By BISHOP NASH
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — As Marshall University builds toward establishing itself as a global leader in addiction studies, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine announced Monday the arrival Dr. Daniel Langleben as its founding director of addiction sciences- a new position provided by a $1.25 million endowment by the Maier Foundation.
Langleben’s professorship not only reinforces the university’s spread of established addiction-based initiatives, but also lays the first groundwork for expansions to graduate-level addiction studies.
“We have the opportunity to be one of the world’s leading universities in solving addiction,” said Marshall President Jerome Gilbert as Langleben was introduced to university and city professionals at Drinko Library. “My goal is that Marshall will be known the world over as a university that stepped forward, took the problem head on, and solved it.”
Langleben is currently an Ivy League professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s celebrated Perelman School of Medicine – where he will remain until joining Marshall full time in August. Board-certified in psychiatry and neurology, Langleben is specialized in addiction psychiatry and has authored dozens of research papers focused on the brain’s dependence and reconfiguration under the influence of addiction.
“The addition of Dr. Langleben to our faculty allows for continued expansion of our exiting clinical experience with cutting-edge molecular research” said Dr. Joe Shapiro, dean of Marshall’s School of Medicine. “By doing so, we will press forward in the quest to find answers to some of the most devastating illnesses, like addiction, plaguing our generation.”
In a few words following the applause, Langleben pointed out that a personal interest of his, in coming to Huntington, is to practice science and medicine near where many patients live.
With an estimated 14 percent of Cabell County suffering from some form of substance use disorder, Gilbert said the Huntington area presents itself as the best possible laboratory to study and observe addition research.
“That’s a reason why I think we need to be the leader and step up – we have the environment to do the work in and actually make a difference,” Gilbert said. “That’s our commitment – we’re going to save these people and bring them back into society as best we can, and that’s what we’re committed to in our medical center.”
Langleben’s arrival is funded by a gift from the Maier Foundation, a Charleston-based private nonprofit benefiting higher education opportunities in West Virginia.
Follow reporter Bishop Nash on Twitter at @BishopNash.
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