VVV Treatment Services
Medical Director
Joseph A. Adams, M.D.
Dr. Adams has broad experience in addiction medicine and has served as the medical director of a variety of addiction treatment programs, including opioid treatment programs in Maryland since 2003. He became a diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine in 2009. He is also a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine although he now practices addiction medicine exclusively.
Dr. Adams believes that each person served has the right to make their own decisions about medications, to be treated with fairness and respect, and to be given the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. Dr. Adams strives to make the program flexible and convenient and promotes a trauma-informed and a welcoming approach by all staff members.
He has an interested in brief counseling for anxiety and has worked with the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute in Maryland to develop a guide for patients that includes validated and powerful online and other resources for anxiety.
As the Chair of Public Policy of the Maryland-DC Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Adams has worked with the Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, and for years has testified in Annapolis for the establishment of Overdose Prevention Centers (“safe injection sites”), decriminalization of drug possession, access to treatment and related issues, and has worked to improve the quality of recovery residences.
Dr. Adams is a member of the Public Policy Committee of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He served on the Opioid Treatment Program Quality Implementation Taskforce, and on the Opioid Treatment Program Medical Director’s Quality Taskforce, both convened by the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration. He has given hospital Grand Rounds presentations on addiction-related topics in the Baltimore – Washington area.
Dr. Adams completed an Internal Medicine Residency and Faculty Development Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after graduating from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a member of the Maryland Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, the MedChi (Maryland State Medical Society) Opioid Committee and Addictions Committee. He was the President of Smoke Free Maryland (1997) and received Distinguished Service Awards from the American Lung Association of Maryland and from MedChi, for his work in tobacco control. He was listed in the Baltimore Magazine ‘Top Docs’ issue for Addiction Medicine (2008) and was listed as a ‘Health Care Hero: Physician Hero Honoree’ in The Daily Record newspaper (2003).
Dr. Adams has broad experience in addiction medicine and has served as the medical director of a variety of addiction treatment programs, including opioid treatment programs in Maryland since 2003. He became a diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine in 2009. He is also a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine although he now practices addiction medicine exclusively.
Dr. Adams believes that each person served has the right to make their own decisions about medications, to be treated with fairness and respect, and to be given the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. Dr. Adams strives to make the program flexible and convenient and promotes a trauma-informed and a welcoming approach by all staff members.
He has an interested in brief counseling for anxiety and has worked with the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute in Maryland to develop a guide for patients that includes validated and powerful online and other resources for anxiety.
As the Chair of Public Policy of the Maryland-DC Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Adams has worked with the Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, and for years has testified in Annapolis for the establishment of Overdose Prevention Centers (“safe injection sites”), decriminalization of drug possession, access to treatment and related issues, and has worked to improve the quality of recovery residences.
Dr. Adams is a member of the Public Policy Committee of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He served on the Opioid Treatment Program Quality Implementation Taskforce, and on the Opioid Treatment Program Medical Director’s Quality Taskforce, both convened by the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration. He has given hospital Grand Rounds presentations on addiction-related topics in the Baltimore – Washington area.
Dr. Adams completed an Internal Medicine Residency and Faculty Development Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after graduating from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a member of the Maryland Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, the MedChi (Maryland State Medical Society) Opioid Committee and Addictions Committee. He was the President of Smoke Free Maryland (1997) and received Distinguished Service Awards from the American Lung Association of Maryland and from MedChi, for his work in tobacco control. He was listed in the Baltimore Magazine ‘Top Docs’ issue for Addiction Medicine (2008) and was listed as a ‘Health Care Hero: Physician Hero Honoree’ in The Daily Record newspaper (2003).