By Lesley Johnson

Thomas McLellan, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, will be speaking on Monday for the 2009 Robert Straus Distinguished Speaker Lecture, “What’s Wrong with Addiction Treatment: What Could Help?”

McLellan and others in his field are working to develop and study treatments for alcohol and drug dependence, according to the University of Pennsylvania Web site. He has published  more than 300 articles and book chapters about addiction research.

President Barack Obama nominated McLellan for the position as deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy on April 10.The presentation will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and a reception following that will last until 5:30 p.m. located at the W.T. Young Library auditorium.

Professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Behavioral Science, Robert Straus, and his wife, Ruth Straus, founded the lecture series, according to a UK news release. The event is also being sponsored in conjunction with the UK Bell Chair on Alcohol and Addictions.

The lecture series aims to introduce graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and scholars in the department to research related to substance abuse, aging or cancer and to provide an opportunity for them to meet and engage prominent individuals within those fields.