Valued Voice

Join us next week as Dr. Randy Brown closes out the RHeSUS lunch and learn webinar series on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. 

This presentation highlights Wisconsin’s evolving substance use crisis and the response through the Rural Health & Substance Use Clinical Support (RHeSUS) Program. It reviews trends in alcohol-related harms, opioid and methamphetamine use, emerging drug threats, cannabis use and persistent gaps in access to substance use treatment, particularly in rural communities. The presentation describes RHeSUS educational initiatives, including Lunch & Learn sessions, Addiction Medicine Office Hours and multidisciplinary Substance Use Disorder Management Boot Camps that bring addiction medicine expertise directly to rural health care settings. Program activities emphasize stigma reduction, evidence-based treatment, harm reduction, recovery support and system-level approaches to improving substance use care across Wisconsin. As part of the hour, we will engage in group discussion around potential priorities in the state related to substance use and prevention and intervention efforts and implementation strategies particular to rural locations.

Randall Brown, MD, PhD, DFASAM is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Throughout his career, Brown has maintained a passion for serving people marginalized by society. He has focused specifically on enhancing prevention and treatment services for people who use drugs and alcohol in unhealthy ways. Brown sees patients, teaches health professionals and conducts research in this area.

Join from the meeting link:
Https://uwmadison.webex.com/uwmadison/j.php?MTID=m0ac2e5a7e524aefc04fdd2f3a5378269

Note: No registration is required. Simply click the link at the scheduled time to join the webinar—you’ll be admitted directly into the session.

The Wisconsin Rural Health and Substance Use Clinical Support (RHeSUS) Program’s Lunch and Learn webinar series was developed by Dr. Randall Brown in partnership with Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) to support those who treat and care for people struggling with substance use disorders in rural Wisconsin. This series is free of cost and offers CME/CE credit (See accreditation information here.)

The series will consist of didactic case presentations and discussion and plans to cover a variety of topics related to substance use disorders and management and peer recovery services.

The target audience includes MD/DO, RN, APRN, Physician Assistants, Social Workers, CSAC, Behavioral Health Providers and Peer Recovery Services.

Funding for RHeSUS was provided by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health from the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP).