Dr. Howard Flores

Dr. Howard Flores is a board-certified psychiatrist with a focus on addiction psychiatry and geriatric mental health. He earned his medical degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine — a programme deeply embedded in culturally responsive care and service to underserved communities — and completed psychiatry residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, where he gained expertise in the assessment and management of substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illness.

Dr. Flores's addiction psychiatry practice encompasses the evaluation and treatment of alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder — including buprenorphine and naltrexone prescribing within an office-based opioid treatment programme — stimulant use disorders, and cannabis use disorder. He applies a harm reduction philosophy alongside abstinence-based approaches, recognising that recovery is not a single pathway and that engagement with care is the most important first step for many patients.

His geriatric psychiatry practice addresses late-life depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and the psychiatric manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases in older adults. He performs cognitive assessments and collaborates with geriatricians and neurologists for the workup of memory complaints, contributing to the differential diagnosis of depressive pseudodementia, mild cognitive impairment, and early Alzheimer's disease. He has a particular interest in the intersection of chronic pain, opioid use, and mental health in older adults.

Dr. Flores has published on integrated care models for co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders and on the management of opioid use disorder in older adults, appearing in the Journal of Addiction Medicine and the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. He is an ardent advocate for reducing stigma around mental illness and addiction, and has developed public education materials in both English and Spanish for distribution in community health centres. Colleagues and patients describe him as profoundly compassionate, non-judgemental, and committed to meeting patients where they are.