Tuesday, October
7:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m.

Please join us for the centerpiece of our Conference, a moving tribute to those individuals who have been nominated and selected by their peers for extraordinary service in the opioid treatment community. These successful Award recipients have devoted themselves to improving the lives of patients in our treatment system. Dr. Vincent Dole and Dr. Marie Nyswander were the first recipients of this Award in 1983. The Association has been responsible for bestowing this honor since the first Regional Conference of 1984 in New York.

The 2010 American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence National Conference recognizes outstanding contributions to opioid treatment by honoring the following individuals with the Nyswander/Dole Award.

Miriam Ochshorn Adelson, MD Nevada
Dr. Adelson’s medication-assisted treatment experience began in 1968 when she was sent by the Ministry of Health in Israel to work with Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek in New York . In 1993, she founded a substance abuse treatment and research clinic in Israel that provides methadone maintenance treatment, and in 2000, she opened a clinic in Las Vegas , Nevada . Dr. Adelson’s Las Vegas clinic is an outstanding research and treatment clinic that provides care and continues her long history of research concerning medication assisted treatment. She continues to perform research, including treatment outcome evaluation studies, studies of relationship of methadone dose with serum levels, and collaborative research studies of human molecular genetics related to opioid addiction and treatment.

Lawrence S. Brown, Jr., MD - New York
Dr. Brown’s professional career is rooted at Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation based in Brooklyn , where he remains a champion of comprehensive treatment of opioid addiction. He did pioneering work in pharmacotherapy interventions such as LAAM and Buprenorphine and was at the vanguard of introducing HIV treatment and prevention into ARTC’s opioid treatment programs.

He spent two terms as President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and is a powerful advocate of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of addiction. Dr. Brown freely shares his expertise with treatment providers and with regulators at the state and federal level. He is as willing to listen as he is to offer his own view, always focusing on what is best for the patient.

Gregory Carlson - Minnesota
In over 40 years as a medication-assisted treatment professional, Mr. Carlson has worked to set the standard for patient-oriented care in a field where much has changed. He began collecting and using data to determine how it influenced patient care in 1973 when this was not the standard of care. Through direct patient care, managing medication-assisted treatment programs, educating clinical and other staff at programs, and research, Mr. Carlson has demonstrated his commitment to the field. His level of dedication has elevated him to be the go-to person in Minnesota for methadone related issues; providing assistance to new programs, local communities and regulatory agency staff. He believes care should be about the patients and everyone should work towards that goal.

Sergey Dvoryak , MD - Ukraine
In 1999, Dr. Dvoryak became a Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland . This opportunity led Dr. Dvoryak to a perspective of substance abuse as a public health issue, which should be prioritized in accordance with its impact on society. Upon his return to his native Ukraine , Dr. Dvoryak worked to start both buprenorphine treatment and methadone treatment to address the growing opioid use problem. He is currently working to create a system of monitoring and evaluation of substance abuse treatment in the Ukraine , while providing education to other professionals about the importance of substance abuse treatment to public health.

Penny Hall, RPh - Georgia
During her years as a retail pharmacist, Ms. Hall came to see addiction from a different perspective before she began to work in the field. She witnessed countless patients receive addictive medication that might not have been necessary. Answering an ad for a part-time pharmacist she was exposed to methadone treatment, inspiring her to become a Sponsor of her own clinic in 1991. During her work in the field, Penny was one of the founders of the Georgia methadone providers group, was the first AATOD delegate for the state of Georgia, has worked to mitigate the Georgia Board of Pharmacy’s restrictive regulations on narcotic treatment programs, and was the impetus behind the creation of Methadone Treatment Awareness Day in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Roland C. Lamb, MAOM - Pennsylvania
Throughout his career as a provider, administrator and current Director of the Office of Addiction Services in Philadelphia , Mr.Lamb has remained an outspoken advocate for medication-assisted treatment. He continues to wage a campaign to address community opposition and stigma to opioid treatment. He supported, advocated for and funded a program that allows the methadone maintained person to continue in treatment while incarcerated in the Philadelphia Prison System. Mr. Lamb also encourages patients to become more active in their treatment and develop self advocacy skills to influence public policy. He also formed a Collaborative comprised of medication-assisted treatment providers, regulators and other government officials to improve communication and standards of care within medication-assisted treatment.

Peter William Lee, MA - Vermont
Mr. Lee was Vermont ’s first state employee to begin publicly advocating for medication-assisted treatment in the mid 1990s. At that time, this position was strongly opposed by his superiors and the highest ranking elected officials. At some risk to his career in state government, he assisted in organizing proponents of methadone treatment and began educating Legislators and others regarding the benefits of this treatment. In 2002, Mr. Lee was successful and Vermont ’s first methadone clinic opened. Since that time, Mr. Lee has worked to grow the number of clinics to five throughout the state. Mr. Lee has also been invaluable in increasing the number of physicians who are trained to provide office-based opioid treatment utilizing buprenorphine.

