In Memoriam | College on Problems of Drug Dependence

2023

Jane Carlisle Maxwell, Ph.D

Jane Carlisle Maxwell, Ph.D, 5/28/1942-1/3/2024, was the daughter of James Newton Carlisle and Elizabeth Gordon Carlisle. She was a 4th generation Austinite who moved to Salisbury, NC, in 2016 to be near family. A passionate advocate for education, she received her undergraduate and master’s from the University of South Carolina and was the second PhD graduate (and first female) of the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She was Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin.

Her field of specialization was tracking trends in alcohol and drug u se and the need for substance abuse treatment. She was a Fulbright Senior Specialist and authored over 80 journal articles. Known by her friends and family as “Dr. Dope,” she testified before Congress on methamphetamine addiction, and served on numerous federal agency expert panels as well as many international scientific collaborations in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. She was an early voice against expansion of prescription opioids during FDA drug approval. She was also involved in research understanding AIDS and drug transmission, and a strong friend to the LGTBQ+ community.

She is survived by her son, James Carlisle Maxwell, and his wife Karla Raettig, two grandsons, John Carter Maxwell and Colin DuBreuil Maxwell, her sister, Kay Ash, and her nieces, Cheryl Louise Smith, Deanna Jane Ash Devore, and Melissa Ann Ash Csongei, and their families. She was predeceased by her sister, Ann Carlisle Silber.

She was an active member of St. David’s in Austin and St. Luke’s in Salisbury.

Donald Jansinksi, Sr., M.D.

Donald R. Jasinski, MD died on Nov. 25, 2023 at age 85. Don was an internationally recognized expert in substance abuse, especially the evaluation of abuse liability of new drugs, and a long time member of the CPDD. He spent 20 years at the NIMH (then NIDA) Addiction Research Center from 1965 -1985. Initially in Lexington, KY, he served as a Medical Officer, then advanced to Section Chief and Director. During the relocation of the ARC he moved to Baltimore and served as the Scientific Director of the Baltimore laboratory from 1981-1985. He did important pioneering work in exploring the clinical pharmacology of drugs of substance use disorder (SUD) and significantly advancing the methodology for evaluation of SUD liability. He was among the first to suggest the use of buprenorphine for treatment of opiate use disorder and present data to support that proposal. After his retirement from the US Public Health Service and the ARC in 1985 he joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins Medical School, becoming a Professor of Medicine and continuing his clinical pharmacology research and treatment of substance use disorders. Don was an active member of CPDD, making many presentations at the annual meeting, serving on the Board of Directors, and becoming a Founding Fellow when CPDD became a credentialed member organization. He was a devoted husband to Diane for 59 years and a loving and caring father and grandfather to 4 children and their spouses and 10 grandchildren. He will be remembered and missed by his large family and many friends and colleagues.

Dr. Roland Griffiths, Ph.D.

Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral science and psychiatry whose pioneering work in the study of psychedelics helped usher in a new era of research into those once banned substances — and reintroduced the mystical into scientific discourse about them — died on Monday, October 16, 2023, at his home in Baltimore. He was 77.

The cause was colon cancer, said Claudia Turnbull, a longtime friend.

Dr. Griffiths, a distinguished psychopharmacologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, spent decades studying the mechanisms of dependence on mood-altering drugs. He published scores of papers on opiates and cocaine, on sedatives and alcohol, on nicotine and caffeine.

His work on caffeine, which he noted was the most commonly used drug in the world, was groundbreaking, showing that, yes, it was addictive, that withdrawal could be painful and that caffeine dependence was a “clinically meaningful disorder.”

But in August 2006 he published a paper that wasn’t just groundbreaking; it was mind-blowing. Read More via The New York Times >

Dr. James L. Sorensen, Ph.D.

Jim was an active member of CPDD and served in many roles including Media Relations Committee, Nominating Committee, Task Force on Education, Board of Directors, Under-Represented Populations Committee (Chair), and Membership Committee.

Jim obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rochester, NY in 1975. He then spent three years at Bowling Green University, OH as an Assistant Professor before taking a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He built his career at UCSF and recently retired as Professor Emeritus, continuing to work part-time. An experienced investigator, he published over 250 articles, chapters, and books. A seasoned leader, Dr. Sorensen was the Chief of Substance Abuse Services at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) from 1982 through 1995. He led numerous NIH R01 research grants, was Director of the NIDA-funded San Francisco Treatment Research Unit (1989-1994) along with numerous other NIH and non-governmentally supported research and training programs including the California-Arizona Node and later co-lead the Western States Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Sorensen was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Community-Based Drug Treatment, which produced the report that led to development of the Clinical Trials Network, and he made the linking of research and practice his major area of focus. Dr. Sorensen was highly dedicated to training future clinicians and researchers, and a valued faculty mentor at UCSF and SFGH. He co-led and directed the NIDA-funded T32 Postdoctoral Training Program in Drug Abuse Treatment and Services Research for many years, was a co-director of the CAPS Visiting Professor R25 program and led the Public Service and Minority Cluster of the Clinical Psychology Training Program at SFGH. He was program director and co-director for the Learning for Early Careers in Addiction & Diversity (LEAD) Program at UCSF. In 2012 Jim received the George Sarlo Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the highest teaching honor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, and in 2013 he received the annual Mentorship Award of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. In 2015 Jim was honored with the Miracles Tribute award for lifetime achievement and outstanding service in the treatment of addiction and co-occurring disorders, from Constellation Behavioral Health's Alta Mira Recovery Programs in Sausalito, California. Jim was also a Fulbright Scholar in Calgary, Alberta, Canada during the 2018-2019 academic year where he focused on the ethical issues that confront addiction treatment staff. In the last decade, he taught a course on ethical and legal issues to students at UC Berkeley extension enrolled in an addiction counseling certification program. These remarkable accomplishments represent the areas in which Jim was passionate and reflect his deep commitment to the field of substance use treatment.

Dr. Robert Brooner, Ph.D.

Robert Brooner, left this world Sunday, at the age of 71, following a recent diagnosis of metastatic lung cancer. Robert was a friend and mentor to many in the department, including our former Vice Chair Michael Clark, who said he “revolutionized the care of patients with substance use disorder and was a gifted clinician with even the most hard-to-treat people.” He added that Robert “was dedicated to the department and we owe him a debt of gratitude.” Broadway Center for Addiction Director Ken Stoller called Robert “a giant in the field of addiction treatment and research,” and said that he “was equally masterful at his roles as a research scientist, as a treatment provider and program administrator, and as a mentor.”

Robert was the principal architect of the Addiction Treatment Services and Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He also led the development, implementation, and oversight of the first outpatient substance use disorder treatment program for the NIH-NIDA Intramural Research Center on the Bayview campus. He was an investigator on many NIH and other grants, and author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications.

