"Advances in the Treatment of Alcoholism"

Charles P. O'Brien, a native of New Orleans, earned M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Tulane University. He received residency training at Harvard, Tulane, University of London, and University of Pennsylvania in internal medicine, neurology and psychiatry and became board certified in both neurology and psychiatry. Despite a large clinical responsibility as Chief of Psychiatry at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, he was able to establish and direct a clinical research program that has had a major impact on the treatment of addictive disorders. His research group has been responsible for numerous discoveries described in over 500 publications that have elucidated basic information on the nature of addiction and improved the results of treatment for addictive disorders. His work involves discovery of CNS changes involved in relapse, new medications, behavioral treatments and instruments for measuring the severity of addictive disorders. He led the discovery of the effects of alcohol on the endogenous opioid system and developed a completely new treatment for alcoholism. Many of his discoveries are now utilized in common practice for the treatment of addictive disorders throughout the world.