MARCH 31, 2023
Robert F. Leeman, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Health Sciences
School of Community Health and Behavioral Sciences
Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Northeastern University
About the Presentation: I will present findings from research testing the acceptability, usability, and initial efficacy of a technology-informed intervention to address blood/breath alcohol concentration among young adults who frequently drink heavily and discuss how this research led to a current study to further develop this intervention. I will also present findings that led to a current study to test a mobile app presenting personalized feedback regarding performance on a response inhibition task during as opposed to before alcohol use. Lastly, I will present formative research including preliminary acceptability, usability, and feasibility findings regarding a mobile app to assess attentional bias to opioid related cues and deliver attentional bias retraining to individuals taking medication for opioid use disorder along with plans for a subsequent study to further develop and test this app.
About the Presenter:
Robert Leeman, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Sciences in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. After his Ph.D., Dr. Leeman spent a decade at Yale, first as a post-doctoral fellow, then as faculty, followed by seven years at the University of Florida where he was Associate Professor and Mary Lane Endowed Professor in the Department of Health Education and Behavior, Associate Director of the Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium (SHARC) and co-director of a T32 training program in alcohol and HIV.
His research interests are addictive behaviors, sexual health behavior and difficulties with self-control (e.g., impulsivity). Dr. Leeman tests novel interventions and attempts to learn more about risk factors for these behaviors, particularly among adolescents and young adults.
Dr. Leeman has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has been funded from NIH continuously since 2010. He has served in leadership roles locally, in national and international professional societies including the American Psychological Association (APA), the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Dr. Leeman is a fellow of the APA.