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Dr. David Stern, is the senior member of the group whose passion to change care for patients with addiction stems from the loss of his son Alan in 2008, from a combination of mental health and Substance Use Disorder (SUD). 

At the time, Dr. Stern was Vice-President for Health Affairs & Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, and leader of University of Cincinnati Physicians. Despite his position at the top of a hierarchy of healthcare facilities and physicians, he was unable to secure the integrated behavioral, addiction medicine and physical health care that Alan needed. This experience inspired him to develop a treatment model that would have benefited Alan and would be accessible to a wide group of patients. 

Dr. Stern moved to Tennessee as Executive Dean and Vice-Chancellor of Health Affairs in 2011. Soon thereafter, he formed the Center for Addiction Science. This Center developed a fellowship program in addiction medicine that trained Dr. Hamm and Dr. Blackstock. 

The Center received the first designation as “Center of Excellence” from The Addiction Medicine Foundation in 2016. Dr. Stern was invited to a White House meeting in Washington DC to present the model of care employed by the Center. In October, 2018, he presented the evolution of this model to the Senate Presidents Forum (of State Legislatures).