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Dr. Howard Heit is board certified diplomat in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is also certified in addiction medicine by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and is certified as a medical review officer. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, as well as a member of the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine and its annual scientific meeting planning committee. Dr. Heit was co-coordinator, author, and an editor on the "Pain Management and Addiction Medicine" section of the ASAM's textbook Principles of Addiction Medicine, Second and Third Edition. He also co-authored two chapters in Bonica's Management of Pain: Fourth Edition. Dr. Heit served as chair of ASAM's scientific program "Common Threads: Pain & Addiction" from 2000 to 2005.

Dr. Heit is a founding board member and treasurer of the International Association for Pain and Chemical Dependency. He is the recipient of the Marie Nyswander Award, given at the International Pain and Chemical Dependency Conference to an individual who has helped to build a bridge between pain and addiction and who has been a spokesperson for the compassionate and humane treatment of patients with pain.

Dr. Heit was also instrumental in forming the Liaison Committee on Pain and Addiction of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Pain Society. The mission of this committee is to encourage collaboration between pain specialists and addiction specialists on issues of common interest.

From 1990 to 1996, Dr. Heit served as medical addictionologist for Alcohol and Drug Services for Fairfax County in Virginia. Dr. Heit is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He has lectured and published extensively on the interface of pain and addiction medicine.