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Dr Michael Christmass

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Michael Christmass is a Consultant in Addiction Medicine at the East Perth site of the government substance use disorder treatment service referred to as Next Step. This is a community-based treatment service for all substance use disorders, with the East Perth site serving the CBD and surrounds. Activities include an outpatient case load (100-120 patients) as well as providing consultant level support to resident medical officers, general practice registrars (Royal Australian College of General Practice), advanced trainees in addiction medicine (Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and case managers.

Michael serves as a Consultant to the only government provided, medically supervised, inpatient substance withdrawal unit in Western Australia. He contributed to establishing the first stimulant use disorder outpatient treatment clinic in Western Australia and is the founding developer of the Next Step Education Series on substance use disorder and related topics. Michael is keen to link research activities at NDRI with clinical practice in substance use disorder to benefit patients in Western Australia.

Qualifications
  • PhD Biochemistry, University of Western Australia
  • MSc Physiology, University of Western Australia
Expertise and Research Interests
  • Clinical management of substance use disorder in outpatient and inpatient settings
  • Development of addiction treatment services in tertiary hospitals within Western Australia
  • Lisdexamphetamine for withdrawal management in crystal methamphetamine dependence
  • Pharmacotherapy for relapse prevention in stimulant use disorder
  • Contingency management for relapse prevention in stimulant use disorder
  • Gabapentinoid dependence and withdrawal management
  • Policy development for opioid substitution treatment in Western Australia
Current Projects
Completed Projects
NDRI Publications

Acheson, L., S., Clay, S., McKetin, R., Lintzeris, N., Dunlop, A., Brett, J., Christmass, M., Rodgers, C., Shoptaw, S., Farrell, M., Ezard, N. and Siefried, K., J. (2024). Participant experiences in a pilot study for methamphetamine withdrawal treatment: Implications for retention. International Journal of Drug Policy, 126. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104383 [RJ2148] View web page

Acheson, L., S., Gordon, C., McKetin, R., Brett, J., Christmass, M., Rodgers, C., Lintzeris, N., Dunlop, A., Farrell, M., Shoptaw, S., Ezard, N. and Siefried, K., J. (2024). Measuring Objective and Subjective Sleep during Lisdexamfetamine Treatment of Acute Methamphetamine Withdrawal: A Feasibility Study. European Addiction Research. doi:10.1159/000536328 [RJ2155] View web page

Broady, T., Valerio, H., Alavi, M., Wheeler, A., Silk, D., Martinello, M., Conway, A., Milat, A., Dunlop, A., Murray, C., Henderson, C., Amin, J., Read, P., Marks, P., Degenhardt, L., Stevens, A., Prain, B., Hayllar, J., Reid, D., Montebello, M., Wade, A., Christmass, M., Cock, V., Dore, G., J., Treloar, C. and Grebely, J. (2024). Factors associated with experiencing stigma, discrimination, and negative health care treatment among people who inject drugs. International Journal of Drug Policy, 128. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104468 [RJ2176] View web page

Clay, S., Wilkinson, Z., Ginley, M., Arunogiri, S., Christmass, M., Membrey, D., MacCartney, P., Sutherland, R., Colledge-Frisby, S., Marshall, A., D., Nagle, J., Degenhardt, L., Farrell, M. and McKetin, R. (2024). The reflections of health service providers on implementing contingency management for methamphetamine use disorder in Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review. John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex. ISBN: 09595236 doi:10.1111/dar.13853 [T330] View web page

McKetin, R., Degan, T., J., Saunders, L., Nguyen, L., Dore, G., J., Shoptaw, S., Farrell, M., Degenhardt, L., Kelly, P., Turner, A., Clare, P., Dean, O., Arunogiri, S., Colledge-Frisby, S., Koeijers, J., Goodman-Meza, D., Reid, D., Hill, H., Hayllar, J., Christmass, M., Cordaro, F., Lundin, R., Liaw, W., Liu, D., Holyoak, E., Wu, B., T., Keygan, J., Kontogiannis, A., Palmer, L., Morrison, C., Wrobel, A., Hyland, B., Byrne, M., Russell, S., Zahra, E. and Berk, M. (2024). A phase 3 randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of mirtazapine as a pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder: a study protocol for the Tina Trial. Trials, 25, (1). doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08238-y [RJ2173] View web page

