Dr. Joao P. De Aquino - 2026

Dr. Joao P. De Aquino is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and founding director of the Pain and Addiction Interaction Neuroscience (PAIN) Lab. He earned his medical degree from the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil and completed his psychiatry residency in Yale’s Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP), followed by an addiction psychiatry fellowship and research training in psychophysical pain assessment and behavioral pharmacology. Board-certified in adult and addiction psychiatry, he is an attending psychiatrist at Yale’s Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, where he treats patients with co-occurring chronic pain and substance use disorders. Dr. De Aquino’s work has built a translational human-laboratory platform for experimental therapeutics at the pain–addiction interface, combining mechanistic laboratory studies of opioids, cannabinoids, alcohol, and psychedelics with real-world clinical research in clinically complex populations often excluded from traditional trials. His studies integrate quantitative sensory testing, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling, and within-subject randomized designs to evaluate non-opioid treatments and identify psychophysical predictors of response. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health through R01 awards from NIDA and NIAAA and an R61/R33 award from NCCIH. He is an Associate Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, serves as Associate Editor of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and in 2026 delivered a presidential keynote at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.