Cassandra Wells

Addiction medicine physician and harm reduction advocate who runs a medication-assisted treatment clinic in Baltimore. MD from Johns Hopkins, MPH from Columbia. Lost her younger brother to an opioid overdose in 2016, which redirected her entire career from orthopedic surgery to addiction medicine. Has treated over 2,000 patients with opioid use disorder and helped establish three naloxone distribution programs. Writes about addiction science, the opioid crisis, why the war on drugs failed, harm reduction as evidence-based policy, and the gap between what the research shows works and what politicians are willing to fund. Known for a piece called 'My Brother Died of a Policy Failure' that was read into the Congressional Record. Speaks at medical schools about treating addiction patients with the same clinical rigor as cardiac patients. Runs ultramarathons and jokes that it's the only socially acceptable addiction she has left.