Mark Gold MD

Mark S. Gold, M.D., is an author, inventor, and mentor who has had over 1,000 peer-reviewed publications since beginning his academic career at the University of Florida College of Medicine and Yale University School of Medicine in the 1970s. He is best known for developing the pioneering translational laboratory for human research methods in addiction and psychiatry.

He has over 30,000 academic research citations and an H index of 93. He has made impactful contributions to psychiatry, neuroendocrinology, radiation oncology, transplant biology, orthopedic surgery, public health, pain, obesity medicine, and substance use disorders. Gold was a founding member of the McKnight Brain Institute and ultimately became one of its directors.

Dr. Gold helped establish the McKnight Brain Institute, a translational research portfolio in addiction and psychiatry, and an endowment after he became a professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, anesthesiology, community health, and family medicine. He also modernized addiction and psychiatry training, fellowship, and treatment programs, while hopeful that research would translate into new, more effective treatments. Gold developed a model addiction medicine training program before there were programs, ACGME accreditation, or even standards for programs.

Dr. Gold continues to serve as a visiting professor, lecture at medical schools and grand rounds around the U.S., update his Oxford textbook Food and Addictions, and serve as an editor, guest editor, and reviewer for many of the top journals in the world. He is the specialty chief editor of the Journal of Public Health for SUDs and behavioral addictions. Recently, Gold was the editor of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences on psychedelic and interventional psychiatry, as well as another on addiction medicine.

Dr. Gold and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester have developed and published medication-assisted treatment guidelines for OUDs. They have also collaborated on other guidelines. Most recently, for the American Psychiatric Association, Gold and colleagues reviewed the scientific evidence base for cannabis and cannabinoids as medicines. This report was recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Gold was a Phi Beta Kappa, Research Honors, and Alpha Omega Alpha graduate who is now a Distinguished Alumnus recognized by each of his alma maters: Washington University in St. Louis (1989), Yale (2008), and the University of Florida (1984). Additionally, Gold was voted to the Wall of Fame at the University of Florida College of Medicine (1988).

He has received many national and international awards and prizes for his research on addiction science and medicine. He has also received lifetime achievement awards from national treatment providers, prevention, advocacy, and support groups (Addiction Policy Forum, DARE, DEA Educational Foundation, CADCA, and Addiction Treatment Professionals) for his work in destigmatizing addictive illnesses.