Spickard's expertise on substance abuse draws national honor
Dr. Anderson Spickard Jr.
Dr. W. Anderson Spickard Jr., professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, has been named to receive the prestigious John P. McGovern Lectureship Award of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA).
The lectureship recognizes Spickard's contributions to the education of health care professionals in the field of substance abuse. Spickard is the third winner of the lectureship, and was honored at a recent reception in Reston, Va.
Spickard has been active in the treatment of patients with substance abuse problems for more than 30 years, and is recognized as an expert in the area of addiction. His book, Dying For a Drink: What You Should Know About Addiction, has been published in numerous languages, including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian.
Spickard is currently completing an eight-year stint as the national program director of Fighting Back, a $45 million Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative designed to reduce the demand for alcohol and illegal drugs in 14 communities across the nation. He is the founding director of the Vanderbilt Institute for the Treatment of Addiction, and in 1990 he was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention by then Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan.
Spickard has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field of substance abuse, including VUMC's Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professorship and the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Mid-Cumberland Council on Alcohol and Drugs.
The AMERSA John P. McGovern Lectureship Award is named for Dr. John P. McGovern, founder of the McGovern Allergy Clinic and the McGovern Fund for the Behavioral Sciences and the John P. McGovern Foundation. McGovern's foundation endows more than 30 lectureships and awards at colleges and universities nationwide.