Edward Bernstein BA, MD

Dr. Bernstein is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Community Health Sciences at Boston University. He directs Faster Paths to Treatment (FP), a Massachusetts DPH regional opioid urgent care center, created to assure timely access to a network of SUD treatment services including an FP clinic to initiate SUD medications.

He pioneered methods to integrate public health into emergency medicine practice, developed and disseminated systems of emergency care that enhance health communications between providers and patients, and extensively tested a comprehensive model for intervention in which peer counselors help steer patients with preventable conditions to appropriate services.

Dr. Bernstein conducted and published NIH sponsored research to test the application of motivational interviewing to reduce sexual risk behavior, and adolescent alcohol and marijuana use. He developed and evaluated Project ASSERT, the nation's first SBIRT program, in a trial of a brief motivational intervention delivered by peers to cocaine and heroin users.