Substance Abuse Treatment Research Center Philadelphia VA Medical Center and The University of Pennsylvania

The Substance Abuse Treatment Research Center in Philadelphia is jointly operated by the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The Center began as an outpatient drug dependence treatment and research program in 1971 directed by Dr Charles O'Brien and assisted by Dr George Woody. The general approach then and now has been that substance abuse and dependence are not unique or idiosyncratic disorders that should be studied and treated in isolation. The most productive means of developing truly effective treatments and prevention strategies would be to develop the interests of and liaison with a wide range of clinical, behavioral and laboratory scientists, thereby bringing the full benefits of these disciplines to bear on what are now recognized to be the most costly and complex health care problems in the world.