Screengrab via The Department of Psychiatry at Columbia UniversityDr. Herbert Kleber pictured in March 2014.

Dr. Herbert Kleber is the famed psychiatrist who is featured in the Google Doodle on October 1. He is hailed for his pioneering work in the field of addiction treatment, and he discovered new methods to treat individuals with heroin, cocaine, prescription, alcohol, or marijuana problems. October 1st would have been the 23rd anniversary of Klebers election to the National Academy of Medicine.

During his 50-year career, Dr. Kleber authored hundreds of articles, wrote important books, and mentored numerous other medical professionals in the field of addiction treatment, Google states. A self-described perpetual optimist, Dr. Kleber changed the landscape of addiction treatment, allowing patients to be diagnosed and treated rather than shamedand saving countless lives in the process.

Heres what you need to know about Dr. Herbert Kleber:

Kleber was born on June 19, 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mother raised bonds, while his father ran a family luggage business called Kleber Trunk and Bag. The business specialized in manufacturing soldiers footlockers during World War II. Klebers father had trained to be a pharmacist earlier his life, and he encouraged his son to take up medicine from an early age.

According to the Center on Addiction, Klebers father pushed for him to attend Dartmouth College so he could study pre-med. Much to his fathers chagrin, however, Kleber questioned his career path during his sophomore year, and considered switching over to study literature and philosophy instead.

Klebers father urged him to continue studying medicine for another year before officially changing paths. Ultimately, a psychology class inspired Kleber to remain pre-med, and he graduated from Dartmouth in 1956. Kleber then enrolled in Jefferson Medical College, which is based out of Philadelphia. Whilst there, he was frequently teased by peers and faculty members for his desire to study psychology over real medicine.

Kleber completed his residency at Yale University in 1964, during which time he volunteered for the Public Health Service. He expected to be sent to the National Institute of Health, given his experience as a researcher, but he was eventually sent to the Public Health Service Prison Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. The hospitalwas specifically designed to serve patients with substance abuse issues, and its mission was to understand the hows and whys of drug addiction, rehabilitate persons addicted to drugs completely, and find a permanent cure.

Its during this time that Kleber is introduced to addiction treatment. He not only familiarized himself with the field, but he determined that most of the contemporary approaches were not very effective and that new approaches to treatment were desperately needed. He also discovered that 90 percent of patients relapse within three months of their treatment.

Kleber was hesitant to enter the field of addiction treatment at first, but he felt that strides needed to be made. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to treat addiction, he said during a 2015 oral history. Once you had been at Lexington, you were a marked man. Addicts who wanted help, doctors who wanted someone to refer to, parents worried about their childrenFinally, after a year or so of that I said, Well, maybe its fate.

Kleber joined the Yale Psychiatry staff in 1966, and began to make notable strides in the field of addiction treatment. He described his method as evidence-based treatment, and saw addiction as a medical condition rather than a moral shortcoming. He stressed the importance of research, according to Google, and felt that recovering patients should have access to medication and therapeutic communities.

Kleber founded the Drug Dependence Unit at Yale University in 1968, where he would reside for the next two decades. He stepped down in 1989, when President George H. Bush named him the Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. During his tenure, Kleber focused on prevention programs, as well as increasing the education and treatment of addiction.

New York Times reports that Kleber left the position after two and a half years. He was frustrated that most of the money that was earmarked for the nations war on drugs was being given to law enforcement and not to treatment. It reminds me of that cartoon, he said upon resigning. This king is slamming his fist on the table, saying, If all my horses and all my men cant put Humpty Dumpty together again, then what I need is more horses and more men.

Kleber continued to push for addiction treatment that was accessible to the masses. He partnered up with Joseph A. Califano, Jr. to create the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse in 1992. Califano was the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and he felt that Kleber was a drug expert with impeccable credentials. Today, the organization is simply known as the Center on Addiction.

Kleber then partnered with his second wife, Dr. Marian W. Fischman, to establish the Division on Substance Abuse at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. It was here that he helped develop medications and techniques to treat addiction, as well as different psycho-social approaches. The Division on Substance Abuse has since become one of the largest research programs on substance abuse in the country.

Kleber had his greatest honor bestowed upon him in 1996. On October 1, he waselected to be a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. Five years later, he was added to the board of directors of Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.

Kleber died of a heart attack on October 5, 2018, when he was vacationing with his family in Greece. He was 84 years old. Kleber married three times during his lifetime, with the first being to his college sweetheart Joan Fox in 1956. They had three children together before divorcing in 1986. Kleber went on to marry Dr. Marian Fischman, and they worked alongside each other until her death in 2001. Kleber met his third and final wife, Anne Burlock Lawver, in 2004.

Even after his death, Kleber continues to be hailed as a pioneer in the field of addiction treatment. He was at the vanguard of bringing scientific rigor to the area of addiction, said Dr. Frances R. Levin, director of the division on substance use disorders at Columbia University Medical Center. Things were actually tested. There were placebo control trials. He wasnt the only one, but he was among the first to give credibility to the field.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr. issued a statement after Klebers death, and he credited him with saving thousands of lives. His legacy will be the trained generations of professionals who will carry on his work and the thousands of lives that have been saved, Califano wrote.

READ NEXT: Teenage Porn Star Controversy Rocks California High School

The rest is here:

Herbert Kleber: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know - Heavy.com