About Dr. Vance Shaw, 03.16.2023
Dr. Vance Shaw is a Board-Certified Addiction Medicine Specialist providing patient care and education for upper east Tennessee. Originally from Spokane, Washington, he spent many of his early years in Huntsville, Alabama, where his father worked in the aerospace program, NASA. Dr. Shaw moved to Nashville, Tennessee, as an adult, where he worked as a recording engineer for some well-known artists such as Eddie Rabbit, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. He enjoyed his time in the music industry but determined that music was not his only love. He realized that the medical field was also a place where he desired to live his life and to learn more about. He received his undergrad degree in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University and attended East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine (ETSU QCOM), for his medical degree. He then attended the Kingsport Family Medicine program where he became Board Certified in Family Medicine. He was Chief Resident during his time at Kingsport Family Practice. He immediately went to work as an emergency room physician. He spent approximately the next twenty years working as an ER doctor. He enjoyed the fast-paced environment where he was able to put his academic and evidence-based practices to use.
During his time working in the ER setting, he became very familiar with the ever-increasing problem within the community of those who suffer from the disease of addiction and recognized the extremely limited resources available for those seeking treatment. Around 2005, the medication buprenorphine, also known primarily as Suboxone, came onto the scene. It was found to be a game-changing medication for those seeking help from their destructive cycle of opiate addiction. This was the beginning of his transition from emergency medicine into full-time practice in addiction medicine.
Dr. Shaw became Board Certified in Addiction Medicine in 2010 to expand his expertise in the field of addiction medicine. He left emergency medicine completely in 2010 and established a non-profit addiction medicine facility affiliated with ETSU to educate medical students and residents on the disease of addiction.
Dr. Shaw co-founded Evidence Based Addiction Medicine (EBAM) dba High Point Clinic (HPC), the only independent 501(c)3 non-profit Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) in upper East Tennessee. His vision is to help those struggling with the debilitating effects of the disease of addiction and to educate everyone he encounters about the disease and the treatments available. His long-term vision is to be able to change attitudes and opinions, encouraging people to look at evidence-based studies which support effective care through MAT and the utilization of revolutionary advances in addiction treatment and the elimination of barriers to their widespread acceptance. Dr. Shaw strongly advocates for his patients and often educates in surrounding areas because of his vast knowledge of addiction and how it often relates to a person’s childhood experiences, through ACE’s or Adverse Childhood Experiences. He encourages fellow medical providers to change their minds and biases towards those who suffer from opiate addiction, encouraging them to incorporate patients who require MAT into their medical practices.
Dr. Shaw is a member of both the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), where he is a Fellow of ASAM and the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM), where he has presented original research. The ISAM conferences allow him to see the cutting edge of Medication Assisted Treatment as practiced around the world and use it as a benchmark to strive for within his own practice and in his efforts to increase the awareness and the quality of treatment being given to patients in the United States.
His passion for education has led to a relationship with ETSU. For close to thirty years, he has been an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at ETSU, involved in education of graduate counseling students, interns, and residents. In 2017, Dr. Shaw received the prestigious Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award, with the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and he was selected as one of three core faculty with the creation of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at ETSU.
Dr. Shaw is also involved in legal representation as an expert witness to support those who have legal issues due to their substance use disorder. He has provided education for the TN Bar Association, the upper east TN probation and parole organization, and local attorneys.
Dr. Shaw’s dedication to evidence-based treatment continues to impact the Clinic and the Tri-Cities area through his willingness to educate, provide patient care, and legal expertise to our local community and university.