Deputy Director, Division of Treatment Research & Development,
National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH
Dr. Hawks has served as the Deputy Director of the Division of Treatment Research and Development (DTRD) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse since 1999 and as Chief of the Chemistry and Pharmaceutics Branch of the DTRD before that. During the 10 years prior to the formation of the DTRD in 1990, he was Chief of the Research Technology Branch in the Division of Preclinical Research at NIDA. He started his career as a chemist with the Federal Government in 1972 with the Division of Narcotic Addiction and Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health - the Division that evolved into NIDA - following his Ph.D. from Duke University in organic chemistry in 1970 and a postdoctoral appointment at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina working on cannabinoid chemistry. During his 30 years at NIDA, Dr. Hawks played a pivotal role in the Department´s response to marijuana herbicide eradication health issues that surfaced in the late 1970s, chaired the advisory committee that developed the Federal Governments guidelines for accreditation of laboratories engaged in urine drug testing in the 1980s, oversaw the NIDA Drug Supply Program and was closely involved with the establishment of NIDA´s medications development program in the early 1990s. Throughout these three decades, he has developed programs, monitored projects, and generally assisted NIDA´s grantees and contractors in a variety of areas of research and development associated with chemistry, pharmaceutics, and the development process of new medications for addiction treatment. He has had the rewarding experience of participating in the evolution of NIDA from its inception in 1972 to the present time and, in the process, being both a friend and colleague of Mr. Michael Morrison during NIDA´s early years.