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
Erratum : Online social networks and smoking cessation: A scientific research agenda (Journal of Medical Internet Research (2004) 6:3 (e34))
Failed retrieving data.Individual mobility patterns and real-time geo-spatial exposure to point-of-sale tobacco marketing
Failed retrieving data.Menthol brand switching among adolescents and young adults in the national youth smoking cessation survey
Failed retrieving data.Patterns of tobacco use and dual use in US young adults : The missing link between youth prevention and adult cessation
Failed retrieving data.Present and future horizons for transdisciplinary research
Failed retrieving data.The role of public policies in reducing smoking : The minnesota simsmoke tobacco policy model
Failed retrieving data.A randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression versus relaxation training for alcohol-dependent individuals with elevated depressive symptoms
Failed retrieving data.A randomized trial of internet and telephone treatment for smoking cessation
Failed retrieving data.Biography
Failed retrieving data.Development and validation of the online social support for smokers scale
Failed retrieving data.E-cigarette or drug-delivery device? Regulating novel nicotine products
Failed retrieving data.Food and drug administration regulation of tobacco : Integrating science, law, policy, and advocacy
Failed retrieving data.Modeling the future effects of a menthol ban on smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths in the United States
Failed retrieving data.Online social networks and smoking cessation : A scientific research agenda
Failed retrieving data.Positive reactions to tobacco predict relapse after cessation
Failed retrieving data.Quit attempts and quit rates among menthol and nonmenthol smokers in the United States
Failed retrieving data.US attitudes about banning menthol in cigarettes : Results from a nationally representative survey
Failed retrieving data.Boosting Population Quits Through Evidence-Based Cessation Treatment and Policy
Failed retrieving data.Exploring scenarios to dramatically reduce smoking prevalence : A simulation model of the three-part cessation process
Failed retrieving data.Increasing Tobacco Cessation in America. A Consumer Demand Perspective
Failed retrieving data.Interdisciplinary health sciences and health systems
Failed retrieving data.Menthol and non-menthol smoking : The impact of prices and smoke-free air laws
Failed retrieving data.Modeling the Impact of Smoking-Cessation Treatment Policies on Quit Rates
Failed retrieving data.Novel nicotine delivery systems and public health : The rise of the "E-Cigarette"
Failed retrieving data.Reaching Healthy People 2010 by 2013. A SimSmoke Simulation
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