Robert joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1983 as an intern in Medical Psychology and advanced to Professor in 1999, retiring in 2021 as an Emeritus Professor. He subsequently became a Research Scientist at Friends Research Institute where he continued his important work. He is perhaps best known in the field for his experience and expertise in the development of highly successful treatment programs that provided natural laboratories for the development and testing of new interventions and service delivery models of care. In collaboration with Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (BPRU) founders Maxine Stitzer and George Bigelow, he established the Mid Atlantic Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network, serving as the original PI of that project. Maxine wrote that Robert’s “many contributions will live on, but his continued innovative input to the field of addiction treatment and research will be sorely missed.”

Ken reflected that “on a direct patient care level, Robert’s skills were like magic to me. He was 100% present with patients he met with and was simultaneously able to construct limits that were necessary for anyone suffering from behavioral disorders, while at the same time communicating an understanding and respect for the patient’s goals and wishes and exuding a strong sense of hopefulness stemming from his high expectations of their engagement in the process.”

Dr. Mary E. Abood, Ph.D.

Mary Abood passed away in her sleep on Sunday, February 19th, 2023.

Dr. Abood was a vibrant and brilliant researcher, conducting an active and productive research program in the cannabinoid field for well over 30 years. She was trained as a pharmacologist at the Pritzker Laboratory at Stanford University and received additional training in molecular biology and started her independent professional career at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1990. In 1999, Mary moved to California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute where she was a Senior Scientist, and she remained an Affiliate Associate Professor at VCU. In 2008, Dr. Abood moved to Temple University where she became an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Center for Substance Abuse Research and received tenure in 2011. Mary retired from her research pursuits on June 30, 2021.

Much of Dr. Abood's research was focused on the structure and function of cannabinoid receptors, including the localization, characterization of the downstream signaling pathways and identification of additional receptors on which cannabinoids exert their actions. Mary’s laboratory investigated the endocannabinoid system with a focus on its cellular receptors, making significant contributions throughout the cannabinoid field. Her lab cloned the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors and identified some of the structural and concomitant functional features of these proteins, studies designed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of CB receptor action. Her work also focused on identifying novel cannabinoid receptor subtypes, efforts that led to the characterization of GPR55 and GPR18 as putative cannabinoid receptors. Mary was a Member of the IUPHAR Receptor Nomenclature Committee for Cannabinoid Receptors and she served on NIH study sections since 2005. Mary was generally recognized as one of the leaders in the field of the molecular biology of the cannabinoid receptors.

Mary advised, mentored and sponsored dozens of post-Doctoral Fellows, pre-Doctoral trainees, and undergraduates, from a diverse range of specialties and programs – including the University of West of England Scholarship Exchange Program, California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, MCV Governor’s School for the Gifted, Minority High School Student Enrichment, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Temple University – and served on more than thirty thesis committees for students all over the world.

Mary said in an interview by The Cannabis Scientist in 2021, "I have been very fortunate to work with many talented colleagues and students over the years. That really is my luckiest break."

Dr. Abood was a foundational Member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society since 1991. She served as our ICRS Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and was our ICRS Treasurer from 2009 to 2011. She received our ICRS Mechoulam Award in 2015, for her many contributions to cannabinoid research.

Mary leaves behind her loving husband Dave Bieber and loving son Zach Abood-Bieber.

She will be dearly missed.

2022

Dr. Martin Adler, PhD

Martin "Marty" W. Adler, PhD Of Warminster, PA, passed away on July 5, 2022. He was the son of the late Sonia and Jacob "Jack" Adler. Beloved husband of Toby (Wisotsky), father of Dr. Charles (Dr. Laura) Adler and Eve Adler, brother of the late Dr. Sheldon (Barbara) Adler, Anita (late Tim) Flynt, and Jerrold (Cindy) Adler, grandfather of Ilyssa (Matt Wolf), Jennifer Adler, Sarah Goldberg, and great-grandson Jacob Shai Wolf. Marty grew up in Washington Heights, NY and graduated from Bronx HS of Science and NYU and after returning from Korea. He became the first Ph.D. graduate in Pharmacology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He moved to Philadelphia in 1960 to join the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at Temple University School of Medicine where he spent his entire career of over 60 years. He was an internationally recognized expert in the field of opiate pharmacology and drug abuse research and he co-founded the Temple Center for Substance Abuse Research (CSAR). He also was executive secretary of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). His passion was research and teaching.

Marty was, and will remain, a giant in the field. While most of us identify Marty as the Executive Secretary of CPDD, a post that he held for nearly 30 years, he also was a highly accomplished and talented scientist. His interests spanned a wide range of hot topics in pharmacology, and he remained an active participant in unique research directives until his passing. Indeed, Marty’s interests defined the key issues and developments that were so important to the evolution of substance use disorders research. Marty was not a reclusive scientist; rather, he shared his passion for research as an educator and mentor. Given the vast number of successful trainees he supported over the course of his career, his role in shaping the next generations of scientists will be felt for years to come.

The number of awards Marty received are too numerous to mention, but two stand out. CPDD had been giving the Distinguished Service Award to honor individuals for their outstanding contributions to the field of drug abuse. CPDD eventually renamed this award the Martin and Toby Adler Distinguished Award, which speaks to the profound level of service Marty gave to CPDD and thereby, perennially recognizes his contributions. Marty also received the Nathan B. Eddy Award in 1997, which is the highest acknowledgement for scientific achievement that CPDD bestows.

While CPDD has evolved from its early days in size and scope, one cannot forget the leadership role that Marty filled, especially during the difficult transition years from the Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence to its current “College” status. One of the best ways to appreciate his role at CPDD was to remember that Presidents came and went, but Marty was always there—in essence he was the “glue” that held the organization together for decades. His generous and unassuming nature was endearing and allowed him to effectively navigate CPDD’s course. We remain grateful for Marty’s tireless effort and his dedication: he truly loved CPDD every moment he was involved—and the organization is in a better place because he cared so much. Marty’s legacy will live on in many ways and he will be dearly missed.

Dr. Roy Pickens, PhD

Dr. Roy Wilson Pickens, age 82, passed away peacefully in his sleep on May 25, 2022, at his home in Glen Allen, Virginia with his devoted wife Dace Svikis Pickens at his side and surrounded by the love of his four children. Our colleague, Roy Pickens, made major contributions to the field of behavioral pharmacology and the control of substance abuse. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Mississippi under the mentorship of William F. Crowder and conducted his post-doctoral research at the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Gordon Heistad and Frederick Shideman.

He joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1966 and moved up the ranks to full professor in 1973. At the University of Minnesota, Roy engaged in pioneering studies of animal intravenous drug self-administration, exploring the behavioral and environmental variables influencing the reinforcing effects of drugs. In the mid-1970's, Roy and Travis Thompson, a close colleague, established a research ward in the University of Minnesota Hospital in which models used to examine animal self-administration were translated into human trials. After a series of innovative studies on this inpatient unit, Roy began examining topography of smoking (e.g., puff volume, puff duration and nicotine yield) in the real world to better understand environmental and psychological determinants of smoking behavior in a naturalistic environment. The human drug self-administration research subsequently led Roy to extend his research from environmental variables to include genetic influences on drug dependence. In the late 1970's, Roy accepted a consultant position at the Hazelden Foundation, an alcohol/drug treatment facility located outside of Minneapolis. At Hazelden he had access to many people with substance use disorders, and with funding from NIAAA he initiated a twin/family study of alcohol/drug dependence that was ultimately extended to include twins from treatment facilities across Minnesota. These studies were prescient, as the field of genetic influences on drug abuse was about to explode with advances in molecular biology.

