David B Abrams

Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. David Abrams' career focuses on systems and social learning frameworks to inform population health enhancement. He has experience in testing theory, research design, measuring mechanisms of behavior change and outcome, and evaluating clinical trials (behavioral and pharmacological). His interests span topics from basic bio-behavioral mechanisms and clinical treatments to policy across risk factors and behaviors (e.g. tobacco/nicotine; alcohol, obesity, co-morbidity of medical and mental health), disease states (cancer; cardiovascular; HIV-AIDS), levels (biological, individual, organizational, worksite, community, global, and internet based), populations and disparities. His interests converge in the domain of implementation science to cost-efficiently inform evidence-based public health practice and policymaking.

Through transdisciplinary and translational research strategies, Dr. Abrams provides scientific leadership in tobacco control. His current focus is in strengthening global and United States tobacco and nicotine management strategies. Deaths of 1 billion smokers are estimated by 2100 caused overwhelmingly by use of combustible (smoked) tobacco products, not nicotine. Harm minimization is a key overarching systems strategy to speed the net public health benefit of emergent disruptive technologies for cleaner nicotine delivery. The goal is more rapid elimination of preventable deaths, disease burdens, and the widening gap in health disparities driven disproportionately by disparities in smoking.

Dr. Abrams was a professor and founding director of the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Brown University Medical School. He then directed the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Until 2017, he was Professor of Health Behavior and Society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the founding Executive Director of the Schroeder National Institute of Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative (formerly the American Legacy Foundation).

Dr. Abrams has published over 250 peer reviewed scholarly articles and been a Principal Investigator on numerous NIH grants. He is lead author of The Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook: A Guide to Best Practices. He has served on expert panels at NIH and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on Obesity, Alcohol Misuse and Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation. He has also served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI) and was President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

For a complete list of Dr. Abrams' published work, click here.

Education

BSc (Hons), Psychology and Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

MS, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

PhD, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI

Honors and awards

Research Laureate Award, American Academy of Health Behavior (2014)

Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award for Tobacco Research, American Society for Preventive Oncology (2008)

Distinguished Alumni Award: Rutgers University, The Graduate School, New Brunswick, NJ (2007)

The Musiker-Miranda Distinguished Service Award, American Psychological Association (2006)

Distinguished Service Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2006)

Outstanding Research Mentor Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2006)

Book of the Year Award: Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook. American Journal of Nursing (2005)

Distinguished Scientist Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (1998)

Areas of research and study

Behavioral Science

Chronic Diseases

Evaluations

Implementation and Impact of Public Health Regulations

Implementation science

Population Health

Public Health Pedagogy

Public Health Systems

Research Design

Systems Integration

Systems Interventions

Tobacco Control

Translational science

Publications

Publications

Menthol and Mint Cigarettes and Cigars : Initiation and Progression in Youth, Young Adults and Adults in Waves 1-4 of the PATH Study, 2013-2017

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Patterns of E-cigarette use and subsequent cigarette smoking cessation over 2 Years (2013/2014-2015/2016) in the population assessment of tobacco and health study

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Predictors of attrition in a smoking cessation trial conducted in the lung cancer screening setting

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Youth Vaping and Tobacco Use in Context in the United States : Results from the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey

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Association of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Use With Cigarette Smoking Progression or Reduction Among Young Adults

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Can the Association Between Electronic-Cigarette Use and Stroke Be Interpreted as Risk of Stroke?

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Hookah use patterns, social influence and associated other substance use among a sample of New York City public university students

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Is Nicotine Reduction in Cigarettes Enough?

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Role of e-cigarettes and pharmacotherapy during attempts to quit cigarette smoking : The PATH Study 2013-16

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Young Adult Tobacco and E-cigarette Use Transitions : Examining Stability Using Multistate Modeling

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Associations of risk factors of e-cigarette and cigarette use and susceptibility to use among baseline PATH study youth participants (2013–2014)

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Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Recalled Exposure to and Self-Reported Impact of Tobacco Marketing and Promotions

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Evidence, alarm, and the debate over e-cigarettes

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Longitudinal e-Cigarette and cigarette use among US Youth in the PATH Study (2013-2015)

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Longitudinal tobacco use transitions among adolescents and young adults : 2014-2016

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Prevalence and Correlates of Snuff Use, and its Association with Tuberculosis, among Women Living with HIV in South Africa

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Preventing Smoking Progression in Young Adults : the Concept of Prevescalation

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Re : Disregarding the impact of nicotine on the developing brain when evaluating costs and benefits of noncombustible nicotine products

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Smoking Trajectory Classes and Impact of Social Smoking Identity in Two Cohorts of U.S. Young Adults

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Study protocol for a telephone-based smoking cessation randomized controlled trial in the lung cancer screening setting : The lung screening, tobacco, and health trial

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Transitions in electronic cigarette use among adults in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, Waves 1 and 2 (2013-2015)

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Adult interest in using a hypothetical modified risk tobacco product : findings from wave 1 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (2013–14)

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Correlates of transitions in tobacco product use by u.S. adult tobacco users between 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 : Findings from the path study wave 1 and wave 2

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Early Subjective Sensory Experiences with “Cigalike” E-cigarettes Among African American Menthol Smokers : A qualitative study

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Fostering transparency in e-cigarette research synthesis : the utility and limitations of methodological hierarchies

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