CADAS Medical Director Dr. John Standridge has been named to the inaugural group of board-certified addiction-medicine specialist by the American Board of Addiction Medicine(ABAM).

This accomplishment was achieved by only 1,240 doctors nationwide and was awarded at the ABAM conference in New Orleans earlier this month.

Executive Director of CADAS Dr. Paul Fuchcar said, "We are so proud to be associated with Dr. Standridge. It is an asset for both our clients and employees at CADAS to take advantage of his experience and education. CADAS continues to strive to provide the highest quality treatment and Dr. Standridge’s achievements certainly highlight our mission.

Dr. Standridge, who is also certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), maintains that “Physicians are often at a loss for what to do about substance abuse and addiction issues, and may even misdiagnose the problem. It is our hope to change this by creating a core group of specialized physicians across medical specialties. To this end, we also plan to continue the successful Addiction Medicine conference next spring.”

The Addiction Medicine conference is sponsored by the UT College of Medicine and CADAS, providing training to physicians, nurses, counselor and others interested in addictions.

The timing is right for standardizing and improving professional education in the field of addiction medicine, according to ABAM President Kevin B. Kunz, M.D. who pointed to a recent paradigm shift around addiction that has taken place in the medical community. "Over time, people have begun to recognize that this should look more like other medical specialties," said addiction researcher Richard Saitz, M.D, of the Boston University School of Medicine. "Years ago, addiction was not viewed as a health problem. In the past 10-12 years, enough people in the health community have recognized addiction as a health problem that attitudes have changed sharply."

"Years of scientific research have proven drug addiction is a brain disease caused by biological, environmental and developmental factors - a disease which can have far-reaching medical consequences," added Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Given the proper training, tools, and resources, physicians can be the first line of defense against substance abuse and addiction -- identifying drug use early, preventing its escalation to abuse and addiction, and referring patients in need to treatment."

"This will bring addiction as a disease the recognition that the rest of the country already has," said Dr. Kunz. "Essentially, medicine is catching up with the rest of society."