With this translational research background, Roy left the University of Minnesota for a position as Director of the Division of Clinical Research at NIDA. He would also become Associate Director for AIDS at NIDA and then Director of NIDA’s Intramural Research Program - the Addiction Research Center- where he truly had a transformative impact. He returned to academia as Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Vice President of Research at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has received a number of awards including the USPHS Special Recognition Award in 1989 and the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award (second highest award in government service) in 1992, in recognition of his extramural clinical research and his work on AIDS, as well as his administration of the NIDA-IRP. In addition, he received the Michael Morrison Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence in 1999 for his government service. Importantly, during the time Roy was at the University of Minnesota, he mentored pre- and post-doctoral students. As a mentor, Roy was exceptional. He was generous with his time and ideas and always worked to create opportunities for his many mentees and students, whose contributions to the pursuit of science and service to public health magnified his impact and are among his enduring legacy. His ability to convey complex principles in a clear and easily understandable (almost folksy) manner was a real gift, which made him an extraordinary teacher. What was also remarkable about Roy was his ability to balance academic life with fun. He would celebrate special occasions, take his students golfing and to lunch and usually had some pranks up his sleeve (which kept his students on their toes). Roy Pickens was widely admired, respected, and loved and will be missed, but his contributions and impact will continue.

See link to the obituary at: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesdispatch/name/roy-pickens-obituary?id=34965277

Richard Saitz, MD

It is with great sadness that CPDD announces the passing of Dr. Richard Saitz. Dr. Saitz was an active member of the CPDD community for over 15 years. Dr. Sandro Galea of Boston University summed up Dr. Saitz accomplishments well.

"Professor Saitz leaves behind a legacy of excellence in scholarship, teaching, and practice. He was a lifelong member of the BU [Boston University] community, and a leader in the school for many years. His association with the university began when he received his BA and MD [at BU]. He started his career with an appointment to the faculty at the Boston University School of Medicine in 1993. He became Chair and Professor of Community Health Sciences in 2014. Dr. Saitz had an exemplary and wide-ranging academic career. Among his accomplishments: he was Director of Boston Medical Center’s Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit for over ten years, he was co-Principal Investigator on the Medical Campus’s Clinical and Translational Science Unit, and served as Chair of the campus Institutional Review Board. His standing as a leader in his field was reflected by his many awards, editorial positions, and other professional roles. These include Chairing the Treatment and Services review committee for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, serving as Associate Editor for Journal of the American Medical Association, as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Addiction Medicine, and as Editor Emeritus of Addiction Science & Clinical Practice.

But putting aside Dr. Saitz’ professional achievements, Rich ultimately was a friend and a deeply cherished member of this community. He served with distinction as Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences, guiding the department’s growth and outstanding success over the years. It was a privilege to serve alongside him as part of the school’s leadership team. I have countless memories of working with Rich on a range of challenges and opportunities the school faced, from our community’s response to the political disruptions of recent years, to navigating COVID-19, to shaping our public conversations. Rich brought to all our interactions good common sense, a fairness of spirit, a rigor of intellect, and abundant good humor. He will be deeply missed. His contributions to the school are irreplaceable."

Click here for the complete Boston University memorial.

2021

Martin Iguchi, PhD

It is with great sadness that CPDD announces the passing of a long-time and very well-known CPDD member, Martin Iguchi, PhD. Dr. Iguchi passed away on Saturday, June 5, 2021. Dr. Iguchi was an active member of CPDD since 1994 and will be missed by the CPDD community and all those whose lives he touched.

Please see the below In Memoriam shared via the RAND website.

Martin Y. Iguchi, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School, died June 5, 2021.

Most recently he was lead professor for assessment at Pardee RAND and the program director for the school's redesign. At RAND he worked on the use of smart phones to provide remote delivery of contingency management, cognitive behavioral therapy, and coaching to persons with alcohol use disorder and on Medicaid in Vermont.

His other recent work examined quality of life and retirement/legacy planning in aging performing artists; sexual transmission of HIV from and among drug users to non-drug users; barriers to drug abuse treatment entry among Asian and Pacific Islanders; low-frequency injection drug users; and HIV-related risk behaviors in men who have sex with men (MSM).

Iguchi was a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and recipient of the APA Presidential Citation (2019); elected member of APA's Board of Scientific Affairs and APA's Board of Professional Affairs; BOD for APA's Division 50; member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Center Grant Research Review Committee; member, BOD, College on Problems of Drug Dependence; co-chair, Scientific Working Group on MSM and Sexual Minorities, District of Columbia Developmental Center for AIDS Research; and program area co-director, Barriers to Care, UCLA AIDS Institute.

Iguchi was a senior editor for Addiction and on the following editorial boards: Journal of Drug Issues; Drug and Alcohol Dependence; Journal of Drug Policy Analysis; Retrovirology: Research and Treatment; Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice; and Journal of Cannabis Research.

His former leadership roles included director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center; chair of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health; and Dean, Nursing and Health Studies, Georgetown University.

Iguchi earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in experimental psychology from Boston University.

Mary Jeanne Kreek, M.D.

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek on March 27, 2021. Dr. Kreek was a pioneer in Substance Use Disorder research and an instrumental leader of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc. (CPDD), having served the College in numerous roles since 1982.

Mary Jeanne Kreek, M.D. was a graduate of Wellesley College where she received Durant Scholar honors in chemistry and biology, and the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where she received an M.D. degree and the Borden Award for research. During her postgraduate work at Cornell University-New York Hospital Medical Center in internal medicine, gastroenterology and neuroendocrinology, Dr. Kreek joined the Rockefeller Institute in 1964, as a research fellow with the late Dr. Vincent P. Dole and Dr. Marie Nyswander. While there, Dr. Kreek conducted the initial studies on the long-acting opioid agonist, methadone, in the chronic management of heroin addiction, leading to the development of the first effective pharmacotherapy for the treatment of opioid addiction. This research led to a number of prospective long-term studies of the safety and the physiological effects of methadone and the medical status of heroin dependent individuals before and during treatment.

Dr. Kreek was Professor and Head of Laboratory, the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases at The Rockefeller University, and Senior Physician of The Rockefeller University Hospital in New York City. She was also Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of an NIH-NIDA Research Center. Dr. Kreek has been a recipient of the NIH- NIDA Senior Research Scientist Award since its inception in 1978. She has served on several NIH Study Sections, FDA Advisory Groups, the NIDA National Advisory Council, and as a charter member of the NIH Peer Review Oversight Group.

By the early 1970s, her work increasingly focused on the molecular and neurobiological basis of Substance Use Disorder. Dr. Kreek’s research efforts led to publications as author or co-author of over 400 scientific reports, concept papers, and review articles. Over the many decades of her dedication to the treatment and research in Substance Use Disorder, Dr. Kreek received numerous awards, too numerous to mention. In 1998, she received the Special Recognition Award for Research in the Science of Addiction, Executive Office of the United States President. She has also received several Honorary Degrees.

