Michael Fingerhood, MD, FACP, DFASAM
Candidate for President-Elect
Michael Fingerhood, MD, FACP, DFASAM is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and Chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and then completed internal medicine training at Johns Hopkins. In 1994, Dr. Fingerhood created a primary care practice devoted to caring for individuals with addiction. He has co-created novel buprenorphine treatment programs and received the Health Equity Leadership award from the Baltimore City Health Department. He has co-authored over 85 research papers and received NIH research funding for 35 years.
Nomination Video
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
1. How would your election to the ASAM Board of Directors benefit ASAM and the field of addiction medicine?
I have many years of leadership experience at Johns Hopkins, with Baltimore City and with ASAM. If elected to leadership position with ASAM, I would bring my addiction medicine background in 1) research (I have had over 35 years of NIH funding), 2) clinical care (I see patients 3 days/week and attend in the hospital on our inpatient unit and consult service 8 weeks/year), 3) education (at Johns Hopkins and as current chair of ASAM MEC), 4) program building (innovative programs in Baltimore City) and 5)advocacy (via ASAM and pro bono work I have done with disability law firms related to MOUD in carceral settings). I believe my work in all of these will provide me with knowledge, insight and skill to help ASAM grow in all facets of ASAM's mission.
2. Candidate Statement
I have been a member of ASAM for over 20 years, and it is my home away from my academic work at Johns Hopkins. I have a strong passion for addiction medicine care, education and advocacy. For over 16 years, I have led the Division of Addiction Medicine within the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. My passion for addiction medicine has helped me grow the division and I hope my passion will enable ASAM to grow as well, should I become President-Elect. I joined the ASAM Annual Conference Program Planning Committee in 2008 and chaired the committee from 2014-2020. As chair, I evolved the conference into a true scientific meeting with presentations of cutting-edge research with posters and workshops. In 2021, I became chair of the ASAM Medical Education Council (MEC) and working with outstanding ASAM staff have restructured and grown the ASAM educational portfolio, including the creation of an education badge. I have also been active in advocacy, attending the 2025 and 2026 advocacy conferences, meeting with the offices of my elected officials. Creating hope, for patients and clinicians, is the continued goal for all of us in addiction medicine.
If elected, I intend to lead ASAM in its mission to be the key organization for current and future clinicians in addiction medicine. The challenges are clear, and they include stigma, health disparities, treatment access (especially related to pending Medicaid funding cuts) and threats to research funding. ASAM must provide leadership in navigating through these challenges.