Throughout her career, Kathy Oriel has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ people and those who struggle with substances. Dr. Oriel is a family physician who provides primary care to people of all ages, newborn through end of life. She is also board-certified in addiction medicine and provides supportive non-judgmental care for those who struggle with substance use and abuse.
Dr. Oriel began providing hormonal therapy for gender transition while still in medical training and recognized the therapeutic value of being an out lesbian when that was considered professionally risky. She provides hormonal therapy for gender transition, family planning, and PreP (pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV), and as an addiction medicine physician, she provides medically assisted therapy (MAT) for people with substance use disorders including SuboxoneTM and VivitrolTM.
Dr. Oriel received her MD from the University of Missouri–Columbia and completed family medicine residency training at St Paul Ramsey Medical Center in St Paul, Minnesota. She was a teacher and leader at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health as well as a physician at Northeast Family Medicine from 1995-2017, and she received grant funding for over $1 million to better understand health disparities in LGBTQ people.