As a pioneer in Substance Use Disorder research, she was an outstanding leader of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence, having served the College in numerous roles since 1982. Over the years, Dr. Kreek served the College as follows:

Executive Committee, 1982-1994
President-Elect, 1984-1985
Program, Travel Award Fellowship Committee, 1983-1994
President, 1985-1987
Past President, 1987-1989
Membership Chair, 1989-1991
Program Chair, 1990-1995
Past Program Chair, 1995-1998
Nominating Committee, 1997-1998
Long-Range Planning Committee, 1998-2003
Awards Committee 2001-2003- Program Committee, 2001-2004
Board of Directors, 2010-2014
Awards Committee, 2012-2016
Long-Range Planning Committee, 2014-2020

Over her career of nearly six decades, Dr. Kreek received numerous awards, and, at CPDD, she was the 1999 recipient of the Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award, the most prestigious award presented by the CPDD which acknowledges outstanding research efforts that have advanced our knowledge of drug dependence. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Marian W. Fischman Lectureship Award which recognizes the contributions of an outstanding woman.

Dr. Kreek’s research has led to medical treatments for various diseases of addiction and has taught us much about the molecular and genetic underpinnings of drug cravings. In addition, she has been championing the implementation of drug treatment programs worldwide. She has been dedicated to spreading the use of therapy for Substance Use Disorder, traveling from Sweden to Hong Kong and mainland China, Italy and Israel as well as many other countries to help in its implementation. She was a generous teacher and mentor to young physician-scientists around her and she was particularly passionate about supporting other women.

By molecular, cell biological, neurochemical, behavioral and basic clinical research and human genetics studies, she documented the role of the endogenous opioid system in cocaine, alcohol, and heroin addiction. With her colleagues, Dr. Kreek examined gene expression changes in rodents that are given a drug of abuse, or are allowed to self-administer it, to study how this exposure impacts the brain’s neurochemistry, neurobiology, and circuitry, and to identify targets for potential new treatments. Her lab also studied the epigenetic, physiologic, and behavioral effects of drug self-administration on the endogenous opioid system and related signaling networks. They performed microdialysis in rats and mice for dynamic studies of neurotransmitter release and peptide processing in the brain.

More recently, her lab identified more than 100 changes in the DNA code associated with addiction not only to opioids but also to cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana. She found that several of these changes were also associated with atypical responses to stress, potentially leading to an increased tendency to become addicted. Her work on the genetic changes linked to addiction has ongoing implications for developing new ways to recognize and treat addictions to a number of different substances.

Dr. Kreek was also particularly passionate about conquering stigma in Substance Use Disorder. She frequently spoke about addictions as diseases of the brain which respond to treatment and not criminal behaviors or weaknesses. In a recent interview, she said, “There is no longer any doubt that drug addiction boils down to neurobiology and I remain optimistic even though the use of medication to treat it still faces many hurdles. It’s one step at a time. One hundred years ago, cancer was considered evil and dirty. It meant something was wrong with your family—people didn’t want to admit they had it. So, we have had stigmas before and they’re not easy to overcome. But the science helps immensely to convince people of the reality of the situation.”

Kreek is survived by two children: daughter Dr. Esperance Schaefer, with son-in-law Karl Welday and grandchildren Robert and Francine; and son Robert Schaefer, with daughter-in-law Heather Fain Schaefer and grandchildren Merrill and William. Her husband of 48 years, Robert Schaefer Sr., who was a gastroenterologist and an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, died in February 2018.

Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek will be remembered with great respect by the national and many international members of the College with whom she interacted and who have honored her in many ways not only for the outstanding science that she was willing to share but also the compassion and respect that she demonstrated with regard to those individuals with Substance Use Disorder.

Click here to read the complete announcement by her colleagues at Rockefeller University.

Alan Gintzler, PhD, CPDD member since 1993, died Saturday, March 20th, after struggling with cancer for the last several months. Our condolences go to Alan's wife, Ellen Cohen, and their daughter Ariella, and all other relatives and friends.

Alan is remembered as a person of great dedication to his family, who sought the best for everyone, and who treasured every moment he could spend outdoors in the natural world. He is also remembered for his work as a professor and research scientist at Downstate Medical Center and his outstanding mentorship to his students. This page https://www.rfsuny.org/About-Us/Leadership/Board-of-Directors/Dr-Alan-R-Gintzler/ describes his professional pursuits.

Kathleen (Kathy) M. Carroll, PhD, a clinical scientist in the Yale Department of Psychiatry who made seminal contributions to improving treatments for addiction, died unexpectedly after a brief illness on December 28, 2020. She was 62 years old. At the time of her death, Dr. Carroll was the Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, and the Director of the Psychosocial Research in the Division on Addictions.

Kathy possessed a rare blend of brilliance, generosity, and humility that propelled a career spanning over 30 years in addiction treatment research at Yale. She graduated summa cum laude from Duke University, received her PhD in clinical psychology and neuropsychology in 1988 from the University of Minnesota, and completed her pre-doctoral training at the Yale School of Medicine’s Division of Substance Abuse. Following a brief stint as Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, she joined the faculty at Yale in 1989 as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Working closely with Dr. Bruce Rounsaville, she helped establish and subsequently led the Psychotherapy Development Center (PDC), the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA’s) only funded Center of Excellence devoted to behavioral therapies research. Through Dr. Carroll’s leadership, the PDC became one of the most important sources of addiction treatment development and dissemination over the past 25 years, improving the methodological rigor of clinical trials research and leading to multiple clinical innovations that have impacted the lives of many struggling with addiction. Officially ending in 2020, the PDC produced over 1,500 peer-reviewed publications and launched the careers of dozens of independent investigators. Dr. Carroll also served as a Principal Investigator of NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network, a partnership between NIDA, treatment researchers and community providers to work toward new treatment options in community-level clinical practice.

The depths of her contribution to the field of addiction are unparalleled. She has been a Principal Investigator on over 100 research projects funded through NIH, with funding amounts totaling over $76 million. She authored or co-authored over 330 articles in peer-reviewed publications, with over 50 chapters in major textbooks, along with several books and published manuals. Her Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) manual for cocaine use disorders has been translated to over 14 languages and implemented worldwide. Among the defining accomplishments of her career has been broader recognition of the efficacy, safety, and durability of behavioral therapies. She helped establish the Stage Model of Behavioral Therapies Development that facilitated important advances by defining stages of science for behavioral therapies development, from pilot testing of novel approaches translated from basic clinical science (“Stage 1”) to efficacy testing via randomized clinical trials (“Stage 2”) to effectiveness research based in community settings (Stage 3”). This required a set of methodological advances (e.g., systemization of interventions in manuals, development of fidelity rating systems, therapist training strategies) to which she made multiple contributions. She received a NIH MERIT award for her work which led to the development of an effective web-based version of CBT (“CBT4CBT”), now validated in eight independent trials. CBT4CBT became one of the first evidence-based computerized interventions for a range of substance use disorders and is currently being adapted and implemented for various co-occurring conditions.

