Herscher awarded for Excellence in Humanitarian Services
Michael Herscher, MD, is a hospitalist and associate professor in the departments of medicine and medical education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is this year’s recipient of the award for Excellence in Humanitarian Services. His work focuses on expanding access to addiction care, developing innovative treatment programs, and educating current and future physicians on treatment of patients with substance use disorders (SUD).
To address gaps in hospital-based addiction care, Dr. Herscher founded the REACH-IN program, a volunteer-led initiative that identifies hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), initiates buprenorphine treatment, and links them to outpatient care. He also follows many of these patients at REACH, a primary care practice for people who use drugs, where he has provided care for more than four years.
Additional initiatives he has undertaken include virtual naloxone education and distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic, founding an inpatient naloxone distribution program, and collaborating with hospital leadership and the emergency department to improve addiction treatment protocols.
Dr. Herscher is dedicated to medical education. He developed the Addiction Medicine Longitudinal Clinical Experience for first-year students. This is used to follow a patient with SUD and coordinate training for all first-year medical students on naloxone use. His teaching contributions have earned him multiple awards for education and humanitarianism.
Beyond addiction medicine, Dr. Herscher serves as course co-director for the Art and Science of Medicine doctoring course and Core Faculty for the Internal Medicine Residency.
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