John J. McCarthy, MD - California
During his 30 years in the addiction field, Dr. McCarthy has remained dedicated to providing quality treatment in a supportive and respectful manner. He is appreciated for his passionate advocacy for methadone patients and his commitment to integrating psychiatric and other medical care into treatment. Dr. McCarthy works to educate other professionals, is a practicing psychiatrist, a researcher and a member of numerous advisory committees. As a clinician researcher, he understands the importance of using data to improve care and has conducted numerous studies at his own clinic without external funding. During presentations he is able to speak to audiences with a wide range of educational background and has worked hard to change public policy from a punitive to a public health model.

Theodora Binion Taylor, ThD - Illinois
As a regulatory official, Dr. Binion Taylor has made great strides in integrating substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS services, and child welfare throughout treatment services in Illinois . She increased technology utilization throughout Illinois’ treatment system to boost access to care and capture treatment outcome data. Dr. Binion Taylor supports training to assist providers in implementing evidence based treatment practices to enhance the quality of care for patients throughout Illinois . She is also a compassionate advocate for medication-assisted treatment and has fought tirelessly to reduce stigma and educate state leaders about the effectiveness of this treatment modality. During the past two years, Dr. Binion Taylor has successfully ensured medication-assisted treatment funding remains available, despite political pressure to reduce it.

Friend of the Field Award
The prestigious Friend of the Field Award was established by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, Inc. Board of Directors. This award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the field of opioid treatment by an individual or institution whose work, although not directly related to methadone treatment, has had a significant impact on our field. The 2010 Friend of the Field Award has been awarded to:

C. West Huddleston
C. “West” Huddleston III, is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP). Prior to being appointed CEO, Mr. Huddleston served as the first Deputy Director and then Director of the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) for nine years.

During his 11 years of service at NADCP, Mr. Huddleston has delivered over 350 keynote speeches in 44 states and eight countries; authored 16 publications and briefs; developed and delivered 11 national training curricula; briefed numerous state legislatures, testified before U.S. Congress, and international Parliaments; and has been interviewed repeatedly by radio, television, and print media on topics related to alternative justice, alcohol and other drug abuse/dependence, drug policy, crime and public safety. Mr. Huddleston is regarded as a pioneer in drug courts and other alternative sentencing strategies having spent more than a decade providing vision and leadership throughout the world.

Prior to his work at NADCP/NDCI, Mr. Huddleston worked for eight years as a board licensed clinician with misdemeanor and felony offenders at the county, state and federal levels. During this period, Mr. Huddleston worked throughout the Tennessee and Oklahoma justice systems to develop, implement and operate numerous offender-specific, in-custody and community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. Mr. Huddleston served as the director of two community corrections programs and as the interim director of a 125-bed pre-release correctional center.

Mr. Huddleston serves as an advisor and/or consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Organization of American States (OAS) and as a distinguished faculty member of the National Judicial College .

Richard Lane/Robert Holden Patient Advocacy Award
Richard Lane was a long-term heroin user who, upon release from prison in 1967, was instrumental in establishing one of the Nation’s first methadone treatment programs. In 1974, he became the Executive Director of Man Alive and later served as Vice President of the American Methadone Treatment Association and as Vice Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Maryland . Mr. Lane was a passionate advocate for methadone treatment and, by disclosing his own treatment experiences, provided inspiration to patients and colleagues alike.

Robert Holden was also a recovering heroin user, who later became the Director of PIDARC, an outpatient methadone treatment program in the District of Columbia . He later served as the Vice President of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, succeeding Richard Lane ’s term of office. This award was established in 1995 and recognizes extraordinary achievements in patient advocacy.

Lisa Mojer-Torres, JD
Ms. Torres’ contributions, in her community and nationally, have had an immense impact on awareness of medication-assisted treatment and recovery. She is a tireless advocate for the dignity and rights of people seeking care and in long-term recovery from addiction herself. Ms. Torres is currently the Consumer and Recovery Advocate for New Jersey ’s Division of Addiction Services and through this position works to bring the voices of people receiving services into all aspects of the Division’s activities. She has developed and presented trainings to the public that integrate her personal recovery experiences with the need for transformation of systems of care centered on the rights and needs of individuals. She sits on many recovery oriented committees, boards, and has held multiple national advisory board positions.

The 2010 Awards Banquet is supported through a grant from Covidien-Mallinckrodt.