Dr. Carroll served on several journal editorial boards, advisory boards, and NIH scientific review panels, too numerous to list. Most recently, she was an invited member of the National Academy of Medicine's committee on medications to treat opioid use disorders and was a major author of its influential consensus report, "Responding to the Opioid Crisis: Medications Save Lives."

Dr. Carroll received many prestigious awards, but being honored in September of this year at the 50^th anniversary celebration of the APT Foundation, where she conducted much of her research, was among the most meaningful to her. This award highlighted not only her research contributions but her mentorship and relationships with others, to which she was truly committed. According to long-time collaborator, Charla Nich, “we were blessed to be able to give Kathy a message just three months ago about our gratitude for her scientific integrity, brilliance, courage, strength, radical acceptance, and love personified.” Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, a current mentee noted, “Her ability to lead compassionately and lift others while climbing is indeed a gift from the creator.” Brian Kiluk, PhD, another long-time mentee, described her as “the embodiment of a true mentor – someone who both teaches and guides others on their career path, but also serves as a shining example for what others aspire to be."

Dr. Carroll's tremendous academic and scientific accomplishments are dwarfed by her kind, generous, and playful spirit. She had an amazing ability to find joy in everyday situations, especially in life's most difficult moments. She loved swimming, art history, architectural history, hiking, and reading. Kathy was an expert on the works of Shakespeare and opera. She also had a fine sense of humor and loved a good prank. She was a lifelong progressive with great compassion for social justice and coupled anti-racist principles with her recent academic work on identifying and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in substance use treatment outcomes.

Kathy maintained a decades old relationship with Christian Community Action (CCA) in New Haven and contributed annually through efforts to provide school clothing, Christmas gifts, and Easter baskets for children living in emergency housing. From her hospital bed one week prior to falling critically ill, Kathy reached out to CCA caseworkers to make sure that all the homeless children were cared for, and donated electronically toward that effort.

Kathy is survived by her daughter, Kate; her brother, John and his two amazing sons, Dag and Dashiell; her mother, Barbara, and her husband Geoffrey White and his daughters Natalie and Carla White as well as Matthew Chivian. Her Yale/APT team, too large to mention by name, embraced Kathy as family. Kathy was predeceased by her father, John, and loving canine companions Trundo and Ernie.

Nancy E. Suchman, PhD, 63, died peacefully at home on December 25, 2020 with her husband at her side after a courageous battle with an aggressive cancer. At the time of her death, Nancy was an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Child Study Center who had made significant contributions to the science of addiction, parenting, and child development.

After spending much of her childhood and adolescence in the New York City area, Nancy left home for Cornell University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1979. Following graduation, she spent her early adult years leading high-adventure trips for Outward Bound, a national outdoor education program. After realizing, in her sentiments, that she could not live off the land, neither literally nor figuratively, she returned to school and completed a master’s degree in the sociology of education at Syracuse University in 1986 and then a doctoral degree in counseling psychology at Colorado State University in 1994 where, given her love of the outdoors, she continued to spend time pursuing high adventure in the Rocky Mountains.

Nancy returned to the Northeast to complete her predoctoral internship in clinical psychology at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and then came to the Department of Psychiatry as a postdoctoral fellow in 1994 to join a new child and family research team being developed by Suniya Luthar under the mentorship of Bruce Rounsaville. It was here that she met Tom McMahon, the third psychologist in this nascent research group. Together, the three of them worked collaboratively for 10 years pursuing a series of related research projects with parents in addiction treatment and youth at risk to misuse alcohol and drugs.

With Suniya Luthar, Nancy developed a psychotherapy group for women struggling with drug addiction. This was one of the first clinical interventions grounded in an empirical conceptualization of the complex needs mothers bring to addiction treatment. Once she had an academic niche, Nancy devoted her career to the study of parenting as a critical issue in the lives of mothers, and fathers, affected by drug addiction. With the untimely death of Bruce Rounsaville, Linda Mayes at the Child Study Center became Nancy’s primary mentor as her work began to focus more clearly on the needs of women parenting infants and preschool children in the context of drug addiction. Over more than 25 years, Nancy was the principal investigator for a series of research training and independent research grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Much of her research was conducted in collaboration with The APT Foundation, a private-nonprofit, university-affiliated provider of addiction services in the greater New Haven area.

Nancy’s most significant academic contribution, and the one most meaningful to her, was the development of Mothering from the Inside Out, an attachment-based parent intervention. This empirically based individual psychotherapy is designed to help mothers grappling with addiction and other threats to effective parenting develop the capacity for reflective functioning in their relationships with their children. Over more than 15 years, she partnered with Cindy DeCoste, her project director, and a long list of co-investigators, consultants, clinicians, and research assistants to develop and test this clinical intervention. As this novel intervention captured the attention of the research community interested in the impact of addiction on parenting, she began an academic tour to speak, teach, and consult, not just in this country, but in Finland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

In addition to her peer-reviewed publications, Nancy was the principal editor of Parenting and Substance Abuse with Linda Mayes and Marjukka Pajulo of the University of Turku in Finland. This volume, published by Oxford University Press, quickly became the definitive professional reference on addiction, parenting, and parent intervention.

Over the years, Nancy made significant contributions to the personal and professional development of others. Among them are the mothers and children who have benefitted, directly and indirectly, from her clinical insights and the research assistants, graduate students, professional trainees, addiction counselors, and researchers who benefitted from her generous giving of her time and tutelage. On July 31, 2020, she was very pleased to see many of those people during a special grand rounds and reception organized by the Department of Psychiatry and Child Study Center to recognize her contributions to research, teaching, and service delivery.

When not at work, Nancy loved everything outdoors. Throughout her adult life, she was an enthusiastic hiker, cyclist, canoer, and cross-country skier. She also enjoyed gardening, reading, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. A long-time resident of Hamden, she especially loved hiking in Sleeping Giant State Park, often followed by a visit to Wentworth’s Homemade Ice Cream Shop.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Lionel Rigler; her brother, Anthony Suchman and his wife, Lynne Feldman; and her sister, Olivia Suchman. A devoted aunt, she is also survived by her nieces and nephews, Alexandra Suchman, Julian Suchman, Matthew Milner, and Danielle Milner. Her warm, compassionate, generous, and vibrant nature will be present in the hearts and minds of family, friends, colleagues, and mothers around the world for many years to come.
Because of limitations imposed by the COVID-19 crisis, funeral services will be private. Anyone interested in offering condolences to her family can contact Tom McMahon at thomas.mcmahon@yale.edu or Cindy DeCoste at cindy.decoste@yale.edu. Donations may be made in her memory to the Sleeping Giant Park Association at https://sgpa.org/.

