Leslie W Suen
Biographic Data
| ID | 5220051 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leslie W Suen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leslie W |
| FAMILY NAME | Suen |
| SIGNATURE | SUEN L W |
| AFFILIATIONS | San Francisco General Hospital |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4786-356X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Funding Community Health Services for People Who Use Drugs in San Francisco
Introduction The drug overdose mortality crisis persists in the United States. Evidence-based harm reduction interventions reduce overdose mortality and improve health outcomes. However, programs are challenged by social stigma against people who use drugs (PWUD) and insufficient funding, the most consequential determinant of implementation success. This study explored the determinants of funding, identified funding-related barriers and facilitat…
When profit meets public health
Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. exceed 80,000 annually and methadone, an effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), remains difficult to access. Understanding how ownership structures affect access, quality, cost, and regulation in methadone treatment for opioid use disorder in the U.S. is thus a public health imperative. Private equity (PE) has rapidly consolidated opioid treatment programs (OTPs), now owning nearly one-third of all f…
The role of stigma in impeding implementation of harm reduction services in San Francisco
The United States continues to face an epidemic of drug overdose deaths among people who use drugs (PWUD). Harm reduction services are efficacious interventions that reduce overdose deaths and improve the health of PWUD. For decades, San Francisco has remained at the vanguard of the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of harm reduction programs. During a time of national urgency in 2023, we conducted a qualitative study interviewing lead…
Barriers to Buprenorphine Treatment Among People Experiencing Homelessness
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) face a high risk of opioid-related deaths, yet there is limited qualitative data on the barriers encountered when accessing buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). To address this gap, we interviewed 28 clinicians, outreach workers, and administrators from organizations serving PEH with OUD. Our goal was to understand the barriers and facilitators at the patient, clinic, and institutional leve…
Radical hospitality
The co-location of an OPS within a multi-service drop-in center is an important example of how such an organization can build positive sociality among PWUD while protecting autonomy and reducing overdose mortality. Overdose response and reversal is an act of relational accountability in which friends, peers, and even strangers intervene to protect and revive one another. This powerful intervention was operationalized as an anti-oppressive, horizo…
Evaluating oxygen monitoring and administration during overdose responses at a sanctioned overdose prevention site in San Francisco, California
Get in and get out, get on with life”
Eased restrictions on methadone van implementation represent a new strategy for expanding OUD treatment access. In our qualitative study, patients and staff were satisfied with methadone van implementation, though the OTP still faced implementation challenges. Audio-only counseling and other workflow solutions helped facilitate implementation, and several policy considerations like maintaining audio-only counseling flexibilities are key to ensuri…
A Seat at the Table
To the Editor: I often ask 2 questions when meeting fellow trainees at the academic hospital where I work: What do you love most about your job, and what would you change if you were in charge? I ask to invite discussion about the structural failures of our health care system and to imagine how things could be better. These conversations serve a larger purpose—When issues repeatedly surface as being widely and deeply felt among trainees, they bec…
Federal and State Regulatory Changes to Methadone Take-Home Doses
Structural Adaptations to Methadone Maintenance Treatment and Take-Home Dosing for Opioid Use Disorder in the Era of Covid-19
Author(s): Suen, Leslie W; Coe, William H; Wyatt, Janan P; Adams, Zoe M; Gandhi, Mona; Batchelor, Hannah M; Castellanos, Stacy; Joshi, Neena; Satterwhite, Shannon; Pérez-Rodríguez, Rafael; Rodríguez-Guerra, Esther; Albizu-Garcia, Carmen E; Knight, Kelly R; Jordan, Ayana
What Sexual and Gender Minority People Want Researchers to Know About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Questions
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people—including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities—are understudied and underrepresented in research. Current sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions do not sufficiently engage SGM people, and there is a critical gap in understanding how SOGI questions reduce inclusion and accurate empirical representation. We conducted a qualitative study to answer the quest…
What Sexual and Gender Minority People Want Researchers to Know About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Questions
