Lifetime Awards
ASAM Lifetime Awards – Awards that honor the profound contributions one has made to the field of addiction medicine.
ASAM LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP – Gail Jara

Gail Jara worked for the California Medical Association (CMA) from 1972-1987 where she was responsible for initiation, planning and implementation of projects in the areas of physician education about alcoholism and other drug dependencies, prescription drug abuse and prescribing practices, laws and regulations related to prescribing controlled substances, and programs addressing physician health/well- being/impairment, including case finding programs. CSAM was formed with the support of the California Medical Association.
In 1972, she initiated and coordinated the formation of what was originally called the “California Society for the Treatment of Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies” which later became the California Society of Addiction Medicine through a name change in 1989.
In 1985 she worked as a consultant and contractor to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) to develop the ASAM certification exam. In 1987, she left CMA to devote her full time to CSAM.
Retired since 2000, she has continued working with CSAM as a consultant on policy and projects related to physician health and well-being and on opioid addiction treatment.
Garrett O’Connor, MD Receives Award Recognizing Lifetime Of Achievement


Garrett O’Connor, MD, received an award on the opening evening of the California Society of Addiction Medicine’s (CSAM’s) State of the Art Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach, California, to honor the profound contributions that he has made to the field of addiction medicine.
O’Connor took the stage accompanied by his wife, Fionnula Flanagan, and told the tale of his life, weaving in notes about the evolution of CSAM over the past four decades. Anybody who has experienced a Garrett O’Connor speech knows there is no way to describe the impact he is able to achieve through spoken word. With his signature mix of honesty, wit, tenderness, and humor, he covered everything from biography and genetics to the ravage of addiction and the promise of fellowship.
Dr. O’Connor’s riveting presentation was followed by tributes from long time CSAM colleagues, friends, and leaders. One by one, Peter Banys, MD, Gail Shultz, MD, Timmen Cermak, MD, Jeffery Wilkins, MD, Gail Jara, Tom McLellan, MD, and Karen Miotto, MD, shared the ways in which Dr. O’Connor had personally and deeply moved them and influenced the practice of addiction medicine.
CSAM presented him with a stunning glass statue commemorating his ceaseless efforts to give voice to those who have been silenced by their disease. The inscription read “Garrett O’Connor, MD, who speaks for the ‘invisible people’ and inspires us to do the same.”