Dr Robert Woolhandler, MD was born, raised and medically trained in the Pgh area. Dr Woolhandler, MD has practiced general medicine in the Pittsburgh area since 1980.

Since 1987 the main focus of Dr Woolhandler’s medical practice has been addiction medicine. He came to the field of addiction medicine through his own personal and family experiences with addiction And  subsequently his own personal recovery process. Over the years of working with many people struggling with the disease of addiction, Dr Woolhandler began to shift his primary focus in addiction medicine to the treatment of opiate dependence and is now considered the foremost authority in the Pittsburgh area on the treatment of opiate dependence.

With many new breakthrough pharmacological developments in the treatment of Opiate dependence, Dr. Woolhandler has developed an exciting new approach to the treatment of opiate dependence. Dr. Woolhandler has combined a short non-opiate outpatient detoxification process followed by an intramuscular injection of the non-opiate blocker, Vivitrol.

Vivitrol® is a unique medication that is absolutely non-addicting and will reduce or eliminate all opiate cravings and also block the euphoric effects of Opiates.

This Vivitrol® injection is given once a month intramuscularly. Dr Woolhandler wants to make this unique successful program available to all people struggling with with opiate dependence. Dr Woolhandler also stresses that combining Vivitrol® with behavioral addiction therapy will increase the likelihood of long-term opiate abstinence.