FRI proudly celebrates its 70th anniversary this year! This milestone marks seven decades of advancing science and improving lives. Founded in 1955 in Baltimore, Maryland as “Friends of Psychiatric Research,” FRI began as a small community-based organization focused on improving the quality of care of individuals with mental illness. In the ensuing years, FRI broadened its scope to address the intersecting challenges of substance use, health, and involvement in the criminal legal system. For seven decades, FRI investigators and staff have conducted groundbreaking work on some of the nation’s most vexing health and social problems. This work has helped to shape scientific understanding, clinical practice, and policy in the areas of addiction, mental health, HIV/AIDS, and criminal justice reform.

FRI initiatives have taken many forms over the years, including but not limited to:

• The Social Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland, which hosts a longstanding program of research on addiction treatment, prevention, and crime,
• Epoch Counseling Center, which provided outpatient treatment services in Baltimore County, Maryland,
• Group homes for individuals living with mental illness and substance use disorders,
• Friends Medical Laboratory, which provided laboratory testing of urine samples for addiction treatment programs,
• Safe House, which provided low-cost, safe, and quality housing for vulnerable individuals living with HIV/AIDS in West Hollywood, California,
• Friends Community Center in Los Angeles, California, which provided direct services for substance use and HIV prevention to LGBTQ+ communities, and
• Partnerships with community organizations on numerous research studies throughout the U.S., in which FRI research staff are embedded in hospitals, clinics, schools, prisons, and other sites to carry out studies in “real-world” environments.

Today, FRI’s research portfolio spans an array of interconnected topics, including interventions for substance use disorders (including medications and behavioral treatments), treatment services in criminal-legal systems, the intersection of addiction and medical comorbidity, care coordination and linkage, overdose prevention, harm reduction, health services, implementation science, HIV prevention, and more.

To be sure, much has changed in 70 years. The organization has seen remarkable growth, and has also had to weather difficult periods of contraction and realignment. Yet, for 70 years, FRI has remained steadfast in its commitment to improve lives and advance public health through rigorous and impactful science. As a relatively small and nimble organization, FRI has long strived to provide an institutional environment that is intellectually stimulating, conducive to collaboration, and administratively uncomplicated. FRI’s success and longevity has been driven by the organization’s outstanding employees. As FRI celebrates our 70^th anniversary, we do so in gratitude to the scientists, staff, collaborators, and volunteer research participants that made it possible to reach this milestone. Looking to the future, we are encouraged by the high caliber of individuals who are spearheading the important work of today, and who are continuing to make FRI so special. We look forward to many more anniversaries to come!