Dr. Herbert Kleber – Google Doodle is celebrating American psychiatrist and pioneering substance abuse researcher

Today’s Google Doodle is celebrating Dr. Herbert Kleber, an American psychiatrist, and pioneering substance abuse researcher, today on the 23rd anniversary of his election to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (previously the Institute of Medicine). His pioneering work changed the landscape of addiction treatment, enabling patients to be diagnosed and treated instead of disgraced sparing endless lives all the while.

“Of course I’m an optimist,” psychiatrist Dr. Herbert Kleber once remarked. “How else do I work with addicts for 40 years?”

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 19, 1934, Dr. Herbert Kleber volunteered for the United States Public Health Service in 1964. He was assigned to a jail hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, where a great many inmates were being treated for addiction. Dr. Herbert Kleber started to build up a new methodology after he saw most patients will backslide after the treatment.

Portraying his technique as “evidence-based treatment,” Dr. Herbert Kleber saw addiction as a medical condition rather than a moral failure. Instead of punishing or disgracing patients, as many of his ancestors in the field had done, Dr. Herbert Kleber focused on the significance of the research, keeping numerous patients making progress toward recuperation and maintain a strategic distance from relapse through the cautious utilization of medicine and therapeutic communities.

With cautious utilization of medication and therapy, Dr. Herbert Kleber helped incalculable patients to avoid relapse. He didn’t punish or disgrace patients, as many before him had done.

Dr. Herbert Kleber’s prosperity was seen by President George HW Bush, who designated him Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy. As co-founder of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Dr. Herbert Kleber was a leader in reframing the field of substance misuse research and treatment as a medical discipline.

At the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he and his then-wife Dr. Marian W. Fischman built up America’s leading research program on substance misuse. During his 50-year career, Dr. Herbert Kleber created several articles, composed significant books, and mentored various other medical professionals in the field of addiction treatment. A self-depicted “perpetual optimist,” Dr. Herbert Kleber changed the landscape of addiction treatment, enabling patients to be diagnosed and treated as opposed to disgraced—and sparing incalculable lives all the while.

A self-described “perpetual optimist,” Dr. Herbert Kleber in his 50-year career authored many articles and wrote significant books for the treatment of addicts.

This Google Doodle was represented by Massachusetts-based artist and author of the graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo Jarrett J Krosoczka.

In 1996, Dr. Herbert Kleber was elected to be an individual from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science, and the Google Doodle was planned to respect the 23 year anniversary of his election.

Dr. Herbert Kleber passed away on October 5, 2018, at 84 years old. At the time of his passing, Dr. Kleber was traveling with his wife and children in Santorini, Greece.

The Google Doodle shows up only a few days before the first anniversary of his demise.