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Clean is the 2016 Diversity Campus Read. |
Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy by David Sheff is the selection for UMass Medical School’s fourth annual Diversity Campus Read. The 2016 Campus Read Event will take place Tuesday, Nov. 1, at noon in the Faculty Conference Room.
Based on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience and medicine, Clean’s premise is that drug use is preventable and addiction is a preventable, treatable disease. Sheff rejects the stigmatization of drug use and calls for a new approach that treats use and addiction for what it is: a health crisis.
Sheff is also the author of the memoir Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, an award-winning, New York Times bestseller that recounts Sheff’s struggle to help his son Nic overcome his methamphetamine addiction. Its publication led Sheff on a mission to determine why America is losing its war against drugs and so many of its children in the process, which culminated with Clean. Learn more about Sheff and his books at the author’s website.
The Diversity Campus Read is an initiative launched by Chancellor Michael F. Collins and sponsored by the UMMS–UMass Memorial Diversity and Inclusion Office. It is intended to engage the medical school and medical center community in a common reading experience that promotes academic discourse and critical thinking on a topic that is both timely and important for health care. Opioid abuse is a serious public health issue and drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States. The selection of Clean is aligned with the institution’s mission of community service, notably its efforts to stem the drug crisis.
The Nov. 1 event will wrap up the annual read with a discussion of topics addressed in the book. Dennis M. Dimitri, MD, vice chair and clinical associate professorof family medicine & community health, and Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, chair and professor of psychiatry, will facilitate the conversation with audience participation.
In a new addition to the annual campus read, the Diversity Inclusion Office is conducting a Campus Read Trivia Contest with a chance to win one month of free parking. UMMS and UMass Memorial employees, faculty and students can enter to win at the Clean trivia web page.
All members of the UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center community are encouraged to read the book and attend the event, where trivia contest winners will be announced. Copies of Clean are available in the library and in the Diversity and Inclusion Office. RSVPs are requested.
