Infectious Complications of Substance Abuse
Madeline McCrary, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, WashU Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, was invited to participate in the 2025 National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Emerging Leader Forum (the Forum) that was held in Washington DC, April 8-9, 2025 at the National Academy of Sciences Building.
The exclusive, invitation only Forum is a key gathering of the ELHM Program, which aims to increase the NAM’s engagement with exceptional, interdisciplinary early- to mid-career professionals working in biomedical science, population health, health care, health policy, and related fields. The ELHM Program facilitates opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, and innovation between the emerging leaders, NAM members, and experts across sectors. The ELHM Forum provides a platform for scholars and NAM members to come together and identify novel approaches to shared challenges in health and medicine and spark transformative change across fields.
“It was an honor to be invited to speak at the National Academy of Medicine’s Emerging Leaders Forum. Participating in the forum was a humbling but motivating experience – there were so many impressive researchers across disciplines and the sciences, including others from WashU.”
Madeline McCrary, MD
Dr. McCrary was invited to speak about the infectious complications of substance use in women. She spoke about leveraging pregnancy and the peri-partum period to engage women in care for Hepatitis C and the novel program to treat Hepatitis C during pregnancy through shared decision making.
“I came to WashU to work at the intersection of infectious diseases and substance use and to develop, implement and disseminate novel programs to expand access to Hepatitis C care for patients who use drugs, including pregnant women. Much of this work started before I got here. What we are doing today wouldn’t be possible without multidisciplinary collaboration between Infectious Diseases (Dr. Laura Marks, Dr. Meg Curtis, myself) and Maternal-Fetal Medicine (Dr. Jeannie Kelly) to make this a reality for our patients. I hope that presenting our work on this kind of stage inspires others to implement programs at their own institutions,” shared Dr. McCrary.