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7 Grad returns home as addiction specialist Daniel Warren, M.D., still remembers one young man he treated for substance use disorder in Oregon. The patient came from a troubled background of crime and family problems. "And he was really sick" with a heart infection, Warren recalls. "It seemed like he was probably going to die." Warren was able to help him with a combination of Suboxone — a drug used to treat addiction — plus referrals to peer mentoring and counseling. But the young man's case continued to be complicated by relapses. "That's the expectation to some degree," Warren said. "Substance use disorders are relapsing illnesses, similar to other chronic diseases." That's one lesson Warren will bring to students and residents as an assistant professor at KU School of Medicine-Wichita ( KUSM-W). One of the few fellowship-trained addiction specialists in the state, he joined the faculty in August 2017. The move was a homecoming for Warren and his wife, Amy, who both grew up in Wichita and have known each other since middle school. The third generation of his family to graduate from East High, Warren studied psychology at Baylor University, then earned his medical degree from KUSM-W. After medical school, Warren joined the U.S. Navy and completed his family medicine residency at Naval Hospital Bremerton, in Washington state. He served active and retired military members and their families there and at nearby Naval Hospital Oak Harbor. "My idea had been to see the world," Warren said of joining the Navy. However, after marriage and the birth of his first child, "seeing the world wasn't a priority anymore." The couple now have three children, ages 1, 3 and 6. Asked about the difference between practicing medicine in military and civilian settings, Warren said, "Well, I wore a uniform to work every day." He said he learned valuable leadership lessons and did in fact get to see some of the world while on a humanitarian mission in Papua New Guinea. After leaving the Navy, Warren completed a fellowship in Addiction Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Warren said his interest in the fellowship grew out of the addiction cases he'd treated while in the Navy. "It seemed like what was being done wasn't working very well," he said. And as can be guessed from his undergraduate major in psychology, Warren has always been interested in the working of the human mind. Daniel Warren, M.D.