Dr. Jonathan Giftos is a physician and activist working at the intersection of addiction, incarceration and public
Dr. Jonathan Giftos is the Medical Director for Addiction Medicine & Drug User Health at Project Renewal, a large housing and integrated health provider in NYC. In this role, he develops clinical services for people who use drugs in Project Renewal's crisis, shelter, supportive housing and affordable housing spaces. He also works to expand harm reduction services, while supervising care for people who use drugs in non-licensed spaces (ie, mobile medical vans), supporting primary care doctors in their article 28 clinics, and serving as medical director for Project Renewal's OASAS licensed programs, which include medically supervised withdrawal, outpatient and residential treatment. He provides clinical care at Project Renewal's new Support & Connection Center (previously called the NYPD diversion center) in East Harlem, and their 3rd street medical clinic. He is also on faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Previously, Dr. Giftos served as the Clinical Director of Substance Use Treatment for the Division of Correctional Health Services at Rikers Island, where he oversaw diversion, harm reduction, treatment and reentry services for incarcerated patients with substance use disorders. He was also the medical director of the Key Extended Entry Program (KEEP), the nation's oldest and largest jail-based OTP on Rikers Island.
Prior to medical school, Dr. Giftos lived and taught first-grade in Honduras, served as an immigration social worker in Camden, NJ and worked at Abraham House, an alternative to incarceration residence in the South Bronx. A long-time photographer, he continues to see the camera as both a creative outlet and as a powerful tool for social change. He lives with his wife and two sons in Brooklyn.