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Actress Blythe Danner Raises the Curtain on Addiction

NIDA's "Addiction Performance Project" for docs to launch in D.C. April 16th

April 8, 2011

Actress Blythe Danner leads an impressive cast in the Addiction Performance Project, an innovative continuing medical education (CME) program for doctors and other health providers, next Saturday, April 16th at the Washington Hilton. The performance is a project of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is designed to help doctors and other health professionals better identify and help drug-abusing patients in primary care settings, and to break down the stigma associated with drug addiction.

Research suggests that primary care providers could significantly help reduce drug abuse; yet many express concern that they lack the experience or tools to identify drug use in their patients. The program will begin with a dramatic reading of Act III of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, with Blythe Danner reading the part of Mary Tyrone, the morphine addicted matriarch of a family devastated by addiction. It will be followed by an expert panel reaction, which will include NIDA director Nora D. Volkow, MD, and facilitated audience discussion to foster compassion, cooperation, and understanding for addicted patients and their families. The project is part of NIDAMED, NIDA's outreach to practicing physicians, physicians in training, and other health professionals. The Addiction Performance Project has a limited run during 2011 and 2012.

All performances are free of charge, but seating is limited, and registration is recommended. There will be a preview performance at Georgetown University Medical School on April 15.

If you are a journalist and want to attend the D.C. performance, please send an email to: media@nida.nih.gov.

NOTE: In the event of a government shutdown, visit: http://nidaapp.jbsinternational.com/Register.aspx for the status of the D.C. performance.

What: NIDA's Addiction Performance Project

When: Saturday, April 16, 2011, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009

Featured Actors (subject to change)
Blythe Danner (Mary Tyrone)
Harris Yulin (James Tyrone)
Bryce Pinkham (Edmund Tyrone)
Sara Waisanen (Cathleen)

Featured Panel Members
Nora Volkow, MD
Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Jeff Baxter, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health University of Massachusetts Medical School

Dr. Robert Taylor, MD
Dean, Howard University Medical School

Preview Performance
Georgetown University Medical School
12:00-1:00pm, Friday, April 15
Preclinical Sciences Building, Room LA-4
3900 Reservoir Road, Washington, D.C. 20007

Follow Addiction Performance Project news on Twitter at @NIDANews, or join the conversation by using: #nidaAPP.

For more information on the Addiction Performance Project, visit the project's page.


Contact:
NIDA Press Office
301-443-6245
media@nida.nih.gov

About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDA's new DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or fax or email requests to 240-645-0227 or drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDA's media guide can be found at www.drugabuse.gov/publications/media-guide, and its new easy-to-read website can be found at www.easyread.drugabuse.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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