Prepared by: Thomas McMahon, PhD, Cindy DeCoste, MS, Amanda, Lowell, PhD, and Stephanie O’Malley, Ph.D

2020

Dr. Reginald V. Fant (“Reggie”) died unexpectedly Sunday, September 27, following complications of a stroke. He was the Director of Clinical Pharmacology and Abuse Potential Assessment at PinneyAssociates (PA), in Bethesda, Maryland, where he worked for over 23 years. He led many of PA’s abuse potential assessments of medicines in development. His efforts contributed to new medicines for treating addiction, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, pain, ADHD, sleep disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, and many more, and involved conventional medicines as well as therapeutic applications of cannabinoids, psychedelics and dietary supplements such as kratom. His work was key in dozens of new drug filings to the FDA, and led to more than 75 scientific articles.

Born in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Dr. Fant was awarded his BA in psychology at Nichols State University, in 1989. After achieving his PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1993, he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in the School of Medicine under the direction of Professor Maxine Stitzer, along with Professors George Bigelow and Roland Griffiths. This was followed by his recruitment to the Biology of Dependence and Abuse Potential laboratory of the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in 1995, where he worked under the direction of Drs. Jack Henningfield and Wallace Pickworth. He was recruited by and welcomed to PinneyAssociates in 1997.

Dr. Fant was distinguished by his thoughtful and creative approaches to understanding the potential addiction and abuse risks, and potential medical and public health benefits of new medicines so they could be properly regulated based on their potential benefits and risks. His contributions helped advance public health both nationally and globally. His work included studies contributing to FDA’s regulation of tobacco and other nicotine delivering products such as cigarette substitutes and medicines for treating tobacco dependence. His passing leaves an enormous void at PinneyAssociates, and in the field of abuse potential assessment more broadly.

His Louisiana roots and family were an important part of his daily life. His passions included weightlifting, gardening and cooking. He was an especially cherished friend and colleague by his extended family at PinneyAssociates and Johns Hopkins. We will never forget his warmth and kindness, his sense of humor, or his easy-going spirit. He will be sorely missed.

We share here a link to his obituary.

https://www.minnichfh.com/obituary/Reginald-Vane-Fant/Hagerstown-Maryland/1879280

Eric J. Simon, Ph.D., CPDD Charter Fellow, Eric Simon, 2 months shy of 96, passed away peacefully on Monday, March 30th at his residence in Hackensack, NJ. Born in Wiesbaden Germany, at age 14, Eric and his family were uprooted from their home in Wiesbaden, Germany, as they fled Nazi persecution in 1938. He served in the United States Army during W.W.II. Post-service, Dr. Simon began a long and distinguished career establishing himself as a scientist of worldwide renown, yet he remained forever humble. Eric lived with his wife, the love of his life, in Bergen County, NJ for 66 years. They lived in Teaneck for 54 years before moving to Hackensack 12 years ago. Eric was a Neuroscientist and headed a lab at NYU Langone Medical Center for 54 years before retiring in 2014, at the age of 90 as Professor Emeritus. As part of his many accomplishments, Dr. Simon discovered opiate receptors in the brain and coined the word Endorphin. One of Eric’s passions was skiing, which he did until he was 86. It provided many wonderful family times together. Pre-deceased by his loving wife Irene in 2017, he is survived by his adoring family: daughter Faye and her husband Len, son Martin, son Larry and his wife Lea, 4 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and his brother Walter. An amazing person, brilliant man, an outstanding scientist, Eric loved his family and friends with a passion, warmth, love, generosity - like no other. He was kind to and interested in everyone. He had a zest to live, a "joie de vivre" beyond anyone we knew. He has deeply touched so many hearts. He will be remembered by so many, but his passing leaves a huge hole, at the same time that his life leaves a huge impact and presence. A virtual graveside service will be held on Monday, April 6th at 2pm. To get the information to sign in for the service, call Gutterman and Musicant Funeral Home 800-522-0588. Please start calling 1:30pm, so that all have joined in time for the Rabi to start at 2pm. Once the Covid situation is under control, we will have an in person gathering to celebrate his life and mourn his death together. Donations in Dr. Eric Simons’ name may be made to IES Brain Research Foundation or Prostate Cancer Foundation. The Foundation address is IES Brain Research Foundation, 270 Sparta Ave., Suite 104, NJ 07871 or online at www.iesbrainresearch.org.

2019

Dr. Louis S. Harris, former chair of The Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence and President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, died on Monday, June 10, 2019. Lou was chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University from 1972 to 1992. From 1979, until his retirement in 2006, he served the drug abuse community, CPDD and NIDA by leading the evaluation of the physical dependence liability testing of new opioid-like compounds. He was one of the first scholars to embrace the narcotic agonist-antagonist concept for new pain relievers and lead the development of pentazocine, the first of these drugs to make the market. Lou was presented with the Eddy Award by The College and won awards from other scholarly societies, his university and state. He and his family were very generous supporters of his university and many other worthy scholarly organizations. They provided the funds for four professorships in different schools at VCU and supported many programs in other educational institutions. He was preceded in death by his wife Ruth and is survived by his son Charles. Lou will be fondly remembered by a large number of friends throughout Richmond VA and by scholars everywhere.

2018

Nancy M Petry, Ph.D., beloved wife of William B. White, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Calhoun Cardiology Center and Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors died on Tuesday, July 17, 2018. She had joined the faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1996 after receiving her PhD from Harvard University and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Vermont School of Medicine in clinical addiction research.

Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Albert Herz, an outstanding neuropharmacologist and valued colleague, died peacefully on November 9, 2018. He began his career at the Theoretical Institute of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Psychiatry, now known as the MPI of Neurobiology, originally as a Research Group Leader in 1962 and later as head of the Department of Nueropharmacology. Dr. Herz received numerous awards for his research, including the Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award from CPDD in 1988.

Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, a pioneer of addiction research and treatment, died while travelling in Europe with his wife and family on October 5, 2018. At the time of his death, Dr. Kleber was Professor of Psychiatry and Emeritus Director of the Division on Substance Use Disorders at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Kleber served on the Board of Directors of CPDD from 2003 to 2007, and was the recipient of the Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award in 1995.

David John Allsop, Ph.D died on August 13, 2018 in Sydney, Australia following a fierce battle with cancer. He contributed to many NCPIC projects on cannabis interventions, along with the emerging topics of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists and the medicinal potential for a range of cannabinoids. He negotiated and drove the first nabiximols (Sativex) study at NCPIC and managed the project to a highly successful conclusion. On the day of his death, the CAMS16 study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia. This was a study of Australians self-medicating with illicit cannabis. His work will continue to be published from time to time, allowing this and the next generation of cannabinoid scientists in Australia and around the world, to build on his important legacy.

Dr. Conan Kornetsky passed away peacefully from complications of Alzheimer's disease on Friday, December 21, 2018. Dr. Kornetsky was a renowned scientist who undertook pioneering research in drug addiction. His contributions to the field of drug abuse include studies on the causes of juvenile heroin abuse, the effects of LSD on cognitive function, and the effects of drugs of abuse on brain reward systems. He received multiple awards and accolades including distinguished alumnus awards from both the University of Maine and the University of Kentucky. In addition, he received the prestigious Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award in 2005. Dr. Kornetsky was a Charter Fellow of CPDD, served on the Board, and was the recipient of the Mentorship Award in 2002.