Clay, S., Wilkinson, Z., Ginley, M., Arunogiri, S., Christmass, M., Membrey, D., MacCartney, P., Sutherland, R., Colledge-Frisby, S., Marshall, A., D., Nagle, J., Degenhardt, L., Farrell, M. and McKetin, R. (2023). Perspectives and sentiments on contingency management from people who use methamphetamine. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42, (6), pp. 1427-1437. doi:10.1111/dar.13691 [RJ2060] View web page

Acheson, L., S., Ezard, N., Lintzeris, N., Dunlop, A., Brett, J., Rodgers, C., Gill, A., Christmass, M., McKetin, R., Farrell, M., Shoptaw, S. and Siefried, K., J. (2022). Lisdexamfetamine for the treatment of acute methamphetamine withdrawal: A pilot feasibility and safety trial. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109692 [RJ1997] View web page

Conway, A., Valerio, H., Alavi, M., Silk, D., Treloar, C., Hajarizadeh, B., Marshall, A., D., Martinello, M., Milat, A., Dunlop, A., Murray, C., Prain, B., Henderson, C., Amin, J., Read, P., Marks, P., Degenhardt, L., Hayllar, J., Reid, D., Gorton, C., Lam, T., Christmass, M., Wade, A., Montebello, M., Dore, G., J. and Grebely, J. (2022). A Testing Campaign Intervention Consisting of Peer-Facilitated Engagement, Point-of-Care HCV RNA Testing, and Linkage to Nursing Support to Enhance Hepatitis C Treatment Uptake among People Who Inject Drugs: The ETHOS Engage Study. Viruses-Basel, 14, (7). doi:10.3390/v14071555 [RJ1927] View web page

Ezard, N., Lintzeris, N., Dunlop, A., Brett, J., Rodgers, C., Gill, A., Christmass, M., McKetin, R., Farrell, M., Shoptaw, S. and Siefried, K., J. (2022). Trial protocol of an open label pilot study of lisdexamfetamine for the treatment of acute methamphetamine withdrawal. PloS One, 17, (10). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275371 [RJ1949] View web page

Marshall, A., D., Conway, A., Cunningham, E., B., Valerio, H., Silk, D., Alavi, M., Wade, A., Lam, T., Zohrab, K., Dunlop, A., Connelly, C., Christmass, M., Cock, V., Burns, C., Henderson, C., Wiseman, V., Dore, G., J. and Grebely, J. (2022). Willingness of people who inject drugs to participate in a randomised controlled trial involving financial incentives to initiate hepatitis C treatment. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109438 [RJ1892] View web page

Valerio, H., Alavi, M., Conway, A., Silk, D., Treloar, C., Martinello, M., Milat, A., Dunlop, A., Murray, C., Henderson, C., Amin, J., Read, P., Marks, P., Degenhardt, L., Stevens, A., Prain, B., Hayllar, J., Reid, D., Montebello, M., Wade, A., Christmass, M., Cock, V., Dore, G., J. and Grebely, J. (2022). Declining prevalence of current HCV infection and increased treatment uptake among people who inject drugs: The ETHOS Engage study. International Journal of Drug Policy, 105. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103706 [RJ1891] View web page

Valerio, H., Conway, A., Alavi, M., Treloar, C., Silk, D., Murray, C., Henderson, C., Amin, J., Read, P., Degenhardt, L., Christmass, M. and Montebello, M. (2022). Awareness of hepatitis C virus infection status among people who inject drugs in a setting of universal direct-acting antiviral therapy: The ETHOS Engage study. International Journal of Drug Policy, 110. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103876 [RJ1951] View web page

Conway, A., Valerio, H., Peacock, A., Degenhardt, L., Hayllar, J., Harrod, M., Henderson, C., Read, P., Gilliver, R., Christmass, M., Dunlop, A., Montebello, M., Whitton, G., Lam, T., Alavi, M., Silk, D., Marshall, A., D., Treloar, C., Dore, G., J. and Grebely, J. (2021). Non-fatal opioid overdose, naloxone access, and naloxone training among people who recently used opioids or received opioid agonist treatment in Australia: The ETHOS Engage study. International Journal of Drug Policy. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103421 [RJ1784] View web page

Siefried, K., J., Ezard, N., Christmass, M., Haber, P. and Ali, R., L. (2021). A clinical research priority setting study for issues related to the use of methamphetamine and emerging drugs of concern in Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review. doi:10.1111/dar.13350 [RJ1761] View web page

External Publications

No non-NDRI publications available