title: Lindblad, Richard interview conducted by Campbell/Spillane
Creators: name: Campbell, Nancy
Publisher: name: University of Michigan
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Abuse liability; Addiction; Addiction neuroscience; Addiction research; Behavioral pharmacology; Drug abuse; Drug dependence; Ethics of addiction research; Medication assisted treatment; Substance abuse disorder; Substance abuse treatment
subject: Health behavior and health education; History
subject: Humanities
subject: FOS: Humanities
subject: Health Sciences

description: Richard A. Lindblad, DrPH, is a retired health services administrator and drug abuse epidemiologist who devoted more than 30 years to the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that is concerned with public health. He was first stationed at the USPHS Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, one of the only two existing federal facilities that treated individuals addicted to narcotic drugs. During his professional career as a Public Health Commissioned Officer he applied for training outside the service and earned both a master's and a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University. Early in his career, he was selected by the US Assistant Surgeon General, Dr. Sherman Kieffer, as one of three officers to be brought to Washington DC and assigned to initiate and facilitate the implementation of the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act of 1966. This law was the first federal legislation designed to provide treatment at the local level. Many of today's substance abuse treatment centers grew out of the community programs that Dr. Lindblad helped to establish. As a Public Health Service Commissioned Officer, he held several senior level positions including that of the Associate Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, (NIDA) a position he held for ten years. As NIDA's Associate Director for Policy and Program Development he was able to design or supervise many national treatment, prevention and epidemiological initiatives including the first national drug abuse treatment outcome prospective study, (TOPS). He also directed NIDA's International Office and in that capacity and in cooperation with the State Department and the Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey program of the National Institutes of Health, he designed and supervised the development of NIDA's Visiting Scientist program, an initiative that trains professionals from other countries in the science and research relating to substance abuse etiology, epidemiology, and treatment. Additionally, Dr. Lindblad has authored several books and published articles in various scholarly journals. One of his early research studies, The Self-Concept of White Middle Socioeconomic Status Addicts: Controlled Study (1974) represented one of the first efforts to identify antecedents of behavior as correlates with later substance abuse. This early study had a significant influence on the emphasis of some of the nation's substance prevention efforts. During his career he was a frequent consultant to the United Nations and the World Health Organization in their efforts to address the world-wide epidemic of substance abuse. As a consultant he designed and supervised the creation of the United Nations, International Drug Abuse Assessment System, (IDAAS) a world-wide attempt to record the nature and extent of substance abuse among participating countries. Also, as a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization, (PAHO) he directed an epidemiological effort designed to measure the nature and extent of substance abuse among certain central and South American countries. After retiring from the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, grade 06, he focused his efforts on providing assistance to substance abuse prevention and treatment among the Appalachian regions of Kentucky and West Virginia. Source: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/462631/richard-arthur-lindblad-drph-presented-with-the-albert-nelson-marquis-lifetime-achievement-award-by-marquis-whos-who Accessed 12 Mar 2023.