Heidi Ginter, MD, FASAM is the National Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Acadia Healthcare. Board-certified in both family and addiction medicine, Dr. Ginter brings nearly two decades of experience treating substance use disorders. Dr. Ginter earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University, her MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine. Early in her career at a community health center in Worcester, MA, she practiced the full spectrum of family medicine, including obstetrics, and was introduced to addiction medicine through managing methadone for incarcerated pregnant people with opioid use disorder. This experience deeply impacted the trajectory of Dr. Ginter’s career as she became a passionate advocate for better substance use disorder and mental health care for vulnerable and marginalized individuals. As Dr. Ginter began trying to improve access to respectful, quality care, a key initiative in her early career was launching the first buprenorphine treatment program at her community health center. Dr. Ginter has since provided medical leadership across a range of settings, including opioid treatment programs (OTPs), inpatient withdrawal management, residential addiction treatment, outpatient office-based programs, and hospital addiction consult services. Her work has focused on building bridges between different levels of care, ensuring continuity and accessibility for patients. In addition to her clinical leadership, Dr. Ginter is a nationally recognized speaker who advocates for reducing stigma and increasing public understanding of substance use disorders and their treatment. She envisions a future where everyone seeking treatment can access high quality, affordable, evidence-based care and whatever other resources they need to achieve recovery on their own terms, whenever and wherever they are ready.