Charles O’Keeffe (right) co-created the International Programme in Addiction Studies with Robert Balster, Ph.D. Dr. Balster’s previous scholarship support inspired O’Keeffe to make a gift to create a new scholarship to ensure future students can benefit from the world’s leading program in addiction studies.
Ensuring Global Opportunity in Addiction Studies
Written by Paul Brockwell Jr. | Photo by Daniel Sangjib Min
Charles O’Keeffe sees opportunity where most see obstacles.
A single phrase in a 1914 federal law made it illegal for physicians to treat opioid use disorder with buprenorphine, an opiate that demonstrated strong potential to help patients curb cravings and live normal lives during a surge in heroin addiction later in the 20th century.
“By the time I started working on this policy change in the 1990s,” O’Keeffe said, “physicians could not prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opiate dependence, despite the fact that it was the most promising drug in the last 50 years.”
Most of the federal bureaucracy and stakeholders had aligned against the idea. The sole exception was the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. Law enforcement agencies opposed it. Industry was not interested in developing out-of-patent buprenorphine without a viable market, and the treatment community was opposed because it would allow any physician to treat patients instead of specifically designated methadone centers with a vested interest in keeping their status as the only option.
O’Keeffe was undeterred, and he described the arduous plodding process as “fun” while he worked to make the drug legally available, overcome opposition to its use and craft language that was passed in the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000. The bill allowed qualified physicians to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid addiction.
It took an act of Congress, and many say O’Keeffe was the force behind that act. He began his career in pharmaceutical sales before becoming a quiet giant in the field of addiction policy, advising three U.S. presidents on international health and drug policy issues and serving as deputy director for international affairs at the Office of Drug Abuse Policy during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.
After his retirement from industry, O’Keeffe put his global contacts to good use when he was recruited by Robert Balster, Ph.D., to co-create the International Programme in Addiction Studies. Dr. Balster helped build the curriculum and secure academic approval as a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the VCU School of Medicine while O’Keeffe traveled around the world to build relationships and recruit elite faculty.
The two created a program delivered entirely online that continues today, building and connecting an international community of practice that shares the latest evidence-based information on addiction science, modes of treatment and prevention. IPAS is a unique partnership of three universities that are global leaders in researching addiction science: King’s College London, the University of Adelaide in Australia and VCU.
“It’s the only program like this in the world,” O’Keeffe said.
Now retired, both O’Keeffe and Dr. Balster want to ensure the outstanding legacy of IPAS continues. After learning that Dr. Balster made a donation to create a student scholarship, O’Keeffe has decided to make a generous commitment of his own that will create the Charles B. O’Keeffe Jr. Scholarship.
“It is very prestigious for the IPAS program to have a scholarship named for Charles O’Keeffe, considering his global reputation for innovation in addiction treatment and policy,” Dr. Balster said.
The endowed scholarship will ensure cost is not a barrier for promising students, especially from low-resource countries. O’Keeffe believes it’s more important than ever to develop future leaders in addiction treatment and policy.
“Addiction is a disease that’s been left out of the picture because few people want to treat it,” he said. “This program was created to help change the mindset on addiction as a medical issue and to help patients and families around the world who struggle with the horrible effects.”
If you would like to support scholarships for the International Programme in Addiction Studies at the VCU School of Medicine, please contact Nate Bick, executive director of development, at 804-827-4939 or ngbick@vcu.edu.
