Yale School of Medicine is now certified to offer a program in addiction medicine, bringing the total of similar programs across the nation up to 18.

On Tuesday, the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation accredited Yale for the new two-year program, which will train doctors in addiction diagnosis and treatment, including counseling and medication skills. The program will launch officially in July 2014 and will offer four fellowships, two for each year.

The fellows will mostly work in a clinical care setting, helping patients with both physical and psychological symptoms of addiction. While the treatment of addictions has typically been the role of psychiatrists, the program aims to offer the training to other physicians as well. After completing the program, the board-certified doctors can work in individual offices specialized in addiction treatment or in health centers and facilities with addiction patients.

Yale has been leading addiction research and currently has relationships with addiction-treatment agencies, including the APT Foundation and the South Central Rehabilitation Center, and is expected to be an ideal host for the program. Although the University already has an addiction psychiatry program, it does not have a program similar to the new one.

Jeanette Tetrault, an assistant professor of internal medicine, will direct the new program.