Addiction Science & Clinical Practice

Featured Editorial

Shifts at The Helm: gratitude, re-commitment to our work, and a call for addictions disparities research
Emily C. Williams & Jeffrey H. Samet, Editors-in-Chief
The work of our ASCP community has never been more relevant. Though addiction is a consistent and ubiquitous threat to public health across cultures and societies globally, roughly over the same period as our journal was gaining momentum, substance use reached an all-time high. The field is ripe for new and innovative studies focused on understanding disparities and their structural origins; development of new and innovative clinical practices to address old and emerging challenges in addictions treatment; and rigorous evaluations of policies ushered in as a result of the global pandemic that has disproportionately influenced vulnerable and historically stigmatized populations.

Dr Jeffrey Samet, co-Editor-in-Chief

"Improving the quality of care provided to patients with problems from the use of alcohol and other drugs should be a major health-care goal and research agenda as articulated in the 2006 US Institute of Medicine report, Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance Use Conditions. Our goal is to make Addiction Science & Clinical Practice the primary home for evidence to address this international health-care challenge."

Dr Emily C Williams, co-Editor-in-Chief

“Addiction is a consistent and ubiquitous threat to public health across cultures and societies globally, and the work of Addiction Science & Clinical Practice has never been more relevant as substance use has reached an all-time high, innovative clinical interventions are increasingly available, and social determinants of substance use and its care receive increasing focus.  I am excited to move the work of Addiction Science & Clinical Practice forward, together with Dr Jeffrey Samet, and to contribute to providing a top-notch forum for clinically relevant research and perspectives that contribute to improving both the quality and equity of addictions care.”

Dr Emily Williams is an addictions health services and disparities researcher and an implementation scientist. She serves as Professor of Health Systems and Population Health and Director of the Doctoral Program in Health Services at the University of Washington. She also has affiliate appointments at the Denver-Seattle Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered Value-Driven Care at VA Puget Sound Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. She is interested in the influence of contextual mechanisms on health behavior, health care, health outcomes, and health disparities, particularly with regard to vulnerable populations with stigmatized conditions. Her research focuses on increasing access to needed prevention and treatment for stigmatized conditions, including unhealthy alcohol, opioid, and other substance use, hepatitis C, HIV, as well as understanding and promoting equity in this care for vulnerable patient subpopulations (e.g., those with HIV and HCV, racial/ethnic minorities, persons living in rural areas, transgender patients, and women). She has a BA in political science from Lewis & Clark College (Portland, OR), an MPH in Health Law from Boston University (Boston, MA), and a PhD in Health Services from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA).