Anton Bizzell, MD
Anton C. Bizzell, MD, President and CEO of The Bizzell Group, has more than 20 years of combined clinical, research, health services, policy and management experiences with various private and public organizations and agencies within HHS, including SAMHSA and NIH. Most of his career has been spent on public health issues related to access and quality of medical, substance abuse and behavioral health services. He has extensive experience in collaborating and interacting with health professional and community organizations as well as expert knowledge in identifying and treating medical diseases in the fields of primary care, mental health and substance abuse.
As a former medical officer in the CSAT’s Division of Pharmacologic, Dr. Bizzell led efforts in the area of prescription drug use, misuse and abuse for the agency, which includes collaborating with other federal agencies such as NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and other federal, national, state and professional organizations. In addition, he provided medical and clinical advice for the 1550 methadone treatment programs in the United States, as well as oversaw national regulatory and educational efforts on buprenorphine, a medication-assisted treatment for treating individuals dependent on heroin and prescription drugs containing opiates. Other accomplishments include serving on the Advisory Board for the Federation of State Medical Board’s book entitled Responsible Opioid Prescribing: A Physician’s Guide and co-authoring “Ethical Issues in Addiction Practice,” a chapter in the Principles of Addiction Medicine, with CSAT Director Dr. Clark. Dr. Bizzell also wrote A Federal Perspective on the Abuse of Prescription Stimulants for Pediatric Annals and an article for Psychiatric Annals.
Dr. Bizzell served as the Medical Officer at NIAAA in the Office of Collaborative Research and later the Office of Translation Research and Education where he led numerous national efforts in screening and brief interventions and initiatives aimed at increasing screening for alcohol in emergency departments, primary care offices, universities and other settings. He provided expert scientific, clinical, and administrative support for research and educational projects and activities related to the Institute’s initiatives to address physician and other allied health professions continuing education, screening and early intervention and related special projects in health disparities and other areas. In addition, he provided leadership and consultation on health education programs such as the educational, screening and referral research program-National Alcohol Screening Day and administered, evaluated, and improved health and continuing professional education programs for health care providers. He also served as a co-investigator in a research study that assessed alcohol use in urban areas focusing on minority women of child-bearing age in primary clinics. While at NIAAA, he served on various committees such as the Surgeon General’s Medical Leaders Conference on Alcohol Planning Committee; Trans-NIH Community Health Fair Committee; Closing the Health Gap/Take a Love One to the Doctor Day, A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at US Colleges Committee; and the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. In addition, he was appointed by the NIH Director Elias Zerhouni to serve on the NIH Diversity Council which advises the Director and management officials on policies, programs, and areas of diversity, recruitment, administration, and management for a workforce of 18,000 individuals.
He currently serves on the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) National Advisory Council (NAC) and the Joint SAMHSA NAC. Previously, he served on the Coalition on Physician Education in Substance Abuse (COPE) and the National Football League’s Substance Abuse Committee. He received his B.A in biology from the University of Virginia, his M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and his postgraduate training in family medicine from Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He continues to serve on the faculty of Howard University College of Medicine in the Department of Community Health and Family Practice as an adjunct faculty member.