Building a strong foundation from the ground up: the impact of a medical student substance use disorder organization on curriculum and community.

Due to the increasing rates of substance use disorders (SUDs), accidental overdoses, and associated high mortality rates, there is an urgent need for well-trained physicians who can grasp these complex issues and help struggling patients. Preparing these physicians occurs through targeted education and clinical exposure in conjunction with medical school curricula in the field of addiction medicine. Medical students can often feel overwhelmed by the medical school curriculum and changes to the curriculum take time, money, and administrative commitment to ratify. Implementing a student organization dedicated to SUD education can be a solution to provide clinical exposure, education and student autonomy in their medical school experience. At Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit vs. Addiction (DvA) is a student-run organization that is filling the gap in SUD education for medical students whilst providing assistance to the community. DvA not only extends clinical education for physicians in training, but it also provides the medical school with an opportunity to allow students to create a blueprint for education initiatives that can be incorporated as a mainstay in the school's technical trainings. Herein, we describe the evolution of this organization and its activities.