Art Van Zee BS ’69

2023
Distinguished Alumnus Award

Alumni Honors Celebration 2024!

Art graduated from L&C with a BS in history in 1969. He completed medical school and began working at a health center in an Appalachian coal mining town. Art has been a buprenorphine (Suboxone)-prescribing physician, treating patients with opioid use disorder since 2003, and is board-certified in addiction medicine as well as internal medicine. Art has become an outspoken critic of Purdue Pharma’s marketing, testifying before a Senate committee hearing on the OxyContin problem in 2002. His work with local community groups who are seeking public policy changes and expansion of evidence-based treatment was featured in the books Painkiller and Dopesick.