Michael John Baron MD, MPH, DFASAM

Dr. Michael J. Baron, MD, MPH, FASAM, joined the Tennessee Medical Foundation as medical director on February 1, 2017. He came to the TMF after serving as medical director for The Ranch, a 120-bed residential treatment center located in Nunnelly, TN. Board-certified in psychiatry, anesthesiology, and addiction medicine, Dr. Baron has practiced in the Nashville area since 1998. He had a private psychiatry practice for 12 years; he also served in various treatment settings at Parthenon Pavilion and at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Baron remains a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and currently provides pro-bono psychiatry services to the Davidson County Drug Court.

Dr. Baron specializes in treating chronic pain and addiction -- in 2006, he published original research showing that chronic opioid use increased chronic pain scores. His expertise has led him to serve in multiple regulatory and advisory roles at the state level over the years. In 2010, he was appointed to the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners (BME). He also served on the state’s Controlled Substance Monitoring Database (CSMD) Committee; as chair, he helped write the Tennessee Chronic Pain Guidelines as well as many different Department of Health rules dealing with prescription drugs and chronic pain treatment. Dr. Baron resigned from both roles in 2017 to take the position of medical director of the TMF Physician’s Health Program. He will continue to serve on the state’s Chronic Pain Guidelines Steering Committee.

His experience with the TMF is both personal and professional. Dr. Baron is open about how his own addictions led to an intervention by the Physician’s Health Program years ago and credit its former medical director, Dr. David Dodd, as one of the people who saved his life. Over the years he served the Foundation as a monitor and as a consultant and preferred provider for physicians in the program needing psychiatric care.

Dr. Baron earned his Medical Degree and Masters's in Public Health and completed an internal medicine internship at Tulane University School of Medicine. He completed his first residency in anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine and his psychiatry training at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.