After two decades in emergency medicine, Dr. Gianluca Cerri shares the protocol he uses to deliver Medication-Assisted Treatment in rural Louisiana and explains how his new board certification shapes real-time care.
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Why Addiction Medicine Belongs in Every Emergency Department
Most emergency physicians see patients in withdrawal or overdose multiple times each shift. For years, the standard response was stabilization and discharge, sometimes with a list of phone numbers the patient would never call. Dr. Gianluca Cerri, MD, saw that gap and decided to close it.
In 2026, Cerri earned board certification in addiction medicine through the American Board of Preventive Medicine. The credential joins his existing certifications from the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine. But the value is not in the letters after his name. The value is in what happens at three in the morning when a patient in acute opioid withdrawal arrives at a rural emergency department in Louisiana.
“Learn something new every single day is my motto,” Cerri explains. “My happy family and happy patients is my success. I am their humble servant.”
That philosophy shapes how he approaches Medication-Assisted Treatment in the ED setting. Instead of referring patients elsewhere, he initiates treatment on the spot. Buprenorphine can be started in the emergency department. Naltrexone can be discussed and scheduled. The conversation about recovery can begin before the patient walks out the door.
The Rural Reality: No Referral Network Means ED Becomes the Front Line
Rural emergency departments face a unique challenge. There are fewer addiction specialists, longer travel distances, and limited outpatient resources. When a patient presents in withdrawal or after an overdose, the ED is often the only medical contact they will have for weeks.
Cerri has spent much of his career practicing emergency medicine in rural settings across Louisiana. He knows that a referral to a clinic two hours away is not a realistic plan for most patients. Transportation is unreliable. Appointments get missed. The window for intervention closes.
So he built a different model. He treats addiction as a medical condition that can be addressed in the same shift as a laceration or a fracture. He uses evidence-based protocols. He documents carefully. And he follows the same patient-centered approach that earned him placement on the Healthgrades Honor Roll and the Patient Experience Award.
“There are professional metrics such as patient experience satisfaction scores and core measures driven practices established by hospital performance metrics,” he says. “Patient is in a center in every measured success when it comes to my career.”
A Protocol Built on Twenty Years of Emergency Medicine
Cerri did not arrive at this approach overnight. He completed his medical education at Louisiana State University Medical School and served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine in 2000. He then pursued Emergency Medicine Residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 2005 to 2008, earning board certification from the American Board of Emergency Medicine in 2009.
Over the years, he has held roles as an AEMS Director, Flight Physician, Expert Medical Witness, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine. He has seen thousands of patients. He has worked night shifts, rural shifts, and high-volume urban shifts. He has treated the full spectrum of emergency conditions.
That breadth of experience informs how he integrates addiction medicine into emergency care. He does not treat addiction in isolation. He treats it as one piece of a patient’s overall health, layered alongside trauma, chronic disease, mental health, and social determinants.
When a patient arrives in withdrawal, Cerri assesses vital signs, rules out complicating factors, and initiates treatment according to evidence-based guidelines. He uses the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale to guide dosing. He educates the patient on what to expect. He arranges follow-up when possible. And he documents every step to ensure continuity if the patient returns or seeks care elsewhere.
What Medication-Assisted Treatment Looks Like in Practice
Medication-Assisted Treatment combines FDA-approved medications with counseling and behavioral therapies. In the emergency department, the focus is on the medication piece: getting the patient stable, reducing cravings, and creating a bridge to outpatient care.
Buprenorphine is the most commonly used medication in the ED setting. It can be administered sublingually, works quickly, and has a strong safety profile. Cerri follows federal guidelines and state protocols. He verifies that the patient is in mild to moderate withdrawal before administering the first dose. He monitors for response. He provides a short prescription or arranges a same-day handoff to an outpatient provider when feasible.
Naltrexone is another option, particularly for patients who have already completed detoxification. Cerri discusses the benefits, the need for complete opioid clearance, and the logistics of monthly injections. Not every patient is ready. Not every patient is eligible. But the conversation itself can plant a seed.
This approach is not experimental. It is supported by research, endorsed by professional organizations, and increasingly adopted by emergency departments across the country. What makes it uncommon is the setting. Rural EDs often lack the training, the protocols, or the institutional support to implement MAT consistently.
Cerri is working to change that, one shift at a time.
From Milan to Louisiana: A Career Built on Hard Work and Dedication
Cerri was born in Milan, Italy, in 1971. At sixteen, he moved to the United States, not speaking English. He learned the language, enrolled in school, and worked his way through the American education system.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Nicholls State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He completed medical school, internship, and residency at LSU, then pursued a second residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
“At sixteen coming to USA from Italy, learning this country language, going to school after school and graduating duo boarded in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine,” Cerri reflects when asked about obstacles he has overcome.
He credits two influences above all others: his father in Italy, and Dr. Irving Myron Blatt, a founding member of the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport in 1956.
Today, Cerri balances his clinical work with family life in Louisiana. He is deeply passionate about his family and enjoys spending quality time with them. Outside the hospital, he indulges in amateur sport biking and motocross and maintains an active lifestyle through weightlifting. He also holds an interest in Computer Science in Healthcare.
“When you see smiles on your patients faces and when your home is your happy sanctuary that is my balance,” he says.
A Standard Worth Replicating
Dr. Gianluca Cerri is not calling for a transformation of rural healthcare. He is not leading a charge or unveiling a vision. He is practicing medicine the way he believes it should be practiced: with professionalism, integrity, and a commitment to meeting patients where they are.
His work with addiction medicine in the emergency department is not flashy. It is methodical, evidence-based, and grounded in the realities of rural practice. It is also replicable. Any emergency physician can pursue board certification in addiction medicine. Any ED can develop protocols for MAT. Any hospital system can support its clinicians in expanding their scope of practice.
Cerri has spent over twenty years building the skills, credentials, and experience to do this work well. He is a member of the American College of Emergency Medicine, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, the Louisiana Medical Society, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. He has received the Extraordinary Service Award and the Leadership and Dedication Award.
But the measure of success he returns to most often is simpler: happy patients, happy family, and the knowledge that he did something today that seemed impossible yesterday.
“Hard work, dedication and passion for what you do,” he says, when asked about the most important qualities for success.
That standard, applied consistently over two decades, is what makes addiction medicine in the emergency department not just possible, but sustainable.
