Medical Specialty: Pain Medicine, Palliative Care

Medical School: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Maryland, 1980

Training: Internship: Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, New York, 1980-1981. Residency: Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, 1981-1984. Fellowship: Pain and Neuro-Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, 1984-1985.

Academic Appointment:
Professor of Neurology and Anesthesiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Board Certification:
American Board of Pain Medicine, 2001
American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 1997
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Certification in Neurology, 1985

Dr. Russell K. Portenoy is Chairman, Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care and holder of the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Chair in Pain and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center. He is Chief Medical Officer of Continuum Hospice Care/The Jacob Perlow Hospice and Professor of Neurology and Anesthesiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Portenoy is Past President of the American Pain Society and the recipient of that organization's Wilbert Fordyce Award for Lifetime Excellence in Clinical Investigation and the Distinguished Service Award; he is also the recipient of the Founder’s Award from the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the Bonica Award of the Eastern Pain Association. He has served as Secretary of the International Association for the Study of Pain and as a member of the Steering Committee of the National Consensus Project on Best Practice in Palliative Care. He is currently Chairman of the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Forum of the National Hospice Work Group, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Palliative Medicine Review Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Pain Foundation and the National Hospice Foundation.

Dr. Portenoy’s research has focused on clinical trials of analgesic drugs, opioid pharmacology, symptom measurement, and quality of life assessment. He is Editor in Chief of the international, peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; Associate Editor for Clinical Sciences of Pain; and Editor for the Palliative Care Section of The Oncologist. He serves on numerous other Editorial Boards and has written, co-authored or edited 17 books and more than 400 papers on topics in pain and symptom management, opioid pharmacotherapy, and symptom assessment.

2005 New York Top Doctors, Pain Medicine