Raymond S Niaura

Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. Raymond Niaura is a psychologist and an expert on tobacco dependence and treatment, as well as substance use and addiction to alcohol. Dr. Niaura researches the biobehavioral substrates of tobacco dependence, including factors that influence adolescent and early adult tobacco use trajectories. He also evaluates behavioral and pharmacological treatments for tobacco cessation, with a particular interest in cessation in disadvantaged population to address public health disparities in tobacco-related burdens of illness and disability.

For eight year, Dr. Niaura was the Director of Science and Training at the Schroeder Institute (SI) for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at the Truth Initiative, where he also supervised the pre- and post-doctoral training programs. Dr. Niaura has previously taught and conducted research at Brown University, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Georgetown Medical Center, and the School of Public Health at University of Maryland. He was also a former President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and is  a Deputy Editor of the Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

With grants from the National Institutes of Health, numerous foundations, and private industry, Dr. Niaura has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, commentaries, and book chapters, including the book The Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook: A Guide to Best Practices.

Education

BA, Psychology (First Class Honors), McGill University, Montreal, Canada

MS, Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

PhD, Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Honors and awards

Research Laureate, American Academy of Health Behavior (2009)

University Scholar Award, McGill University (1979)

Areas of research and study

Alcohol, Tobacco and Driving Policies

Evaluations

Health Disparities

Substance Abuse

Tobacco Control

Publications

Publications

Maternal-fetal attachment differentiates patterns of prenatal smoking and exposure

Mathematical modelling in tobacco control research: Protocol for a systematic review

Outcomes of a tailored intervention for cigarette smoking cessation among latinos living with HIV/AIDS

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of the effect of varenicline on nicotine craving in adult smokers

Prospective evaluation of associations between prenatal cortisol and adulthood coronary heart disease risk: The New England family study

The other combustible products: Prevalence and correlates of little cigar/cigarillo use among cigarette smokers

Authoritative parenting and cigarette smoking among multiethnic preadolescents: The mediating role of anti-tobacco parenting strategies

Effects of sequential fluoxetine and gender on prequit depressive symptoms, affect, craving, and quit day abstinence in smokers with elevated depressive symptoms: A growth curve modeling approach

Efficacy of sequential use of fluoxetine for smoking cessation in elevated depressive symptom smokers

Impact of tobacco control policy on quitting and nicotine dependence among women in five European countries

Influences of tobacco advertising exposure and conduct problems on smoking behaviors among adolescent males and females

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and infant stress response: Test of a prenatal programming hypothesis

Parental smoking exposure and adolescent smoking trajectories

Prenatal glucocorticoids and maternal smoking during pregnancy independently program adult nicotine dependence in daughters: A 40-year prospective study

Quit now? Quit soon? Quit when you're ready? Insights about target quit dates for smoking cessation from an online quit date tool

The effects of nicotine deprivation and replacement on BOLD-fMRI response to smoking cues as a function of DRD4 VNTR genotype

The relationship between maternal-fetal attachment and cigarette smoking over pregnancy

Tobacco cessation among low-income smokers: Motivational enhancement and nicotine patch treatment

Compensation predicts smoking cessation failure

Cost-effectiveness of internet and telephone treatment for smoking cessation: An economic evaluation of the iQUITT study

Dissociable effect of acute varenicline on tonic versus cue-provoked craving in non-treatment-motivated heavy smokers

Early life stress is associated with greater default network deactivation during working memory in healthy controls: A preliminary report

Effects of abstinence in adolescent tobacco smokers: Withdrawal symptoms, urge, affect, and cue reactivity

Impact of seasonality on recruitment, retention, adherence, and outcomes in a web-based smoking cessation intervention: Randomized controlled trial

Improving adherence to web-based cessation programs: a randomized controlled trial study protocol.