David B Abrams
David Abrams
Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences
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Professional overview
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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.
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Education
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BSc (Hons), Psychology and Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaMS, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJPhD, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJPostdoctoral Fellow, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI
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Honors and awards
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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)
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Areas of research and study
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Behavioral ScienceChronic DiseasesEvaluationsImplementation and Impact of Public Health RegulationsImplementation sciencePopulation HealthPublic Health PedagogyPublic Health SystemsResearch DesignSystems IntegrationSystems InterventionsTobacco ControlTranslational science
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Publications
Publications
Overview of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems : A Systematic Review
Failed retrieving data.Preliminary evaluation of a telephone-based smoking cessation intervention in the lung cancer screening setting : A randomized clinical trial
Failed retrieving data.The application of a decision-theoretic model to estimate the public health impact of vaporized nicotine product initiation in the United States
Failed retrieving data.The need for a comprehensive framework
Failed retrieving data.Changes in the prevalence and correlates of menthol cigarette use in the USA, 2004–2014
Failed retrieving data.Complying with the framework convention for tobacco control : An application of the Abridged SimSmoke model to Israel
Failed retrieving data.Impact of Exposure to Electronic Cigarette Advertising on Susceptibility and Trial of Electronic Cigarettes and Cigarettes in US Young Adults : A Randomized Controlled Trial
Failed retrieving data.Mathematical modeling in tobacco control research : Initial Results From a Systematic Review
Failed retrieving data.Medical costs and quality-adjusted life years associated with smoking : A systematic review
Failed retrieving data.Obsolete tobacco control themes can be hazardous to public health : The need for updating views on absolute product risks and harm reduction
Failed retrieving data.Patterns of electronic cigarette use among adults in the United States
Failed retrieving data.The Moment Study : Protocol for a mixed method observational cohort study of the Alternative Nicotine Delivery Systems (ANDS) initiation process among adult cigarette smokers
Failed retrieving data.The relations between false positive and negative screens and smoking cessation and relapse in the National Lung Screening Trial : Implications for public health
Failed retrieving data.Young adult smokers' neural response to graphic cigarette warning labels
Failed retrieving data.Cigarettes: The Rise and Decline But Not Demise of the Greatest Behavioral Health Disaster of the 20th Century
Failed retrieving data.Differential trends in cigarette smoking in the USA : Is menthol slowing progress?
Failed retrieving data.Incorporating a Smoking Cessation Intervention into Lung Cancer Screening Programs : Preliminary Studies
Failed retrieving data.Internet and telephone treatment for smoking cessation : Mediators and moderators of short-term abstinence
Failed retrieving data.Markov Modeling to Estimate the Population Impact of Emerging Tobacco Products: A Proof-Of-Concept Study
Failed retrieving data.National enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act at point-of-sale
Failed retrieving data.NIH electronic cigarette workshop : Developing a research agenda
Failed retrieving data.The importance of science-informed policy and what the data really tell us about e-cigarettes
Failed retrieving data.Tobacco retail outlet advertising practices and proximity to schools, parks and public housing affect Synar underage sales violations in Washington, DC
Failed retrieving data.Cameras for public health surveillance : A methods protocol for crowdsourced annotation of point-of-sale photographs
Failed retrieving data.Erratum : Exploring scenarios to dramatically reduce smoking prevalence: a simulation model of the three-part cessation process (American Journal of Public Health (2010) 100:7 (1253-1259) DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.166785)
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