2017

Dr. Olaya Garcia Rodriguez (1981-2015) Dr. Olaya Garcia Rodriguez, assistant professor doctor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oviedo, died July 15. She graduated in Psychology from the University of Oviedo, in her hometown, completed her postgraduate studies and obtained her doctorate in 2009. Young, with a brilliant academic record, she received the Extraordinary Degree Award in 2004, and the Extraordinary Doctoral Award in 2008, and developed her research within the Research Group on Addictive Behaviors. She was professor in the Department of Personality, Evaluation, and Psychological Treatment of the University of Barcelona for three academic years (20072010), and worked closely with the Group of Virtual Reality Applications in Clinical Psychology from the University. Her main area of expertise was the evaluation of psychological intervention programs for treatment of substance addiction. In fact, she led a project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, which aims to assess the effectiveness of exposure through virtual reality environments for the treatment of smoking. Despite her youth she was the managing editor of the journal Psicothema and a muchloved colleague of the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Oviedo, Spain. During those years Olaya developed the new website of the journal (www.psicothema.com), as well as the computer application that enables electronic management of the journal. She received many awards for excellence and published numerous scientific articles in national and international journals of recognized prestige, as well as books, book chapters and numerous conferences on her specialty. As a lecturer she was much appreciated by her students, who adored her. Olaya was an extraordinary person, a good friend, generous and warm.

Dr. Simon Budman (1974-2017) Founder of Inflexxion, Inc., Dr. Simon Budman passed away unexpectedly on January 13. Dr. Budman was an internationally known behavioral psychologist, researcher, and author who was considered a thought leader in datadriven health quality improvement. In 1989, he founded Inflexxion with a vision to develop interactive technologies that help people improve their lives through behavioral change. Simon was a visionary leader and creative genius who will be dearly missed. A dear friend of Simon’s, Dr. Steven Passik recently wrote “A Tribute to Dr. Simon Budman” stating, “In these times of conflict over the availability of pain therapy, we have lost one of our smartest, fairest, most reliable, credible and unique voices.” His commitment to patients anchored everything he did. His work was as practical as it was brilliant. His book and teachings on brief psychotherapy were required reading. He was egalitarian, patientfocused and entrepreneurial. Dr. Budman’s family has set up a fund at the Michael J. Fox Foundation to accept donations in the name of Simon Budman, for anyone that wishes to make a donation in his name.

Dr. Jesse Bickerton Milby, Jr. (1940-2017) Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology, University of Alabama (UAB), Dr. Jesse B. Milby passed away peacefully at home on March 31, 2017. He was born April 4, 1940 in Stratford, New Jersey, educated at Eastern University, St. Davids, PA and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where he earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (1968). Dr. Milby received clinical psychology’s highest competence credential, ABPP, from the American Board of Professional Psychology (1977). He completed postdoctoral training at the University of London Institute for Psychiatry and the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (19771978), and at Johns Hopkins University Medical School at the Center for Learning and Health and the Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Unit, in the Department of Psychiatry as Visiting Professor (20042005). Dr. Jesse B. Milby was Professor in the School of Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine, Psychiatry, and in the School of Public Health’s Department of Health Behavior. A diplomat in clinical psychology, he published in psychopharmacology, including animal models, and extensively in substance abuse assessment and treatment methods, and behavioral psychotherapy. Dr. Milby was instrumental in developing clinical interventions derived from learning theory and laboratory procedures. During graduate school, he utilized operant conditioning paradigms for novel interventions for a case of severe brain injury. In his animal laboratory research, he was instrumental in demonstrating the negative reinforcement potency of a stimulus associated with shock termination. Upon arrival at the UAB School of Medicine as a new Instructor in Experimental Psychiatry, he set up an animal laboratory to continue his animal model work and launched into a clinical research project to further apply operant conditioning methods to severe psychiatric disorders. At the VA hospital, with colleagues he set up a token economy psychiatric ward, which used learning principles to intervene with psychiatric disorders. He and coauthors published the first of two influential studies in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis. The first demonstrated the viability of modifying complex social behaviors in a psychiatric ward environment. The second described a system for recording individual behavioral data in a token economy ward system that utilized time samples of targeted maladaptive behavior. A subsequent study derived from this token economy system became a precursor for the new field of behavioral economics. In collaboration, he demonstrated the effects of sudden and arbitrary inflation in the therapeutic token economy program. Token economy psychiatry programs were widely used throughout the country for severe psychiatric disorders. Milby and colleagues were the first to make economic adjustments and record effects on the behavior of patients. During the drug abuse epidemic in the 1970s Dr. Milby changed his research focus to the challenging problem of drug addiction. He became administrative director of Alabama’s first methadone maintenance program for opioid addicts, utilizing contingency management procedures to increase rehabilitation progress in patients, and published one of the first studies of methadone maintenance showing the reinforcing effects of take-home methadone when used as a contingency for measured progress in rehabilitation behaviors. The published work included two of the longest follow-up studies in the world’s literature at the time showing the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment at five year follow-up. Along with Sharon Hall at the University of California at San Francisco, he discovered the phenomenon among methadone maintenance patients of an iatrogenic phobia of detoxification, which prevented thousands of patients from successfully detoxifying from methadone maintenance. He also proposed procedures for its treatment and published an influential review and assessment of the impact of adjunctive counseling in support of detoxification from methadone maintenance suggesting counseling support during detoxification could improve the low detoxification success. During a sabbatical at the University of London and Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (EPPI) 19771978, he published a book, Addictive Behavior and Its Treatment, which was widely used for health professional training. Also, during this sabbatical he collaborated with others at EPPI on a treatment study of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that demonstrated how the independent treatment effects of exposure and response prevention procedures contribute to successful treatment outcome. This study was a precursor for the current evidencebased effective treatment for OCD, which is now an accepted standard of care. He was dedicated to his profession, his clients, many of whom were homeless, and his students. He had a lifelong love of fishing and sailing. He was a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church for 50 years and spent many of those years as a member of the choir.Jess is survived by this wife of fifty-five years, Sally Lynn Milby, two daughters, his brother niece and nephews.

2016

Dr. Ronald J. Tallarida (1937-2016) Dr. Ronald J. Tallarida, an internationally recognized pharmacologist and expert in the study of drug combinations, died at his home in West Deptford, New Jersey on September 23, 2016. A Professor of Pharmacology for over 50 years in the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, he was renowned for his work on the theoretical and practical application of mathematical pharmacology. Dr. Tallarida was one of the first scientists in the field to develop mathematical models that describe the interactions of multiple drugs when taken in combination; these methods are used routinely today to create powerful new medicines to combat a variety of symptoms. He taught pharmacology to generations of students and will be remembered for the enormous impact he had on all who learned from or were trained by him. His investigative work opened major new avenues of research and he remained a pioneer in his field even at an advanced age. He earned his B.S. (1959) and M.S. (1963) in Physics and Mathematics from Drexel University and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology (1967) from Temple University. Dr. Tallarida is the author of the seminal textbook in the field, the bestselling Manual of Pharmacologic Calculations (1981) in addition to the Pocketbook of Integrals in Mathematical Formulas, now in its 5th edition, and the widely used Pocketbook of Electrical Engineering Formulas (1993). He was a speaker and the prolific author of nearly 300 scientific publications and 11 books. An accomplished inventor, he held four U.S. patents and served as a consultant to industry and the United States government, most recently working with the Walter Reed Army Hospital and the United States Army, helping veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries. Ronald Joseph Tallarida was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 26, 1937. He is survived by his beloved wife of 37 years, Theresa (nee Valera) and was a devoted and loving father of six children and grandfather of ten.