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people—including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities—are understudied and underrepresented in research. Current sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions do not sufficiently engage SGM people, and there is a critical gap in understanding how SOGI questions reduce inclusion and accurate empirical representation. We conducted a qualitative study to answer the quest…
Federal and State Regulatory Changes to Methadone Take-Home Doses
What Sexual and Gender Minority People Want Researchers to Know About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Questions
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people—including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities—are understudied and underrepresented in research. Current sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions do not sufficiently engage SGM people, and there is a critical gap in understanding how SOGI questions reduce inclusion and accurate empirical representation. We conducted a qualitative study to answer the quest…
A Seat at the Table
To the Editor: I often ask 2 questions when meeting fellow trainees at the academic hospital where I work: What do you love most about your job, and what would you change if you were in charge? I ask to invite discussion about the structural failures of our health care system and to imagine how things could be better. These conversations serve a larger purpose—When issues repeatedly surface as being widely and deeply felt among trainees, they bec…
Federal and State Regulatory Changes to Methadone Take-Home Doses
Structural Adaptations to Methadone Maintenance Treatment and Take-Home Dosing for Opioid Use Disorder in the Era of Covid-19
Author(s): Suen, Leslie W; Coe, William H; Wyatt, Janan P; Adams, Zoe M; Gandhi, Mona; Batchelor, Hannah M; Castellanos, Stacy; Joshi, Neena; Satterwhite, Shannon; Pérez-Rodríguez, Rafael; Rodríguez-Guerra, Esther; Albizu-Garcia, Carmen E; Knight, Kelly R; Jordan, Ayana
Evaluating oxygen monitoring and administration during overdose responses at a sanctioned overdose prevention site in San Francisco, California
Get in and get out, get on with life”
Eased restrictions on methadone van implementation represent a new strategy for expanding OUD treatment access. In our qualitative study, patients and staff were satisfied with methadone van implementation, though the OTP still faced implementation challenges. Audio-only counseling and other workflow solutions helped facilitate implementation, and several policy considerations like maintaining audio-only counseling flexibilities are key to ensuri…
Radical hospitality
The co-location of an OPS within a multi-service drop-in center is an important example of how such an organization can build positive sociality among PWUD while protecting autonomy and reducing overdose mortality. Overdose response and reversal is an act of relational accountability in which friends, peers, and even strangers intervene to protect and revive one another. This powerful intervention was operationalized as an anti-oppressive, horizo…
The role of stigma in impeding implementation of harm reduction services in San Francisco
The United States continues to face an epidemic of drug overdose deaths among people who use drugs (PWUD). Harm reduction services are efficacious interventions that reduce overdose deaths and improve the health of PWUD. For decades, San Francisco has remained at the vanguard of the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of harm reduction programs. During a time of national urgency in 2023, we conducted a qualitative study interviewing lead…
Barriers to Buprenorphine Treatment Among People Experiencing Homelessness
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) face a high risk of opioid-related deaths, yet there is limited qualitative data on the barriers encountered when accessing buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). To address this gap, we interviewed 28 clinicians, outreach workers, and administrators from organizations serving PEH with OUD. Our goal was to understand the barriers and facilitators at the patient, clinic, and institutional leve…
Funding Community Health Services for People Who Use Drugs in San Francisco
Introduction The drug overdose mortality crisis persists in the United States. Evidence-based harm reduction interventions reduce overdose mortality and improve health outcomes. However, programs are challenged by social stigma against people who use drugs (PWUD) and insufficient funding, the most consequential determinant of implementation success. This study explored the determinants of funding, identified funding-related barriers and facilitat…
When profit meets public health
Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. exceed 80,000 annually and methadone, an effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), remains difficult to access. Understanding how ownership structures affect access, quality, cost, and regulation in methadone treatment for opioid use disorder in the U.S. is thus a public health imperative. Private equity (PE) has rapidly consolidated opioid treatment programs (OTPs), now owning nearly one-third of all f…
Medicine (6 works) · Nursing (6 works) · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (6 works) · Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes (6 works) · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk (5 works) · Opioid (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Methadone (4 works) · Opioid use disorder (4 works) · Political science (4 works)