NIH 1998 Almanac/The Organization/NIAAA/
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism : Biographical Sketch of NIAAA Director
Enoch Gordis, M.D.
Born on February 21, 1931, in New York, N.Y., Dr. Gordis received his B.A. degree from
Columbia University in 1950 and his M.D. degree from the Columbia College of Physicians
and Surgeons in 1954. He trained in internal medicine at the Mt. Sinai Hospital in New
York. Following his residency, he spent 10 years at New York City’s Rockefeller
University conducting research in the areas of lipid metabolism, toxicology of carbon
tetrachloride, analytical biochemistry of drug stereoisomers, the metabolism of alcohol,
and alcohol withdrawal.
Subsequently he founded the alcohol treatment program at the city hospital center at
Elmhurst, N.Y., and was professor of clinical medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. He
directed Elmhurst’s alcoholism program from 1971 until his appointment as NIAAA
director in November 1986.
Dr. Gordis’s memberships include the Institute of Medicine of NAS, the American
Physiological Society, the American Federation for Clinical Research, Sigma Xi, the
American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine,
fellow of the American College of Physicians, and the Research Society on Alcoholism.
Directors of NIAAA
