Podcast Episode 24: Destigmatizing Treatment: Systems in Sync for Patient-Centered Care

Host: Anna Morgan-Barsamian, MPH, RN, PMP, Senior Manager, Training & Education, NaRCAD

A conversation with La-Tricia Gordon, RN, CARN, Medical Education Specialist and Clement Chen, PharmD, BCPS, Clinical Pharmacist Specialist,  Rutgers Northern New Jersey MAT Center of Excellence

Tag: Podcast Series, Opioid Safety

How do we align and connect community efforts to support patients who use substances?

Join us as we discuss critical public health education to connect diverse stakeholders across complex systems, with the ultimate goal of caring for community members with substance use disorder. Whether these patients are residents, incarcerated, or reintegrating into the community, our guest speakers discuss successful, evidence-based programming to ensure the community is aligned in empowering patients to live healthier lives.

​A note from our guests: 
This quote is one they return to often, and it speaks to the importance of trust, relationships, and community woven throughout the conversation: 

“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.”
- Johann Hari, Author & Journalist

Click here for the audio transcription.

La-Tricia Gordon is a Registered Nurse with over 12 years of direct patient experience and 4 years as a Director of Nursing. She has experience in geriatric, pediatric, Addictions and Mental Health nursing. Currently, La-Tricia is serving as a Medical Education Specialist at the Rutgers Northern New Jersey Medication Assisted Treatment Center of Excellence. In this role, she helps enhance statewide capacity to provide evidence-based care for individuals with substance use disorders (SUD). Her contributions include mentoring, providing education, developing innovative service delivery models, and engaging in research and quality improvement efforts.

​In addition to her role in addiction care, La-Tricia is certified as a Certified Assisted Living Administrator and serves as an instructor for American Red Cross Basic Life Support and First Aid/CPR/AED courses.  La-Tricia is also deeply involved in supporting those affected by Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

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Dr. Clement Chen graduated from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University in 2013 with his Pharm.D. He then completed a one-year residency at the Hudson Valley Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Care Clinic. Thereafter, he has worked as a staff pharmacist at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark and as a cardiology heart failure clinical pharmacist specialist at University Hospital in Newark.

​In addition to working as a clinical pharmacist specialist, he was a Transitions of Care pharmacist at Hunterdon Medical Center from 2016-2020. This has helped him to balance his inpatient and outpatient roles as a pharmacist. To further demonstrate proficiency in clinical pharmacy care, he received his Board Certification in Pharmacotherapy in July of 2016.  His current role is as the academic detailer in the Northern NJ Center of Excellence, with the goal of providing education and support to increase statewide capacity to provide medications for addictions treatment (MAT) for patients with substance use disorders with a focus on opioid use disorder.

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