Gail D'Onofrio, MD, MS

Gail D’Onofrio, MD, MS, is a professor and chair of emergency medicine at Yale Medicine. She is boarded in emergency medicine and addiction medicine. She is also a professor in the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. D’Onofrio is internationally known for her work with substance use disorders, women’s cardiovascular health, and mentoring physician scientists in developing independent research careers.   

For the past 30 years she has developed and tested interventions for alcohol, opioids, and other substance use disorders, serving as the principal investigator (PI) on several large NIH, SAMSHA, and CDC studies. Dr. D’Onofrio has a long track record of mentoring junior and senior faculty members both at Yale and throughout the U.S. in multiple specialties. 

She is the PI of a NIDA K12 establishing the Yale Drug Use, Addiction, and HIV Research Scholars (Yale-DAHRS) program, a three-year post-doctoral, interdisciplinary, mentored career development program with focused training in prevention and treatment of drug use, addiction, and HIV in general medical settings. She is a founding board member of addiction medicine, now recognized as a new specialty/subspecialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

As the chair of emergency medicine and chief of emergency services at Yale New Haven Hospital, Dr. D’Onofrio’s goals are to provide quality medical care for the wide range of people who come through its doors—whether it is resuscitating and stabilizing critically ill or injured patients, or assessing and treating nonemergent illness or injuries. “The ED offers access to care for all and we have special hours—all day, all night, every day,” she says. “Our goal Is to treat the presenting problem and make connections to any services or resources they might need.” 

We have the ability to safe a life whether from an acute illness or injury such as a stroke or heart attack; or individuals presenting with an addiction, she says. “We also can prevent a crisis by initiating early treatment for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Regardless of the severity of the problem, during every shift, emergency physicians make a huge difference in someone’s life.”