President's Welcome, AAAP State of the Association, and Keynote Speaker - Petros Levounis, MD, APA Past President - Confronting Addiction: From Prevention to Recovery

Abstract

In May, Dr. Petros Levounis finished his one-year term as the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) first Addiction Psychiatrist to serve as President. During his time, he raised awareness about important issues ranging from LGBTQ+ to parity and addiction with his priorities being:

Substance use disorders and addictive behaviors, bringing together diverse constituencies to offer education, treatment and support to patients, families and practitioners, as well as to extend the APA’s reach to teachers, faith leaders and politicians.
Expand the workforce through building more residencies and developing innovative career pathways for young psychiatrists.
Fight for parity in reimbursement of clinical services on par with other medical specialties.
Amplify the psychiatrist’s voice on critical social issues, such as systemic racism, homophobia, and climate change.

Dr. Elie Aoun will interview Dr. Levounis about his work as President to advance psychiatry and elevate general psychiatrists and the public’s understanding of addiction issues.

Presenter

Petros Levounis, MD, American Psychiatric Association - Past President

Petros Levounis, MD, MA, serves as professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean for professional development at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also the chief of service at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Levounis came to Rutgers from Columbia University where he served as director of the Addiction Institute of New York from 2002 to 2013.

Dr. Levounis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he studied chemistry and biophysics before receiving his medical education at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he researched the effects of social class on patient-physician relationships in Oxford, England, and received an MA degree in sociology from Stanford. In 1994, he moved to New York City to train in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia earning the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award and went on to complete his fellowship in addiction psychiatry at New York University.

Dr. Levounis has written numerous articles, monographs, and book chapters; has lectured extensively on addiction topics throughout the United States and abroad; and has been interviewed by CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, The Martha Stewart Radio Show, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others.

Dr. Levounis has served on the boards of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and from 2005 to 2009 chaired the national Committee on Addiction Treatment of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Dr. Levounis is a Betty Ford Scholar, a recipient of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists’ Distinguished Service Award and the ASAM Educator of the Year Award, and a distinguished fellow of the APA and ASAM. In 2017, he was elected as an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association. He served as the 151st president of the APA.

Dr. Levounis has published fourteen books including the self-help paperback “Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister—and Not Lose Yourself,” the textbook of “Substance Dependence and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Disorders,” “Motivational Interviewing for Clinical Practice,” “The Behavioral Addictions,” “Becoming Mindful,” “LGBTQ Mental Health: The Spectrum of Gender and Sexuality,” “Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder,” now in its second edition, and “Technological Addictions.” Dr. Levounis is currently working on the first textbook of Nature Therapy, which is going to be available in early 2022. His books have been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Dr. Levounis is married to actor Lukas Hassel and lives in New York City.

Summary

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