About Dr. Ruth Fox

In 1990, ASAM leadership made a promise to honor the legacy of Dr. Ruth Fox by establishing The Ruth Fox Memorial Endowment Fund with a goal to raise $10 million.

To date, the endowment has raised $3.6 million and helped more than 300 physicians-in-training learn about the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders.

Dr. Fox, a psychoanalyst, who in 1959 became the first medical director of The National Council on Alcoholism, an agency devoted to alcoholism prevention. She was a native New Yorker, performed pioneering research on the use of Antabuse, a chemical used widely in alcoholism treatment today. She was founder and first president of the American Medical Society on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies in 1954.

The Ruth Fox Endowment Fund builds a sustainable funding source to support the organization's ability to respond to major changes and pursue opportunities to grow and expand while member dues and other revenue sources provide resources to carry out the organization's ongoing body of work.