The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, an independent philanthropy organization whose mission is to eradicate health disparities in California, has granted Siddarth Puri, MD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and the behavioral sciences at Keck School of Medicine of USC, with $250,000 to establish a contingency management program at LAC+USC Medical Center.

Siddarth Puri

The program, led by Puri (Psychiatry), Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, MD, (Emergency Medicine) and Spencer Liebman, MD, (Internal Medicine and Pediatrics), will focus on stimulant use treatment in communities of color, counteracting health inequity by bridging the gap of health care disparities for historically underserved and economically disadvantaged groups.

The funding is held at the LAC+USC Medical Foundation and will support the expansion of addiction medicine services at LAC+USC Medical Center. The program will provide hospital units and emergency departments with direct patient care and consultations for medication management of patients with stimulant use disorders. The program will recruit additional staff including a Substance Use Navigator (SUN), Social Worker (SW), and a Project Coordinator who will work with residents and attending physicians to treat, monitor, and improve patient care in communities of color.

“I’m deeply grateful for the support from The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, which will allow us to improve the health of our patients with substance use disorders,” said Siddarth Puri, MD. “I look forward to working closely with our medical group and partners to help advance our addiction medicine service at LAC+USC and create sustainable addiction services for our underserved and diverse community.”

In collaboration with the Institute of Addiction Sciences at USC, Puri will enhance addiction related education, advance clinical research in addiction science, and cultivate innovative collaborations across disciplines to produce evidence-based knowledge about addiction in the community.