Photo of Christopher Holden

Christopher Holden MD

Program Director, Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowships

Director of Addiction Psychiatry

Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

Department of Psychiatry – University of Illinois College of Medicine

UI Health

Contact

Email:

cholde1 [at] uic.edu

Office Phone:

(312) 996-8770

Related Sites:

About

Dr. Holden is the Director of Addiction Psychiatry. He treats a variety of psychiatric conditions, and he specializes in the treatment of patients with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders. He works with patients in the outpatient mental health clinic as well as the hospital’s inpatient medical, surgical, and psychiatric units.

PSYCHIATRY

Dr. Holden believes in taking an integrated approach to the treatment of psychiatric conditions. Patients are most likely to recover from psychiatric and addictive disorders when they are addressed simultaneously, in particular with multiple complementary approaches, which can include medication and psychotherapy. He is published in the fields of addiction medicine and basic biomedical research.

    • Scherer JS, Wu W, Wetmore JB, Holden C, Liebschutz JM, Bhatraju EP, Cavanaugh KL, Becker W, Morasco BJ, Radford M, Cheatle M, Wilkie C, Walsh J, Hsu JY, Dember LM, Kimmel PL, Kalim S, Charytan DM. Cannabis Use among People Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis with Chronic Pain Kidney360. 2026 Jun 2.
    • Hull K, Bing-Canar H, Miloslavich K, Holden C, Ahluwalia A, Lane SD, Schmitz JM, Wardle MC. Exploring the Role of Reward Functioning in the Overlap of Post-Traumatic Stress and Cocaine Use Disorder. Subst Use Misuse. 2025;60(6):926-932.
    • Dember LM, Hsu JY, Mehrotra R, Cavanaugh KL, Kalim S, Charytan DM, Fischer MJ, Jhamb M, Johansen KL, Becker WC, Pellegrino B, Eneanya ND, Schrauben SJ, Pun PH, Unruh ML, Morasco BJ, Mehta M, Miyawaki N, Penfield J, Bernardo L, Brintz CE, Cheatle MD, Doorenbos AZ, Heapy AA, Keefe FJ, Krebs EE, Kuzla N, Nigwekar SU, Schmidt RJ, Steel JL, Wetmore JB, White DM, Kimmel PL, Cukor D; HOPE Consortium. Pain Coping Skills Training for Patients Receiving Hemodialysis: The HOPE Consortium Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Feb 1;185(2):197-207.
    • Wardle MC, Hoots JK, Miloslavich K, Nunez C, Dios C, Holden C, Ahluwahlia A, Green CE, Lane SD, Schmitz JM.:  Deficits in consummatory reward relate to severity of cocaine use. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2023 Aug 1;249:109950. 
    • Lockwood MB, Fischer MJ, Silva K, Contreras BN, Zamora G, Goldstein A, Meinel M, Holden C, Lash J, Steffens A, Doorenbos A. Acceptability and feasibility of fecal microBIOME and serum metabolite sample collection in people with end-stage kidney disease and pain being treated with HemoDialysis: A pilot study (BIOME-HDp). Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2022 Sep 5;29:100995.
    • Han J, Holden CC, Ahluwalia AY, Molokie RE, Gowhari M, Sweiss K, Patel PR, Gordeuk VR, Rondelli D, Saraf SL: Chronic opioid use can be reduced or discontinued after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for sickle cell disease. Br J Haematol . 2020 Nov;191(3):e70-e72.
    • Salsitz EA, Holden CC, Tross S, Nugent A: “Transitioning Stable Methadone Maintenance Patients to Buprenorphine Maintenance.” J Addict Med. 2010 Jun 4(2):88-92.
    • Tomatsu S, Orii KO, Fleming RE,Holden CC, Waheed A, Britton RS, Gutierrez MA, Velez-Castrillon S, Bacon BR, Sly WS: “Contribution of the H63D mutation in HFE to murine hereditary hemochromatosis.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003 Dec 23;100(26):15788-93.
    • Tomatsu S, Orii KO, Vogler C, Grubb JH, Snella EM, Gutierrez M, Dieter T, Holden CC, Sukegawa K, Orii T, Kondo N, Sly WS: “Production of MPS VII mouse (Gus(tm(hE540A x mE536A)Sly)) doubly tolerant to human and mouse beta-glucuronidase.” Hum Mol Genet. 2003 May 1;12(9):961-73.
    • Fleming RE, Holden CC, Tomatsu S, Waheed A, Brunt EM, Britton RS, Bacon BR, Roopenian DC, Sly WS: “Mouse strain differences determine severity of iron accumulation in Hfe knockout model of hereditary hemochromatosis.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001 Feb 27;98(5):2707-11.
    • Fleming RE, Migas MC, Holden CC, Waheed A, Britton RS, Tomatsu S, Bacon BR, Sly WS: “Transferrin receptor 2: continued expression in mouse liver in the face of iron overload and in hereditary hemochromatosis.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2000 Feb 29;97(5):2214-9.

  • National Presentations

    • “Benzodiazepine Use, Misuse, Addiction and Treatment.” Symposium Co-Speaker and Co-Coordinator, American Society of Addiction Medicine 44th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference, 4/27/2013

Seminar has a video recordiing - Seminar has a video recordiing.

Date Topic Lecture/Seminar Series Status
08/15/2017 Methamphetamine-Associated Psychosis
  • Addiction Affinity Group
 Past Event
02/21/2017 The Prescription Opioid Epidemic
  • Addiction Affinity Group
 Past Event
11/17/2015 Current pharmacotherapies for drug addiction: Clinical picture.
  • Addiction Affinity Group
 Past Event