August 13, 2009

Six NYU School of Medicine physicians are among the first in the country to be certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine, a new independent medical specialty board. The American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) will certify physicians from several specialties, including emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, preventive medicine, psychiatry, neurology and surgery as addiction specialists. Addiction-related board certification was previously only available to psychiatrists, offered by the psychiatry and neurology board. ABAM sets standards for physician education, assesses physicians' knowledge, and requires and tracks life-long continuing education.

Although one in five Americans entering the healthcare system has a substance abuse problem, there has never been a medical specialty board, drawn from all areas of medicine, dedicated to certifying addiction specialists. Now, patients have a way to find specialized medical care for substance use disorders related to alcohol, tobacco and other addicting drugs, including some prescription medications.

"Substance abuse and dependence take a tremendous toll, yet too often persons who are affected do not find their way to effective treatment. In extending board certification to the practice of addiction medicine, the ABAM has acknowledged the expertise involved in this field, and patients can look forward to improvements in access to and quality of substance abuse-related care across a broad array of settings," said Marc Gourevitch, MD, MPH, the Dr. Adolph and Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine, and professor of psychiatry, at the NYU School of Medicine.

NYU Langone Medical Center created a Center of Excellence on Addiction in 2008 to investigate new ways to diagnose, prevent, and treat behavioral addictions to gambling, eating disorders and sexual risk-taking, as well as use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit and prescribed drugs. Together, these addictions lead to more death and disability than any other preventable health condition. The center draws on expertise from NYU as well as from prestigious programs at partner institutions: the Nathan Kline Institute, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the New York Academy of Medicine, and NYU affiliates Bellevue Hospital Center and the Manhattan-VA New York Harbor Healthcare System.

New York University School of Medicine ABAM certified physicians are David W. Brook, MD, professor in the department of psychiatry (Brook Group); Jamie Grodzicki, MD, clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry; Marc Galanter, MD, professor in the department of psychiatry; Marc Gourevitch, MD, MPH, the Dr. Adolph and Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine and professor in the department of psychiatry; Joshua Lee, MD, assistant professor in the department of medicine; and Robert Wolski, MD, clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry.

For more information about NYU Langone Medical Center's Center of Excellence for Addiction, please call 212-404-3555.

Media Inquiries:

Lorinda Klein
212-404-3555 (office) | 917-693-4846 (cell)
lorindaann.klein@nyumc.org