Addictions Specialist

As a physician on the Big Island who had been treating patients since the early 1980s, Dr. Kevin Kunz was alarmed when, in the 1990s, he noticed a sharp uptick in the number of patients suffering from substance use disorder. Drawing on his public health background, Dr. Kunz realized the heart-breaking toll addiction was taking not only on his patients, but also on their families and communities. And although the field of medicine offered some limited options for treating patients with addiction, his public health perspective led him to see that these communities needed much stronger addiction prevention and treatment efforts. Dr. Kunz had spent time in low and middle-income countries, including Vietnam where he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Panama, where he completed a medical internship after earning his MD from the John A. Burns School of Medicine and his MPH from UH Public Health. After his internship in Panama, Kevin enrolled in the preventive medicine residency at UH. In working with others, Kevin founded a group called the American Board of Addiction Medicine, which started a formal process for certifying physicians in the field. He also helped establish a foundation to develop year-long training programs to teach physicians ways to prevent and treat addiction. The foundation, now named the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine, developed a new, year-long curriculum for doctors to produce clinical experts, faculty, researchers, and system change agents. No similar programs were available at the time. More than 60 fellowships were developed, and more than 4,000 physicians completed the program between 2009 and 2016. These efforts paid off. In 2016, the American Board of Medical Specialties recognized Addiction Medicine as its newest subspecialty. This means doctors can now enter fellowship training programs across the U.S. that are based on the original model Kevin and his group created. Dr. Kunz lives in Volcano. He is retired from private practice but serves as a consultant and advisor to this task force.