Activity Announcement

Buprenorphine Initiations 101

Thursday, November 5, 2026

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

FREE, live Zoom Training

Hosted by Maryland Addiction Consultation Service (MACS)

 Speaker: Nicholaus Christian, MD

Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine 
Dr. Nicholaus Christian is board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he provides inpatient addiction consultation services at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he served as a staff clinician in the Office of the Clinical Director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program (NIDA IRP). He received his MD and MBA from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, completed his residency in internal medicine at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, and completed his fellowship in addiction medicine at the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, followed by postdoctoral research training in health services research through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Christian’s work focuses on developing and studying low-barrier approaches to addiction care, with a particular emphasis on improving hospital-based and community-based treatment for people who use drugs and who experience housing instability. His research integrates community-based participatory methods to engage marginalized populations and inform more equitable, person-centered models of addiction treatment.

Target Audience: Healthcare providers at Garrett Regional Medical Center. 

1. Describe the principles of high-dose and low-dose buprenorphine initiation for opioid use disorder.
2. Apply an evidence-based framework to select the most appropriate buprenorphine initiation strategy based on patient-specific factors, opioid exposure patterns, and treatment setting.