[1] His career focused on pathology of addiction to help patients reduce the severe discomforts of withdrawal, avoid relapse and stay in recovery.
Although Kleber wanted a regular psychiatry practice, because of his experience at Lexington, he found himself in demand for treatment of addiction when he returned to Yale.
He then served for two and a half years as the Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House.
He was director of the Division, and headed a number of projects on new methods to treat individuals with cocaine, heroin, prescription opioid, alcohol, or marijuana addictions.
[7] Kleber was author or co-author of more than 250 papers, and the co-editor of the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Substance Abuse Treatment, now in its fourth edition.
[3] He was on the boards of a number of organizations, including the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Betty Ford Center.