Dr. Pamela Arenella was born in Hawaii and has lived in multiple states with in the USA. She relocated to Nova Scotia, Canada in 2020 to join Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry as a Professor, specializing in Addiction Medicine and Concurrent Mental Health & Addictons.
Dr. Arenella completed her medical education at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. She then moved to New Mexico to complete her residency training in General Psychiatry. She and her family stayed in New Mexico and here she began her academic career at the University of New Mexico. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. She is also a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Her areas of expertise include addiction psychiatry, educational administration, and professional wellbeing. At the University of New Mexico, she worked in the concurrent mental health and addictions clinic, participated in clinical research, served as the Vice Chair for Education, the Program Director for General Psychiatry, and the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education’s Wellness Initiatives in the Office of Professional Wellbeing.
At Dalhousie University she serves as the Clinical Academic Lead for Addiction Psychiatry. She currently runs a concurrent mental health and addiction consultation service, is starting an addiction psychiatry fellowship, and serves as the co-lead of the concurrent disorders’ section of the Atlantic Node of the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse. She is passionate about working with patients, trainees, and colleagues to help them identify and achieve their goals in life.