My professional mission is to improve the access and quality of care of patients who have vulnerabilities, including those with addiction disorders and co-occurring pain syndromes. I am the Elbert F. and Marie Christensen Endowed Research Professor, tenured Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, at the University of Utah School of Medicine and the Section Chief of Addiction Medicine at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. I am a board-certified internal medicine and addiction medicine physician and I am a Fellow in the American College of Physicians (FACP) and a Distinguished Fellow in the American Society of Addiction Medicine (DFASAM). 

I am the PI of the Greater Intermountain Node (GIN), a Center site of the NIH NIDA Clinical Trials Network; I founded and am the Director of the Program for Addiction Research, Clinical Care, Knowledge, and Advocacy (PARCKA); and I founded and am the Emeritus Director the Vulnerable Veteran Innovative Patient-Aligned-Care-Team (VIP) Initiative, a clinical-evaluation initiative at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. I am a Core Faculty member of the VA Salt Lake City Informatics, Decision-Enhancement and Analytic Sciences (IDEAS) Center, a Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center of Innovation (COIN). I am the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Substance Abuse (impact factor 3.9).

My interest in opioid, pain and substance use disorder research is longstanding: I have a 25+ year track record of conducting research on the quality, equity, and efficiency of health care for vulnerable populations, including those with co-occurring pain and substance use disorders. My methodologic skills include health services, clinical trial, large data-base, and implementation science research. I have received efforts on over 100 federal peer reviewed grants from the NIH, VA, AHRQ, PCORI, and SAMHSA. I have authored over 330 peer reviewed articles (15.3% first authored, 27.2% senior authored, 40.8% authored with mentee) in high impact journals (e.g., JAMA, BMJ, Lancet; H-index=59) and presented/published hundreds of scholarly works. As evidence of how my research has impacted clinical care and my profession, I was awarded one of VA HSR&D’s highest honors by receipt of the 2021 VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) “Health System Impact Award” and received the 2022 David C. Lewis, MD Service to Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction (AMERSA) Award.

I have mentored undergraduate, graduate, MD, and PhD trainees, VA and K- Career Development Awardees, and junior through tenured faculty. In addition, my post-doctoral mentees have received research Career Development Awards and have obtained large research awards. I am primary or secondary mentor on over a dozen current or prior VA, NIH K-, or institutional K-awards. I have been honored locally and nationally for my mentorship abilities: I was named as an inaugural VA Health Services Research and Development National Mentor Network (MNet) mentor, received the “Allen Humphrey Excellence in Medical Student Research Mentoring Award” from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and I was the recipient of the 2013 W. Anderson Spickard, Jr. Excellence in Mentorship Award from Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction (AMERSA). 

I live in Salt Lake City with my wife, Margaret B. Conroy, MD and my children, Lillian, Neil, and Martha. 

@AJ_Gordon