Q&A with Kristine Torres-Lockhart: Montefiore’s First Addiction Medicine Fellow

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Q&A with Kristine Torres-Lockhart: Montefiore’s First Addiction Medicine Fellow

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As the Division of General Internal Medicine’s first Addiction Medicine Fellow, Dr. Kristine Torres-Lockhart has embarked on a unique experience. In this one-year fellowship, under the direction of Shadi Nahvi, MD, MS and Melissa Stein, MD, Kristine provides substance use disorder (SUD) care in a variety of treatment settings, including a harm reduction center and syringe exchange program, a methadone clinic, an FQHC primary care clinic, an intensive outpatient program, and the inpatient consult service across East Harlem and the South Bronx. Dr. Torres-Lockhart earned her medical degree from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and trained as an internal medicine and primary care resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. We spoke to her about this unique opportunity.

Kristine Torres-Lockhart
Kristine Torres-Lockhart, M.D.

Why did you choose to train at Montefiore and what do you expect from this experience?

I chose to pursue additional training in addiction medicine at Montefiore because of the long history the institution has had providing excellent addiction care and its impressive track record integrating addiction care into medical education and clinical practice, all informed by strong clinical research. Montefiore’s Division of Substance Abuse, which pioneered the use of methadone for treatment of opioid disorder, just celebrated its 50th anniversary. My hope is that my fellowship will enhance the skills I need to pursue a career dedicated to improving SUD care through implementation of new interventions within health systems and clinical research. I feel incredibly lucky to serve as Montefiore’s inaugural addiction medicine fellow and benefit from the amazing leadership in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Division of Substance Abuse.

Is there an educational component to your fellowship training?

In addition to my clinical responsibilities, I’m also pursuing a scholarly project developing medical education tools to improve opioid use disorder treatment and linkage to substance use disorder care. During this year, I hope to grow as a medical educator and clinician advocate to empower other providers and health care workers to recognize and treat SUDs in their clinical practice. Moreover, I hope to better understand and dismantle the stigma surrounding addiction and addiction treatment to improve the health of our community.

When and why did you first become to be interested in addiction medicine?

My interest in addiction medicine has grown out of my clinical and teaching experiences as a resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, where I provided primary care and SUD treatment at the HIV clinic of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and precepted health professional students at Boston’s Nashua Street Jail. I came to appreciate how my patients’ poor health outcomes were linked to a lack of access to addiction care and developed a desire to improve the fragmented clinical care experienced by those with SUD through medical education and clinical research.

What do you like to do outside of work?

As of late, most of my free time outside of work has been spent running while training for an upcoming marathon this fall. It has been a great way to sight see and discover the city!