Dr. Patrick G. O’Connor wins prestigious John P. McGovern award
Award winner Dr. Patrick O'Connor surrounded by colleagues: Raynetta Woods, Sheryl Ryan, Gail D’Onofrio, Jeanette Tetrault, Kathryn Hawk, Jasleen Salwan, Michael Pantalon, William Becker, and Lamia Haque.
Dr. Patrick G. O’Connor of Yale School of Medicine received the John P. McGovern Award at the annual conference of the Association of Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) on Nov. 3 in Washington, D.C. Dr. Gail D’Onofrio of Yale School of Medicine presented O’Connor with the award at the conference. The McGovern Award is AMERSA’s highest honor.
Dr. John P. McGovern was known for his achievements as an allergist, investor, and philanthropist who made significant contributions to research about alcohol and other drug use. The John P. McGovern award recognizes exemplary leadership in the field of addiction medicine. Prior recipients of note of this award include national and international leaders in addiction research and health policy such as former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) director Michael Botticelli, founder of the Treatment Research Institute, former ONDCP deputy director A. Thomas McLellan, and the Honorable Patrick Kennedy.
O’Connor’s work has focused on the interface between primary care and addiction medicine. This has included research examining the transfer of addiction treatment strategies from specialty settings to primary care and other general medical settings. He has published over 200 papers on topics such as the management of opioid withdrawal in primary care settings, opioid maintenance in primary care, and the use of naltrexone for treating alcohol use disorder in general medical settings.
O’Connor is the Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of General Internal Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital. He is the immediate past president of The American Board of Addiction Medicine and The Addiction Medicine Foundation, and is an author on the first Surgeon General’s Report on the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders, titled “Facing Addiction in America — The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health,” which was released in 2016.
