Jeffrey T. Junig

Jeffrey Junig is a psychiatrist in private practice in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He lectures at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and provides psychiatric services for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Student Health Center. He writes about opioid dependence and medication-based treatment strategies. He speaks to groups of health professionals, judges, probation officers, and social workers about the epidemic of opioid dependence, and the role for buprenorphine in successful treatment strategies. He emphasizes the value of treating addiction as a disease that warrants the same clinical approach as other diseases.

Dr. Junig graduated from Carroll College and then entered the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Rochester Center for Brain Research (now the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy). His PhD focused on brain receptors for vasopressin, a neuropeptide that regulates water balance, thirst, and blood pressure. He completed a residency in Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania and is Board Certified in Anesthesiology.

After working as an anesthesiologist and pain physician for a number of years, Dr. Junig developed an addiction to opioids that began with codeine cough medication. After successful treatment he returned to the study of the mind and brain through residency in Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

While working with opioid addicts as a psychiatrist with the Wisconsin prison system and as medical director of outpatient and residential treatment programs, Dr. Junig noted the chronic and relapsing nature of the disease. He became certified to treat opioid dependence with buprenorphine, and was impressed by the potential of that chemical for treating addiction. Because of concerns about the lack of knowledge about buprenorphine and the myths spread through the internet, he developed a blog, Suboxone Talk Zone, and Forum, SuboxForum. His goal has is to challenge attitudes toward addiction that interfere with successful treatment outcomes. He has been a contributor to a number of web and print publications, and he speaks regularly to a range of audiences.