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SKIP SVIOKLA
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Sylvester “Skip” Sviokla, M.D.
Specialties: Addiction medicine
Home base: Northeast
Web site: www.medicalassistedrecovery.com
Board certified in addiction medicine, Sylvester “Skip” Sviokla, M.D., is the author of the highly rated From Harvard to Hell...and Back (with Kerry Zukus; Central Recovery Press 2013), the true story of his own journey through addiction to his joy in recovery. He was featured on the cover of Addiction Professional and his thoughts and opinions have appeared in various other print media. He has been a guest on radio talk shows, including Voice America and Recovery Radio, and TV shows such as Health Check, NBC Turn to Ten, The Dan Yorke Show and The Rhode Show.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Sviokla started out in surgery—then an accident to his hand compromised his surgical technique. He became director of several emergency rooms on the West Coast before drugs and alcohol caused him to lose his medical license in 1999. He lost nearly everything, but finally gained insight into his addiction and has been in recovery for 13 years. 
Dr. Sviokla is now a clinical instructor at Brown Medical School and owns Medical Assisted Recovery in Warwick, Rhode Island. He speaks regularly to young physicians in an effort to increase their awareness of the lethal disease of addiction.He has been married to his wife, Maurine, for 44 years and has four children and eight grandchildren.
Although addiction meets the criteria for a medical disease, Dr. Sviokla emphasizes the need for people to take responsibility in order to begin to heal. He also emphasizes the joy that results from acceptance of the illness and the subsequent ease of healing that accompanies that acceptance.
Suggested Topics
Video Samples
NBC Turn To 10 Health Check
The Rhode Show
Dan Yorke Show