Two Faculty Recognized by American Society of Addiction Medicine

At its 49th annual conference in San Diego, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) recognized two BUSM faculty members for their contributions. Assistant Dean of VA Affairs and Professor of Neurology Michael E. Charness, MD, received the R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award, and Professor of Psychiatry John Renner, MD, DFASAM, received the 2018 John P. McGovern Award.

COM Charness ASAMDr. Charness was recognized for his contributions in advancing the scientific understanding of alcoholism, its prevention and treatment. The R. Brinkley Smithers and Distinguished Scientist Award and Lecture was established by ASAM in 1995 as a lasting tribute to R. Brinkley Smithers, who influenced American alcoholism policy, theory and treatment. Through his dedication and philanthropy, he created a far greater understanding of this treatable disease.

Dr. Charness earned his BSc in Psychology from McGill University and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as resident in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and was resident and chief resident in Neurology and postdoctoral fellow in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Neurology.

Dr. Charness came to the VA as a staff neurologist in 1989 and served as Chief of Neurology at the Brockton-West-Roxbury VA and the VA Boston Healthcare System (1996-2003). He became Chief of Staff in 2003. He serves on the Chief of Staff Advisory Committee to the VA Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Health and is the VA’s representative on the Chief Medical Officer Group Steering Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

He has been a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), served as president of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), and chaired the Alcohol-Toxicology 3 Study Section. He was awarded the Frank Seixas Award of RSA, a MERIT Award from NIAAA, the Excellence Award from the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the Henry Rosett Award from the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group of RSA. His laboratory, with support from NIH and the VA, studies the mechanisms of alcohol toxicity in the nervous system and the development of drugs that block alcohol toxicity. He is scientific director of the NIAAA-funded Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and chairs the external advisory board for the NIH-funded Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. He has cared for patients with neurological complications of alcoholism and peripheral nerve disorders throughout his career.

COM Renner ASAMDr. Renner, who also serves as associate director of the Boston University Medical Center General Psychiatry Residency Program and director of the joint Boston University/VA Boston Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program, was recognized for his  contributions to public policy, treatment, research and prevention, which has increased understanding of the relationship of addiction and society. The award is sponsored by an endowment from the John P. McGovern Foundation.

Dr. Renner is president of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and vice-chair of the American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry. He graduated from Yale University and Case University School of Medicine. Following his psychiatry training, he served for two years in the US Navy and was Chief of Neuropsychiatry at the Naval Hospital, USS Repose, RVN.  Since 1979 he has worked at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where he is associate chief of psychiatry and directs their outpatient addiction treatment program.

Dr. Renner has been a member of ASAM since 2003 and was named a Distinguished Fellow (DFASAM) in 2015. From 2006 to 2008 he acted as Special Advisor to the Medical Specialty Action Group, a task force of the ASAM Board organized to recommend actions to establish addiction medicine as a medical specialty or subspecialty. Other professional activities have included his role as a founding board member of the Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Use Disorders. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA, where he has acted as Chair of the Council on Adult Psychiatry and Chair of the Council on Addiction Psychiatry. Among his awards are the Nyswander-Dole Award from the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, the W. Anderson Spickard, Jr, Excellence in Mentorship Award from the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, the Nancy CA Roeske Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Medical Student Education from the APA, and the Presidential Award of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.

Dr. Renner has written and lectured extensively on the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction. In 2010, Dr. Renner co-edited the “Handbook of Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment” for the American Psychiatric Press, Inc. The second edition of this volume was released in December 2017. He is a member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Clinical Advisory Committee of the Physician Health Service of the Massachusetts Medical Society and the faculty of the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions. He is a consultant to the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also is former medical director of the SAMHSA funded Physicians Clinical Support System-Buprenorphine.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine is a national medical specialty society representing over 4,300 physicians and associated professionals. Its mission is to increase access to and improve the quality of addiction treatment, to educate physicians, and other health care providers and the public, to support research and prevention, to promote the appropriate role of the physician in the care of patients with addictive disorders, and to establish Addiction Medicine as a specialty recognized by professional organizations, governments, physicians, purchasers and consumers of health care services and the general public. ASAM was founded in 1954, and has had a seat in the American Medical Association House of Delegates since 1988.