Andrea Grubb Barthwell, M.D., F.A.S.A.M., is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the global health care and policy-consulting firm EMGlobal LLC.
President George W. Bush nominated Dr. Barthwell in December 2001 to serve as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The United States Senate confirmed her nomination on January 28, 2002. As a member of the President's sub-cabinet, Dr. Barthwell was a principal advisor in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) on policies aimed at reducing the demand for illicit drugs.
During Dr. Barthwell's tenure, the Bush Administration widely publicized the science-based facts about the dangers of marijuana use and the harms of drug legalization. The Administration encouraged student drug testing as a deterrent to the initiation of drug use and as an early identification tool, and it promoted the expansion and improvement of drug courts. The ONDCP 25-Cities Initiative fostered local coordination of drug control efforts. ONDCP coordinated with the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to provide funding for screenings, brief interventions, and referrals to treatment. In fiscal year 2004, the President's drug treatment initiative, Access to Recovery, received a $100 million appropriation from Congress.
While serving in the EOP, Dr. Barthwell was an active member of the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth and the White House Domestic Violence Working Group. She worked closely with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to define the scope of its Health Services Research portfolio.
Dr. Barthwell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Michigan Medical School. Following post-graduate training at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University Medical Center, she began her practice in the Chicago area. Dr. Barthwell served as President of the Encounter Medical Group (EMG, a sister company of EMGlobal), was a founding member of the Chicago Area AIDS Task Force, hosted a weekly local cable show on AIDS, and is a past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
In 2003, Dr. Barthwell received the Betty Ford Award, given by the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse. In 1997, Dr. Barthwell's peers named her one of the "Best Doctors in America" in addiction medicine.
