The Matthew Perry Foundation have launched an addiction medicine fellowship, 15 months after the Friends star's death in October 2023.
Matthew Perry was found dead at his home in LA, he was 54 years old.
This fellowship which was established with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), has been named the Matthew Perry Foundation Fellowship in Addiction Medicine, and will allow a doctor to join MGH's Addiction Medicine Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year.
The foundation have since confirmed that, Dr Sarah 'SK' Kler, will take on this role in June, where she will study the addiction treatment and work towards providing addiction care in future work. See more on this here.
Doug Chapin, the chair of the foundation's board, and executive director, Lisa Kasteler Calio, have released a statement, where they said that Matthew Perry "believed deeply in eliminating the stigma surrounding the disease of addiction, and with that in mind, we are proud to lend our name to this important work".
The fellowship's programme director is Dr Sarah Wakeman.
Speaking about this fellowship, Dr Wakeman warned against continuing to "silo addiction care outside the rest of medical care", adding that marginalising addiction as a social issue outside of the physician's domains "will only exacerbate stigma and inequities and increase the deadly impact of this epidemic".
Dr Wakeman also stated that the only way to combat addiction is "effective, holistic, wraparound services across medical settings".
She also added that the MGH "will work in close collaboration with the Matthew Perry Foundation to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and, most importantly, offer hope to those of every age, background, and experience who are struggling with substance use disorder".
It had emerged that Matthew Perry had been taking ketamine six to eight times a day before he died, with the drug ruled as a primary cause of death.
Last October, Dr Mark Chavez, who was charged in connection with Perry's death, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to the late actor. More on this here.
