Executive Corner

February 12, 2018

The Executive Corner is a new weekly feature of the Addiction/Recovery eBulletin. We send our participants forty questions and ask them to choose twenty they would like to answer. It includes a short profile and a link to their website. We hope you enjoy it.

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PROFILE

Mel Pohl, MD, DFASAM is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC). Dr. Pohl was a major force in developing LVRC’s Chronic Pain Recovery Program. He is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) Dr. Pohl is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

He is the author of A Day without Pain, revised edition (Central Recovery Press, 2011) and The Pain Antidote – Stop Suffering from Chronic Pain, Avoid Addiction to Painkillers, and Reclaim Your Life (DaCapo, 2015). Dr. Pohl filmed a show for PBS on chronic pain which aired around the country in 2016.

Mel Pohl
Chief Medial Officer

Learn more about Las Vegas Recovery Center at

LasVegasRecoveryCenter.com

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Q. If you are in recovery, what was your DOC and when did you discontinue its use?
A. Alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, 10-13-1984

Q. Do you believe leaders are made or born?
A. Combination of effects – born with potential – developed over time by experience and hard work.

Q. Which film have you watched the most?
A. Moonstruck (love “snap out of it!”)

Q. Who is your favorite celebrity in recovery?
A. Bradley Cooper

Q. What is your biggest or littlest pet peeve?
A. People tailgating me in traffic.

Q. How do you measure success?
A. Accomplishing what you set out to – and acknowledgment from others.

Q. Who was your biggest influence throughout your life?
A. A physician teacher when I was in medical school – showed me how to include the patient in decision-making.

Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your three favorite authors, Living or dead, who would they be? (you can choose four, if you think one might be too drunk or stoned to attend.)
A. Pema Chodron, the Dalai Lama, Greg Hurwitz,

Q. What is your FAVORITE Radio show, news show?
A. NPR,Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

Q. What is your FAVORITE TV/cable/digital series?
A. Frankie and Grace

Q. Who is your FAVORITE Director?
A. Steven Speilberg

Q. What is your FAVORITE Museum?
A. Guggenheim, Bilbao

Q. What is your FAVORITE Band/composer/musical artist?
A. Beatles

Q. What is your FAVORITE Broadway musical/play?
A. Wicked

Q. Who is your FAVORITE Psychologist or what school of thought as related to psychology?
A. Carl Jung

Q. What is your FAVORITE Snack?
A. Pizza

Q. What is your FAVORITE Cuisine?
A. Thai

Q. What is your FAVORITE City?
A. San Diego

Q. Have you ever been arrested and, if so, what for?
A. NO

Q. Do you take work home with you?
A. Always

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, a disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?
A. Definitely a disease

Q. What are five things you always carry with you?
A. _keys, phone, glasses, wallet, integrity

Q. Is there a favorite “Quote” you would like to share?
A. _”The world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are strong at the broken places” – E. Hemingway