Harvard Catalyst Profiles

John A. Fromson, MD, is vice chair for community psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also President-elect of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society and Co-editor of American Society of Addiction Psychiatry (ASAM) Weekly. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) in psychiatry, child psychiatry, and addiction psychiatry.

His clinical and research activities focus on issues relating to physician and medical student health, professional development, and patient safety. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Council on Addiction Psychiatry, past chair of the APA Committee on Physician Health, Illness and Impairment, and was the founding director and served as president of Physician Health Services, a national model in identifying, monitoring, and guiding the recovery of physicians and medical students with substance use disorders and mental and physical illness. He is also chair of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry's Group on Physician Health, and past president of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs. He was elected Class A Trustee of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc. (AA).

Dr. Fromson is also past president of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors. During his term the Coalition developed two statewide collaborative projects to support hospitals in implementing safe practices in the areas of reconciling medications and communicating critical test results. These were subsequently adopted by the Joint Commission in its National Patient Safety Goals. Three year funding for these projects was provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). He also chaired its Restraint Consensus Group that developed the first statewide best practices for creating restraint-free environments in hospitals, long term care, and psychiatric facilities.

For his work in the areas of patient safety and physician and medical student health, Dr. Fromson is the recipient of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society's Outstanding Psychiatrist Award for Advancement of the Profession. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Fromson is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and twice received the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Tutoring Award. He received the Distinguished Clinician Award from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School Class of 2017 Excellence in Clinical Instruction Award.