Registration is now open for the 2025 Caduceus Retreat, featuring Petros Levounis, MD, MA, Scott Teitelbaum, MD, DFASAM, and Clark Gaither, MD, FAAFP. The annual weekend event for TMF participants and alumni is scheduled for Friday, June 6-Sunday, June 8, at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, TN. This year, attendees can earn up to six hours of Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit.
The Caduceus Retreat is devoted to recovery, providing education, support, and networking opportunities. Those newly under contract can learn from veterans with years of recovery. New ideas and old standards are shared in group and lecture venues. The schedule includes time for 12-Step meetings as well as time with family.
The deadline for meeting registration is May 17; hotel reservations must be reserved by May 23 to receive the TMF special rate. Details and sign-up are on the TMF Caduceus Retreat web page at e-tmf.org/2025-caduceus-retreat.
SPEAKERS & PROGRAM
Dr. Petros Levounis is professor and chair of psychiatry and associate dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association and serves as chief of service at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey and director of the Northern New Jersey Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT) Center of Excellence. He has written numerous articles, monographs and book chapters and lectures extensively on addiction throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Dr. Levounis earned his MD at Stanford University and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and his MA in sociology at Stanford, earned the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award at Columbia University, and went on to complete his fellowship in addiction psychiatry at New York University.
The Neurobiology of Addiction
Course Description
From a neurobiological perspective, addiction is the hijacking of the pleasure-reward pathways of the brain and a weakening of its executive function. In 2025, the fundamental model has been expanded to include newer concepts such as motivational circuitry, the anti-reward pathways, and interoception. These 21st century discoveries inform clinical innovations that are revolutionizing the landscape of the pharmacological and psychosocial treatments of substance use disorders and behavioral addictions.
Technological Addictions: The New Frontier in Addiction Psychiatry
Course Description
Addiction to video games, cybersex, internet gambling, social media, texting and emailing, and online auctions can be as addictive as substances. These technological addictions have real-world ramifications and lead to the loss of jobs, money, and loved ones. As technology becomes integrated into many facets of modern life, the appreciation of such addictions has become increasingly challenging. This session will explore the addictive potential of technology and discuss the legitimacy of technological addictions as psychiatric conditions worthy of medical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
Dr. Scott Teitelbaum is the Pottash professor in psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine. He has served as medical director of the UF Health Florida Recovery Center (FRC) since 2002. As psychiatry chair and chief of addiction medicine, he developed one of the first-ever accredited fellowships in addiction medicine; that program has since trained more addiction medicine fellows than any other program nationwide.
He earned his MD at the University of Rochester, was a pediatric resident at the University of Connecticut, and completed fellowships in child and adolescent psychiatry and addiction medicine at the University of Florida.
Spirituality and Long-Term Recovery
Course Description
This presentation delves into the integral role of spirituality in the context of recovery, including comparing and contrasting religion and spirituality, and the increased research and use of substances to facilitate contemplative/spiritual practices.
Dr. Clark Gaither serves as medical director of the North Carolina Physicians Health Program (NCPHP). In addition, he is an accomplished author, blogger, speaker, and corporate consultant. He is a national expert in the identification, mitigation, elimination, and prevention of physician job-related burnout. He is the author of Reignite, a best-selling book about professional job-related burnout.
Dr. Gaither earned his MD from Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and has been in family practice for over 30 years.
Professional Job-Related Burnout: What You Need to Know
Course Description
Job Related Burnout (JRB) has become an epidemic among professionals, especially medical professionals, and the numbers are rising. The benefits to individuals and businesses of detecting, mitigating, and preventing JRB are enormous. This course looks at the definition and statistics surrounding the condition, the six underlying causes of JBR, an overview of how to alleviate, mitigate, and eradicate the problem, and finally how to recapture the joy and pleasure of meaningful work.
Wellness–What It Means to Be Well
Course Description
REGISTRATION & ROOMS
Visit the Caduceus Retreat web page to register and reserve rooms for the retreat. Meeting registration deadline is May 17; the cost is $125.00 per person, which includes Saturday lunch. Attendees can register and pay online or download and mail the completed registration form with payment to the TMF.
Rooms at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs are available at the TMF group rate of $185.00 per night, plus tax. Reserve by May 23 from the Retreat web page or call the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs directly at 615-261-6100; please mention the TMF Caduceus Retreat to receive the TMF rate.
QUESTIONS?
For more information, visit e-tmf.org/2025-caduceus-retreat or contact Jennifer Rainwater at 615-467-6411 or jenniferr@e-tmf.org.