Editorial Comment:    

This about a graceful but unwanted departure.  This past week, Penny Mills, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, announced her wish to retire in June of 2020.  She will conclude her 10th year with us having done all that we could want and more, more even that we had wit to ask.  With characteristic professional commitment, she has provided us fully 9 months in which she will aid in the selection of a successor.   She then joins her husband in what is mistakenly called a retirement, but is more a pursuit of newer aims.  Samples of her accomplishments in less than a decade follow; in this time her governance has resulted in magnificent growth for the organization:

• The membership has greater than doubled from fewer than 3,000 in 2010 to over 6,500 in 2019 –to include the addition of Associate Members in 2018.
• The number of staff members has increased from 15 to over 50.
• The headquarters relocated and expanded to a 12,000 square-foot professional office in Rockville, MD.
• The reach of ASAM’s educational activities has grown from 6,334 clinicians through 13 activities in 2010, to 36,892 clinicians and 250 activities in 2018. The attendance at ASAM’s signature event, the ASAM Annual Conference, has tripled from 838 to almost 2,500.
• ASAM’s voice on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures has increased substantially with the growth of its Government Relations team and its leadership of multi-stakeholder coalitions such as the Coalition to Stop Opioid Overdose (CSOO).
• ASAM’s quality improvement activities including the release of new and updated guidelines, tools and resources have expanded both in number and in depth.  The number of textbooks has doubled, the flagship journal, Journal of Addiction Medicine, has increased its frequency of publication and its scope, and the variety and quality of ASAM’s other periodicals have been acclaimed.

From her official biography:  “Ms. Mills has served in leadership positions with a range of health care organizations including the American College of Cardiology, where she held a senior position for 15 years. She joined ASAM from Avalere Health- a leading advisory firm focusing on the intersection of health policy and business strategy; where she served as Vice President for three years. Ms. Mills received a BA in Psychobiology from Oberlin College and an MBA and Sloan Certification in Health Sciences Administration from Cornell University.”

While the ASAM Board of Directors (BOD) works with Penny to ensure a smooth transition, she will continue to focus on the Society’s business and strategic priorities.  She comments, “It’s been a privilege and an honor for me to serve as ASAM’s CEO during a critical time for the growth and advancement of the field of addiction medicine.  The organization is stronger than ever through its volunteer leadership and a highly professional and committed team of staff members. I look forward to new opportunities to contribute as I move into a new phase of my life.”

…The Society’s fiscal health is more secure than at any time in its 65-year history.  We are no longer supplicants, as much as we are institutional benefactors and mentors.   This is creditable both to Penny and to her nurturance of intelligent, assiduous staff members

Emily Dickinson responds to my search for a metaphor for Penny’s role, with the following:

The Props assist the House

Until the House is built

And then the Props withdraw

And adequate, erect, the house support itself

And cease to recollect

The Auger and the Carpenter –

Just such a prospect

Hath the Perfected Life –

A past of Plank and Nail

And slowness – then the Scaffolds drop

Affirming it a Soul.

- Editor-in-Chief: William Haning, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM