Meet Dr. Christensen

Dr. Christensen obtained his MD and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hutzel Hospital. He then completed a Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in 1988. He returned to Wayne State, practicing both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, and was Associate Residency Director of the OB-Gyne Residency until 2012. He continues as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department.

While working with the late Dr. James Wardell, one of the first obstetricians to treat pregnant addicted women, he became certified in Addiction Medicine in 2004 and later Board Certified in Addiction Medicine in 2009. He is the past president of the Michigan Society of Addiction Medicine and the current Medical Director of the Michigan Health Professional Recovery Program, which monitors impaired nurses, pharmacists, and doctors. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Society Addiction Medicine in 2010 and later as a Distinguished Fellow in Addiction Medicine.

He was the Medical Director of the Eleonore Hutzel Women’s Recovery Center, founded by Dr. Wardell in 1969 from 2004 to 2018, as well as the Medical Director at the Tolan Medical Research Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at WSU. He has also served as a past Medical Director for Dawn Farm and returned there in 2014. Dr. Christensen also specializes in the treatment of chronic pain, especially pelvic pain in women.

He has received numerous teaching awards. He has been named one of the “Top Docs” in Addiction Medicine in Hour Magazine for 2006 through 2019.

He lives in Canton with his wife Cathy, a Nurse Practitioner also specializing in chronic pain and addiction, their 3 dogs (including Olive, their future Pet Therapy dog) and rescue cats. Their latest rescue, Lucky, arrives on September 27, 2019.