Adam M. Leventhal, Ph.D.
Dr. Adam Leventhal is a clinical psychologist and behavioral scientist with interests in the bio behavioral determinants of substance addiction, mental health, and health behavior. Dr. Leventhal received his B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara; M.A. in Psychology at the University of Houston; and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston. He completed a NCI predoctoral fellowship in tobacco addiction research and cancer prevention at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; a clinical psychology internship at Brown Medical School; and a NIDA postdoctoral fellowship in addiction research at the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.
Dr. Leventhal has been on the faculty of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine since 2009. He is currently an associate professor of Preventive Medicine and Psychology, and Director of the University of Southern California Health, Emotion, & Addiction Laboratory (USC-HEAL)—a multidisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to advancing science on the intersection between addiction, mental health, and health behavior.
Dr. Leventhal is the principal investigator of NIH and ACS grants that total more than $8M. These grants support studies aligned with his primary research interests in: (1) understanding tobacco use and other health behaviors, such as exercise, eating, risk taking, as acute mood-altering agents; (2) smoking cessation; (3) addiction psychopharmacology and genetics; and (4) addiction among health disparity populations, such as people with mental health problems, ethnic minorities, women, and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Dr. Leventhal has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications and has been recognized for his contributions to the field, having been selected as the recipient of early career research awards from the American Academy of Health Behavior, Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research, and APA Divisions 12, 28, and 50. In addition to research and mentoring activities, he is associate editor for Nicotine & Tobacco Research and Behavioral Medicine, an editorial board member for several other journals, and a regular reviewer on NIH study sections.