Gold named psychiatry chairman
Mark Gold, M.D., the Dizney Eminent Scholar, distinguished professor of psychiatry and chief of addiction medicine with the University of Florida's College of Medicine and UF's McKnight Brain Institute, was named chairman of the department of psychiatry, according to an announcement from Bruce C. Kone, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine. "I reached this decision after careful review of Dr. Gold's prolific accomplishments, outstanding performance as acting and then interim chair, and his vision for the department, and after consulting with departmental faculty, College of Medicine leaders, the faculty council, and national and international authorities in academic medicine and psychiatry, who overwhelmingly endorsed my decision," Kone said. "I feel extremely fortunate that Dr. Gold has agreed to take on the ambitious task of leading the department to great national prominence." A leading authority in addiction medicine, Gold's work has changed the medical field's understanding of how drugs of abuse from tobacco to cocaine to narcotics function in the human brain. His efforts have led to new treatments, pharmacological screening models, and treatments for addicts. He has been a pioneer in the field of bench-to-bedside addictions research and used these principles to explain obesity and human response to highly palatable foods. "Addiction, behavioral and mental health problems are the nation's top public health issues and some of the most treatable and cost-effective to treat," Gold said. "Addiction research and treatment has grown considerably here at the McKnight Brain Institute, Shands at Vista and the Florida Recovery Center. In the process, our FRC program has grown to national prominence and our research has helped long-suffering patients and reduced stigma. We hope to use what we have learned over the past 15-plus years to foster the development of a broad range of high-impact research and nationally recognized clinical treatment services in child, adolescent, college health, geriatric, community, addiction, forensic, and veterans' psychiatry." In addition to a long history of research collaborations across medical specialties and institutions, Gold has been an outstanding mentor to students and faculty at all levels, and a forceful advocate of the career development of underrepresented minorities in the health professions, according to the dean. Chief of addiction medicine at UF since 1990, Gold has gone from being the sole member of the division to leading more than a dozen full-time, clinical physicians who treat drug abuse and dependence, and an equal number of researchers in the fields of proteomics, functional imaging, genomics, public health, impaired professionals and nanotechnology. Among other projects, he is currently working with McKnight Brain Institute researchers on methods and inventions to reverse the neurotoxic, inflammatory and other effects of drugs of abuse. "I congratulate Dr. Gold and the College of Medicine for making this very important appointment," said Dennis A. Steindler, Ph.D., executive director of the McKnight Brain Institute. "Dr. Gold is a world-renown clinical investigator, dedicated physician and leader, and someone I very much look forward to working with for many years to come." Among a portfolio of honors and recognitions, Dr. Gold received the prestigious Nelson J. Bradley Career Service Award in 2006 for leadership in addiction treatment from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers. In 2007, he was named the Dizney Eminent Scholar at UF to champion the university's efforts to address major health challenges facing Americans, including smoking, overeating and obesity, secondhand smoke and drugs and alcohol. An author of more than 900 medical articles, chapters, and abstracts and 12 professional books on a wide variety of psychiatric research subjects, Gold has received multiple UF honors for exemplary teaching, mentoring minorities and faculty research. He is s a current member of the College of Medicine's alumni board and is honored on the college's "Wall of Fame." Nationally, he had been honored as a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Pharmacology and of the American Psychiatric Association, the 2005 recipient of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Founder's Award, and DARE's 2007 Public Service Award. He serves as "UpToDate's" Section Editor in Addiction Medicine. "Dr. Gold has had a stellar career in academics and leadership, and he has promoted the values and missions of the College of Medicine in an outstanding manner," Kone said. "The department of psychiatry is in exceptionally capable hands."
