Herbert Kleber

Herbert David Kleber (June 19, 1934 – October 5, 2018) was an American psychiatrist and substance abuse researcher. His career, centered on the evidence-based treatment of addiction, focused on scientific approaches in place of punishment and moralisms. His career focused on pathology of addiction to help patients reduce the severe discomforts of withdrawal, avoid relapse and stay in recovery.

Early life and education

Kleber was born June 19, 1934, in Pittsburgh. Both of his parents were eastern-European Jewish immigrants. His father, Max Kleber, was a trained pharmacist who made his career in his family-owned luggage manufacturing business. His mother, Dorothea (Schulman) Kleber, was active in fund raising for Israel.

Kleber attended Dartmouth College and received medical training at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He then served his residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He entered the U.S. Public Health Service in 1964, and was disappointed when he was assigned for two years to the health service hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Much of the patient population at Lexington were substance users (programs at Lexington later became the basis for the National Institute on Drug Abuse). Although Kleber wanted a regular psychiatry practice, because of his experience at Lexington, he found himself in demand for treatment of addiction when he returned to Yale.

Career

In 1968, he founded the Drug Dependence Unit at Yale University, where he was a professor of psychiatry; he headed the Unit until 1989. He then served for two and a half years as the Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House.