About

Bio

Dr. Orrin D. Ware grew up in Maryland, just a 15-minute walk from Washington, DC, where the nation's laws are made. During his childhood, he noticed how many people in need of addiction treatment, mental health treatment, or social support often didn't know how or where to access the services they needed. He has also seen the need for information about mental health and addiction services for individuals in the city where he resides and has spent most of his adult life in Baltimore, Maryland. Based on this, he has dedicated his life to educating and researching about these topics nationwide and globally.

He has worked in pediatric HIV, residential substance use disorder (addiction), and outpatient substance use disorder treatment. For years, he worked on a mobile HIV testing van during late-night hours from 9 pm - 2 am in high-risk areas such as where sex work occurs and substances are traded. In West Baltimore, he worked as a licensed social worker in a crisis stabilization unit for people who were resuscitated from an overdose or who were experiencing severe intoxication. He also worked on the frontline in the admissions unit of a residential treatment program in West Baltimore, where he encountered people just as they were entering addiction treatment.

In his current role as a university faculty member, he has published over 50 peer-reviewed academic publications on mental health and substance use disorders. He has also given several talks to academic organizations, community organizations, medical students, medical residents, people receiving treatment, social work students, and other audiences. Further, he has presented his research in Canada, England, and Spain.

He has been accepted into competitive fellowship programs such as the Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center Scholars, Journal of Addiction Medicine Editorial Fellowship, and the Stanford C-DIAS Fellowship. His research has been covered in Newsweek, The Telegraph, U.S. News & World Report, and Vice.

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