I grew up in Chicago, and went to the University of Illinois for undergraduate school as well as medical school, earning my MD degree in 1967. I moved to Madison, Wisconsin where I finished my training and had a family medicine practice. While in Madison I became very interested in the problems and the treatment of alcoholics, their family members, and persons with other addictions. I decided to go into addiction medicine full time in 1981, even though there was no such officially designated specialty at that time. While in Wisconsin I was medical director of the first detox center in Madison for a time, and then became medical director of a private addiction treatment program which had both in-patient and out-patient components. In 1984 I moved to the Atlanta area where I became medical director of adult addiction services at a private hospital until 1994 when it became a victim of managed care. From 1994 until 2019 I had a private addiction medicine practice, and from 2017 until the present time I have been the medical director of the Berman Center, providing intensive out-patient and partial-hospital services for patients with addictive and mental health disorders. I am currently Board Certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine and am a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
I love books, and writing has been a hobby of mine which, until recently, took a back seat to my medical practice. I did manage to find the time to write Autobiography of a Georgia Cat, published in 2004, while still engaged in full-time practice. Semi-retirement has allowed me to spend much of my liberated time researching and writing The Twelve Step Pathway: A Heroic Journey of Recovery. I find people to be endlessly fascinating, and at their most interesting and admirable as they fight to overcome their challenges in life. Both of my books deal with such difficulties, and with the Heroic Journey as a blueprint for finding the “Road to Happy Destiny,” to use a phrase from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I look forward to exchanging ideas and learning more as I follow my own path. Please contact me with your thoughts, questions, or experiences. I would love to hear from you.