Council Seeks Nominations for 2015 Award Winners

Each year, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) recognizes individuals who have influenced the addiction field through policy, media, or their service to the organization. ASAM’s award program is comprised of the R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award, John P. McGovern Award on Addiction and Society, Public Policy Award, Medical-Scientific Program Committee Award, Media Award, Young Investigator Award, Annual Award and the Presidential Award.

Each award has a different process and committee for selecting their potential awardees. To expand the pool of nominees, The Nominations and Awards Council, in charge of choosing the John P. McGovern, Media and Annual Awards, would like to ask ASAM membership to nominate individuals for consideration.

“We want to make sure we are not missing out on individuals that are outside of the Council’s frame of reference,” Dr. Louis Baxter, Chair of the Nominations and Awards Council said. “It is important that we are honoring individuals that may not typically be recognized.”

The John P. McGovern, MD Award and Lecture on Addiction and Society was established to recognize and honor an individual who has made highly meritorious contributions to public policy, treatment, research, or prevention which has increased our understanding of the relationship of addiction and society. The award is sponsored by an endowment from the John P. McGovern Foundation.

The Media Award is bestowed for a newspaper, magazine, television, radio or website story, column, or program that improves the public’s understanding of addiction, addiction treatment, recovery, or the profession of addiction medicine.

Individuals are presented the Annual Award for outstanding contributions to the growth and vitality of our Society, for thoughtful leadership in the field, and for deep understanding of the art and science of addiction medicine and for expanding the frontiers of the field of addiction medicine and broadening our understanding of the addictive process, through research and innovation.

If you have a nominee for these three categories, please submit them to kmiller@asam.org with the award name; nominee’s name, address, business phone and email; and a short description of the nominee’s merits by Friday, July 18.

To see who has previously won these awards, please visit: http://www.asam.org/membership/awards-program.