want to attend the D.C. performance, please send an email to: media@nida.nih.gov.
NOTE: In the event of a government shutdown, visit: http://nidaapp.jbsinternational.com/Register.aspx for the status of the D.C. performance.
What: NIDA's Addiction Performance Project
When: Saturday, April 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009
Featured Actors (subject to change)
Blythe Danner (Mary Tyrone)
Harris Yulin (James Tyrone)
Bryce Pinkham (Edmund Tyrone)
Sara Waisanen (Cathleen)
Featured Panel Members
Nora Volkow, MD
Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Jeff Baxter, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health University of Massachusetts Medical School
Dr. Robert Taylor, MD
Dean, Howard University Medical School
Preview Performance
Georgetown University Medical School
12:00-1:00pm, Friday, April 15
Preclinical Sciences Building, Room LA-4
3900 Reservoir Road, Washington, D.C. 20007
Follow Addiction Performance Project news on Twitter at @NIDANews, or join the conversation by using: #nidaAPP.
For more information on the Addiction Performance Project, visit the project's page.