Addiction medicine specialist Gastfriend joins TRI

The Treatment Research Institute (TRI) announced this week that addiction medicine specialist David R. Gastfriend, MD, has joined the science-to-service organization as a senior adviser. Gastfriend, certified in addiction medicine by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and in addiction psychiatry by the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry, most recently oversaw research, education and publication efforts around pharmaceutical development at Alkermes, Inc., maker of the injectable form of naltrexone sold as Vivitrol.

Other roles that Gastfriend has served during his medical career include directing the Addiction Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and teaching at Harvard University as an associate professor of psychiatry.

Gastfriend had worked at Alkermes since 2005. He also has served as vice president of the Washington Circle Group, a nonprofit organization of experts promoting use of performance measurement in addiction treatment and prevention.

“TRI has benefited from Dr. Gastfriend's advice and great research ideas for more than a decade—now we are excited to work more closely with him to develop new projects,” TRI chief executive A. Thomas McLellan, PhD, said in a news release.