The impact of the opioid crisis struck home within the Missouri physician community on Dec. 15, 2014. That’s the day when, just two months’ shy of his 30th birthday, Derek succumbed to an opioid overdose. The news was devastating for his mother, Kelly O’Leary, a long-time volunteer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Alliance, and her husband Timothy O’Leary, MD, a radiation oncologist at Mercy Jefferson Hospital near St. Louis. “He was a good kid. He was very smart, and didn’t want this to happen,” Kelly said. “His death was completely unnecessary.” By normal standards, Derek was well-accomplished for his age. He […]