James F. Callahan is a former Executive Vice President of the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM), and The ABAM Foundation, and the former Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

Dr. Callahan was Director of Smoking Research Application for the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) Medical and Health Professions Education Program, and the Deputy Director of NIDA’s Division of Training where he directed the Career Teacher Program for the development of medical school faculty and curricula in Addiction Medicine, a collaborative program with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 

He co-chaired the White House Federal Interagency Committee on Drug and Alcohol Education and Training and was a member of the White House task forces on prescribing and drug abuse prevention, and the American Medical Association's Informal Steering Committee on Prescription Drug Abuse.

He directed the Narcotic Addict Treatment and Rehabilitation Program in Atlanta.

Dr. Callahan is the recipient of the ASAM Award for contributions to the growth and vitality of the Society and the field of Addiction Medicine; the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director’s Award for Outstanding Service; the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Medical Executive Achievement Award, and the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse’s (AMERSA) Award for Contributions to Medical Education in Drug and Alcohol Abuse in U.S. Medical Schools.

He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theology from the Gregorian University (Rome, Italy), a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a master’s degree and doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California.