Beny J. Primm (1928- 2016), a doctor who started some of New York City’s first methadone clinics to treat heroin addicts in the 1960s and who, during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, became a nationally prominent advocate for changing public health policy toward
intravenous drug users, died on Oct. 16 in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 87. Dr. Primm was treating trauma cases at Harlem Hospital in the early 1960s when he became aware of the havoc that drug addiction was causing. “As an anesthesiologist, I saw young people in the E.R., their bodies riddled with bullet and knife wounds,” he wrote in his 2014 memoir, “The Healer: A Doctor’s Crusade Against Addiction and AIDS,” written with John S. Friedman. “I knew that behind this devastation was the scourge of drugs, and I made a promise to myself that I would work to stop these black kids from going down.” In 1969, he founded the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation, which
opened a methadone clinic in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn and, within a few years, a half-dozen treatment centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan. He became recognized as an authority on heroin addiction and its treatment. Dr. Primm saw his first AIDS case in 1983 when examining an addict at one of his treatment centers. As tests became available for HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, he discovered that more than 40 percent of his patients were infected with the virus. The finding turned him into an outspoken advocate for clean-needle programs and robust information campaigns aimed at high-risk populations. “IV substance abusers multiply in greater numbers than gays,” he told The New York Times in 1985. “They’re dying more frequently than gays. We now have to turn the spotlight on IV substance users.” He was particularly concerned about the disease’s impact in minority communities. Beny Jene Primm was born on May 21, 1928, in the coal town of Williamson, WV. His father and uncle owned a funeral home, and his mother taught in a one-room schoolhouse in a nearby town. Because of the family business, local doctors often visited, and from early childhood Beny set his sights on entering the medical profession.
In 1941, the family moved to the Bronx, where Beny attended DeWitt Clinton High School. He was an indifferent student and, after failing the state Regents exam twice, graduated with a general rather than an academic diploma in 1945. At West Virginia State University, a historically black institution near Charleston, he improved only slightly as a student but thrived in the R.O.T.C. After graduating in 1950, he was assigned to the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg and trained as a paratrooper. With lackluster academic credentials, he looked outside the United States for a medical school after leaving the Army in 1953. Having studied German in college, he enrolled in the Heidelberg University but, for financial reasons, left after a year. Without knowing French, he entered the University of Geneva, where he received a medical certificate and, in order to practice in the United States, the more advanced diploma in 1959. To satisfy the requirements for a diploma, he wrote a thesis on the effects of morphine and chlorpromazine on hypothermia in guinea pigs. While studying in Geneva he had an externship at Morrisania Hospital in the Bronx in obstetrics and gynecology, which he greatly enjoyed. As a resident at Meadowbrook
Hospital on Long Island, however, he found that many white patients did not want to be treated by a black doctor. He became an anesthesiologist instead, taking a job at Harlem Hospital in 1963. Because of his AIDS work, Dr. Primm was named to Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic in 1987. When the commission drafted a 600-point plan for dealing with the AIDS crisis, he inserted the recommendation that intravenous drug users be given treatment on demand. Under President George Bush, Dr. Primm served on the National Drug Abuse Advisory Council and was associate administrator of the Office of Treatment Improvement (later the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services that works with state programs and community groups offering drug and alcohol treatment. In addition to serving as executive director of the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation (now StartTreatmentandRecoveryCenters) until his retirement in 2013, Dr. Primm was president of the UrbanResourceInstitute, which he founded in 1981 to provide career counseling and job training for addicts and to provide a safe haven
for victims of domestic violence. Dr. Primm was a long-standing member of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). He served either on the Executive Committee or the Board of the Committee onProblems of Drug Dependence (former name of CPDD) from 1973-1990. He received the J. Michael Morrison Award from The College in 1993. Aversion of this article appears in print on October 25, 2015, on pageA26 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Dr. Beny Primm, 87, Pioneer in Combating AIDS Epidemic.

Dr. Toby (Torbjorn) Jarbe (1946 2016) Dr. Toby Jarbe passed away on Wednesday November 16^th, 2016. Toby was born May 6, 1946, in Kristianstad, Sweden. He received his B.A. in 1969, his M.S., in 1972, and his Ph.D. in 1977, all in the field of Psychology at the University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden. Toby did research and taught at many universities, including the University of North Carolina, University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Hahnemann University, and Temple University. He joined the Center for Drug Discovery (CDD) at Northeastern University in 2005 as a Research Associate Professor, and by 2012 he had earned the role of Research Professor for the CDD in the Department of Pharmaceuticals. Toby was a dedicated behavioral scientist, with over 131 peerreviewed publications and numerous awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Stimulus Properties of Drugs and two Research Scientist Development awards from NIDA (one in 1993 and one in 2001). Additionally, he was awarded the Research Scientist Award for Alcohol and Drug Abuse by the Swedish Medical Council. Toby will always be remembered for the joyful, sarcastic, and inspiring scientist that he was known to be. It is without saying that he made his mark within the Center for Drug Discovery, as well as on our hearts. He will be missed and forever remembered.

Megan Roth Shroat (2016) was born in Regina,Saskatchewan, Canada, and baptized there at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. She was confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Madison, MN. She graduated Lac Qui Parle Valley HS in ‘94, Ham line University ‘98, received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2002, and was a Post Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University/University of Minnesota, later serving as an Adjunct Professor at Augsburg College and Le Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis.She is survived by husband Michael Shroat and sons Mikey and Jack; parents Tim and Margo Roth, Madison, MN; brother and sister-in-law Scot and Jennifer Roth and nieces Aubrey, Taygen, and Stella Roth, Dawson, MN; grandmother Lorraine Roth, Madison, MN; father- and mother-in- law John and Bev Shroat, Valparaiso, IN; mother-in-law Joan Shroat, Indianapolis, IN; special family friend Carolyn Goeke, Indianapolis, IN. Loved by many aunts, uncles and cousins, Megan enjoyed her family, friends, music, reading and research. She had a great sense of humor and always wanted to inspire her students. She felt fulfilled when her students enjoyed her class and achieved their goals. She and Mike are very proud of their boys, Mikey and Jack. She was special to many people in many different ways. She will be missed so very much by her family and friends. Her faith will take her home to a life of peace. We pray this will give her loving family strength.

If you would like to honor a CPDD member, please send photos, obituaries, and personal stories to info@cpdd.org.