"Lessons Learned" from opioid crisis topic of presentation Nov. 15

The opioid crisis is the topic of a presentation by Dr. M. Frank Beck, regional chief opioids officer for Mercy Health, at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The presentation is titled "Lessons Learned—A Decade of Experience Addressing the Opioid Crisis."

Beck graduated from the Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 1981 and completed his Dental Residency at Mercy Health. In 1982, he became attending faculty for the dental residency program at Mercy, followed by 10 years as associate program director, and has served as program director since 2008. Beck has served on the Ohio Department of Health Director’s Task Force on Oral Health, presently serves as the chair of the Section of Oral Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine at NEOMED, and maintains his private practice, “The Center for Oral-Systemic Health”, in Boardman, Ohio.

Beck’s involvement in the opioid crisis has resulted in evidence-based pain management which provides alternatives to opioid protocols, consequently reducing the amount of opioids Mercy Health physicians prescribe by 43 percent. He is Mercy’s Regional chief opioid officer, serves on the Ohio Opioid Abuse Prevention Focus group, recently received the “Help Network NEO 2018 Advocacy Award” for Outstanding Services in the field of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery, as well as the Mercy Health Physicians Leadership to Clinical Opioid Expertise Award, also in 2018.