Mark Willenbring, director, division of treatment and recovery research, US National Institute on Drug Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland

Despite Mark Willenbring's best efforts early in his career to avoid becoming a specialist, the psychiatrist soon found himself identified as the ‘alcohol guy’.

During his training, internship and residencies, Willenbring had liked the idea of exploring his broad interests in clinical psychiatry as an academic, splitting his time between teaching, administration and research. But in the last year of Willenbring's residency, while he was seeking his next post, a colleague suggested that he should consider moving into the treatment and research of alcohol and drug addiction. He was told that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was offering career teaching grants in alcohol and drug-abuse research. Willenbring applied and, although in the end he decided not to accept the grant, going through the process got him pegged as an “alcohol and drug expert”, he says.

This reputation helped him to secure a fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he got involved in developing a curriculum in addictions and their treatment. Doing that helped him to become the specialist that the university thought he was and that he had initially resisted becoming (see CV).

By then up to speed in addiction psychiatry, Willenbring further expanded his experience by working at the Dane County alcohol detoxification centre. This reshaped his view of alcoholism, leading him to see it as a chronic illness. As a result, he sought ways to treat the condition rather than trying to find a complete cure. He describes his major research focus as “populations of people everyone has given up on”.

Willenbring, who last month moved from the University of Minnesota to become director of treatment and recovery research at the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, says that when he began his career, the market trend towards hiring specialists was just beginning. He wonders now whether broad-based experience should be viewed in a more positive light — especially as science and medicine are becoming more interdisciplinary.

A mixture of experiences can be helpful if you have to manage large projects. And Willenbring will be drawing on his generalist beginnings as he finds his feet as the ‘alcohol guy’ at the NIH.