Kilts Receives Endowed Chair in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention

By Holland Doran


Clint D. Kilts, Ph.D., is seated in the chair given him during his investiture. With him are (l-r) Richard Smith, M.D., College of Medicine dean; Pedro L. Delgado, M.D., Department of Psychiatry chair and Psychiatric Research Institute director; Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D.

Clint Kilts, Ph.D. speaks during his investiture in the Wilbur D. Mills Endowed Chair in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention.

Kilts with Helen L. Porter, a donor who has supported his brain imaging research.

Kilts’ sister, Georgeann Packard of Mattituck, N.Y., speaks at his investiture.

But for Kilts, his greatest reward lies in the future.

“I don’t think I looked for a solution to addiction, I think it found me,” said Kilts at the ceremony honoring him as the most recent holder of the Wilbur D. Mills Endowed Chair in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention. “I think it is solvable, I think we can do this. I may not solve it in my lifetime, but the people I am involved with will have a role in it.”

As director of the Brain Imaging Research Center at UAMS’ Psychiatric Research Institute, Kilts has been involved in decades-long research programs that have focused on substance abuse and the problems it can cause.

Working with a number of up-and-coming research scientists and state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment, Kilts believes the key to breaking the grip drug and alcohol addiction has on this country lies in studying not just the problem itself but its causes.

“I came to UAMS because of the potential that I saw here,” said Kilts, who joined the institute in 2009 after serving as vice chair for research for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga.

“After 30-plus years in academia, the greatest satisfaction that I have is the knowledge that my work will live on long after my days in the field because of the people that came behind me.”

Kilts told the large audience of family, friends and UAMS faculty members gathered in the UAMS Medical Center Lobby Gallery that research relies on the support of donors, like Helen L. Porter and James T. Dyke, for whom the Brain Imaging Research Center is named. But it also depends on scientists willing to explore areas others may have overlooked, he said. “Don’t ask the next question, ask the best question.”

Martin B. Keller, M.D., chair emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School, told the audience that Kilts’ renown as a research scientist and mentor was matched only by his skills on the water.

After several trips with Kilts and a group of friends fishing in the Pacific Northwest, “There’s nobody that we’d rather be spending eight hours drifting down the river or in a boat with than Clint,” said Keller.

Kilts’ sister, author Georgeann Packard of Mattituck, N.Y., said she was particularly close to her brother due to the fact that they were only 13 months apart in age. “We sometimes joke that we are male and female versions of the same person,” she said.

Her brother’s greatest gifts, Packard added, are his intellectual capacity, empathy and far-reaching compassion for those he works with. “When it comes to matters of the heart, the man has no filters. You are all family to him.”

“Being the shortest member of the family, I have always looked up to Clint,” said another sister, Paula Kilts of Newfield, N.Y., who explained that having six siblings left Kilts well prepared for the world of academia. “Whenever we are together as a family, it’s always about having fun and a good time. I’ve always known that he was busy with his research and grant writing, but it wasn’t until I Googled him that I found out what a rock star my brother is.”

The Wilbur D. Mills Endowed Chair in Alcoholism and Drug Prevention was endowed by friends of the late former U.S. Congressman Mills along with corporations, foundations and other organizations who donated funds in his honor to supplement an initial grant from the state of Arkansas.