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

Harm Minimization and Tobacco Control : Reframing Societal Views of Nicotine Use to Rapidly Save Lives

Failed retrieving data.

How do we determine the impact of e-cigarettes on cigarette smoking cessation or reduction? Review and recommendations for answering the research question with scientific rigor

Failed retrieving data.

Linking Global Youth Tobacco Survey Data to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control : the Case for Egypt

Failed retrieving data.

Managing nicotine without smoke to save lives now : Evidence for harm minimization

Failed retrieving data.

Potential deaths averted in USA by replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes

Failed retrieving data.

Prevalence and correlates of smoking among people living with HIV in South Africa

Failed retrieving data.

Public misperception that very low nicotine cigarettes are less carcinogenic

Failed retrieving data.

Recommended core items to assess e-cigarette use in population-based surveys

Failed retrieving data.

The relationship of e-cigarette use to cigarette quit attempts and cessation : Insights from a large, nationally representative U.S. Survey

Failed retrieving data.

Transitions in tobacco product use by u.S. adults between 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 : Findings from the path study wave 1 and wave 2

Failed retrieving data.

A framework for evaluating the public health impact of e-cigarettes and other vaporized nicotine products

Failed retrieving data.

Analysis of E-cigarette use in the 2014 Eurobarometer survey : calling out deficiencies in epidemiology methods

Failed retrieving data.

Comparison of ecological momentary assessment versus direct measurement of E-cigarette use with a bluetooth-enabled E-cigarette:a pilot study

Failed retrieving data.

Computational models used to assess US tobacco control policies

Failed retrieving data.

Design and methods of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study

Failed retrieving data.

Developing consistent and transparent models of E-cigarette use : Reply to Glantz and Soneji et al.

Failed retrieving data.

Electronic cigarette use among US adults in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, 2013–2014

Failed retrieving data.

Erratum to : Analysis of E-cigarette use in the 2014 Eurobarometer survey: calling out deficiencies in epidemiology methods (Intern Emerg Med, 10.1007/s11739-017-1667-z)

Failed retrieving data.

Erratum to : Complying with the framework convention for tobacco control: An application of the Abridged SimSmoke model to Israel. [Israel Journal of Health Policy Research. 5, (2016), (41)] DOI: 10.1186/s13584-016-0101-8

Failed retrieving data.

Frequency of youth e-cigarette and tobacco use patterns in the United States : Measurement precision is critical to inform public health

Failed retrieving data.

Frequency of youth e-cigarette, tobacco, and poly-use in the United States, 2015 : Update to Villanti et al., "frequency of youth e-cigarette and tobacco use patterns in the United States: Measurement precision is critical to inform public health"

Failed retrieving data.

Identifying “social smoking” U.S. young adults using an empirically-driven approach

Failed retrieving data.

Improving adherence to smoking cessation treatment : Intervention effects in a web-based randomized trial

Failed retrieving data.

Indicators of dependence for different types of tobacco product users : Descriptive findings from Wave 1 (2013–2014) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study

Failed retrieving data.

Menthol cigarettes and the public health standard : A systematic review

Failed retrieving data.