Board certified in internal medicine and addiction medicine, Dr. Liebschutz is a primary care physician, substance use researcher, and administrator. She serves as Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine. Prior to assuming her role as Chief at University of Pittsburgh in 2017, she was Associate Chief in the Section of General Internal Medicine at Boston Medical Center. She entered medicine to pursue public health and social justice and has never waivered from that passion. Dr. Liebschutz began her research career studying the health impacts of interpersonal violence, including pain and substance use. Her academic career developed at the same time as the national opioid crisis, which led her to more opportunities to study and try to improve and ameliorate the harms of opioid use through clinical care, education, and research. She has had a dual interest in faculty development, research education, and mentorship, having served as the Director of the Primary Care Academic Research Fellowship and Preventive Medicine Residency for more than 15 years at Boston University. She is passionate about leadership and helping others reach their potential, whether patients, staff, trainees, or colleagues. 

Dr. Liebschutz’s research agenda focuses on prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders in medical settings, with a focus on opioid prescribing for pain and treatment of opioid use disorders. She uses implementation science and health services research methods. She has served as PI and co-investigator on multiple NIDA funded RO1 and U studies, including cohort studies and randomized controlled trials in inpatient, primary care, and HIV care settings. She is PI of the Appalachian Node of NIDA Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Liebschutz is a national lecturer and educator on opioid prescribing and developed the website, www.opioidresources.org, a resource for opioid prescribing in the primary care setting. She has been a certified buprenorphine prescriber since 2006, managing an active panel of opioid-dependent patients within her primary care internal medicine practice and serving as a consultant on the inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult service. She is founder and chair of Bridging Connections in Addiction Research at the University of Pittsburgh, a network of multi-disciplinary addiction researchers for collaborative research and training. She advocates for harm reduction and is passionate about physician wellness.

Dr. Liebschutz grew up in Rochester, NY and spent 30 years in Boston (26 at Boston Medical Center), where she became a card-carrying member of Red Sox nation. She and her husband, Roger, have three young adult children and a dog named Sadie.