In Memoriam: Robert K. Brooner, Ph.D.

We mourn the loss of Dr. Robert K. Brooner who passed away on Sunday, February 26, 2023. Dr. Brooner was Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Senior Research Scientist at Friends Research Institute. Dr. Brooner’s long and productive career in addressing substance use disorders leaves an indelible mark on the lives of his patients, the scientists he mentored, and the field of behavioral health care. At Johns Hopkins, he created an innovative stepped care clinical treatment service that improved the lives of thousands of patients and was a model for other programs around the country. An integrated clinical research program funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse led to numerous important clinical findings and served as fertile ground for nurturing future clinical scientists. The work of Dr. Brooner and his colleagues was at the forefront of the field in attracting people struggling with opioid use disorder into treatment through harm reduction services, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining stepped care with contingency management, safely increasing the number of methadone doses using technology, providing remote counseling, delivering methadone treatment through pharmacies, and integrating psychiatric treatment of co-occurring disorders with opioid use disorder treatment. His many contributions will live on but his continued innovative input to the field of addiction treatment and research will be sorely missed.