Michele Buonora, MD

Michele Buonora, M.D., M.S. (VA Scholar) recently completed her internal medicine training in the Primary Care-Social Internal Medicine Residency Program at Montefiore Medical Center in June 2021. Dr. Buonora received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Haverford College and her Doctor of Medicine from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. As part of the Clinical Research Training (dual M.D./M.S.) Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she also earned her Master of Science in Clinical Research Methods. Previously, she conducted research at The Rockefeller University in the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases. Dr. Buonora’s early career has included research intersecting pain and substance use disorders through a variety of projects including analyzing the social influences of pain behavior, exploring the effects of substance use on neuroendocrine hormone levels, and assessing patient experience and feasibility of group acupuncture for the treatment of pain. Most recently she has focused on identifying the clinical predictors of, as well as outcomes associated with, opioid tapering as a means of opioid risk mitigation.

Research and Career interests: Dr. Buonora plans to pursue a career that transforms the delivery of chronic pain treatment to be more patient-centered and equitable. She seeks to engage and partner with people living with chronic pain in her work exploring multidisciplinary approaches for treating chronic pain in those with and without opioid use disorders, and she hopes to conduct trials comparing pain and opioid use disorder outcomes in different healthcare delivery models.