Dr. Saitz was a primary care clinician, educator, and researcher who trained at the former Boston City Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health. A board-certified internist and addiction specialist, Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health, he conducted studies of unhealthy alcohol and drug use, supported by the NIH. He was Past President of the Association for Medical Education and Research on Substance Abuse and Vice President of the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors. He authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, wqs editor of a leading addiction medicine textbook, was board certified in addiction medicine, and was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Dr. Saitz wrote for what is now NEJM Journal Watch General Medicine for 13 years and was its Deputy Editor from 2001 to 2010; he was editor of the Journal of Addiction Medicine; and an associate editor of JAMA. He served as Assoicate Editor for Physician's First Watch from 2006 until the publication's closure in April 2021.

Disclosure information about Dr. Saitz was up to date at the time of his last affiliation with Physician's First Watch.

Dr. Saitz died on January 15, 2022. We will miss Rich's humor, his warmth, and his brilliance. He will forever be sitting on our shoulders as we write and edit, making sure we report statistics correctly. Rest in peace, Rich.