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Lisa Fucito, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychiatry
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Additional Titles

Director, Tobacco Treatment Service, Psychiatry

Contact Info

Psychiatry

20 York Street, Fitkin Building

New Haven, CT 06510

United States

About

Titles

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Director, Tobacco Treatment Service, Psychiatry

Biography

I am an expert in tobacco and hazardous alcohol use, other modifiable lifestyle risk behaviors (i.e., deficient sleep, and physical inactivity), and digital health technology. My research focuses on: 1) better understanding and predicting these risks; 2) phenotyping risk variability within individuals; 3) developing novel lifestyle interventions that are tailored to these unique risk profiles; and 4) implementing lifestyle risk behavior/mental health screening and intervention in clinical settings. I utilize various technologies including biosensors, smartphones, telehealth, and electronic health record tools to monitor these behaviors, derive integrated biometric feedback, deliver interventions, and improve healthcare. In addition, I am interested in digitally-derived endpoints as alternative endpoints for clinical trials.

In a separate and distinct line of research, I study the effects of different tobacco products and their constituents in adults to inform the regulation of tobacco products by the FDA.

I also direct the Tobacco Treatment Service at Smilow Cancer Hospital and teach/mentor graduate students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty in addiction, behavioral medicine, health technology, and clinical research.

Current studies include:

(1) Observational Study: phenotyping heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder risk in young adults using advances in web-based neuropsychological assessment, smartphone sensing technology, machine learning and statistical modeling (N=350)

(2) RCT: evaluating effects of e-cigarettes vs. oral nicotine pouches and their constituents (menthol flavor, nicotine concentration) on cigarette smoking in adults (N=256)

(3) RCT: testing a personalized sleep/cardiovascular wellness feedback intervention using the OuraRing and smartphone diaries for young adults who drink heavily (N=60)

(4) RCT + imaging study: testing CBT for insomnia as an adjunct to standard tobacco treatment and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying deficient sleep as a tobacco relapse precipitant (N=114)

Appointments

Education & Training

PhD
American University (2008)
MA
American University (2005)
BA
Boston College, Psychology (1998)

Research

Overview

Current Research Projects:

Neural mechanisms connecting deficient sleep and smoking relapse: An RCT of CBT for insomnia in adults who smoke. PIs: Li (Contact), Fucito. Funding: NIDA R01DA061285. This combined clinical trial and neuromaging study will involve 114 treatment-seeking adults who smoke cigarettes or e-cigarettes to test the hypothesis that cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) ameliorates negative emotions, improves self-control, and promotes smoking cessation by remediating hypothalamus and basal nucleus of Meynert (BNM) circuit dysfunction. Participants will be stratified to a CBT group receiving standard care (i.e., counseling + varenicline) + CBT-I or a standard care (SC) group with SC only. Treatment will start 4 weeks (lead-in period) prior to a scheduled quit date and continue 4 weeks post-quit. All participants will undergo MRI at baseline and at week 4 to probe attentional bias and response inhibition during exposure to smoking vs. neutral cues and to probe negative emotion processing.

Deep phenotyping of heavy drinking in young adults with behavioral scales, neuropsychological tasks, and smartphone sensing technology. PIs: Fucito (Contact), DeMartini. Funding: NIAAA R01AA030136. This 12-month observational study will evaluate the clinical heterogeneity in heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD) risk across neurofunctional domains of executive function, incentive salience, negative emotionality, sleep/circadian, and social processes in young adults. Participants will complete behavioral scales, web-based neuropsychological tasks, and smartphone daily diaries every 3 months and undergo continuous passive smartphone data collection for 12 months. The results will advance the science of young adult AUD neurobiology and identify efficient, valid assessments for distinguishing alcohol risk in this group.

Evaluating the effects of e-cigarettes vs. oral nicotine pouches and product constituents (menthol flavor, nicotine concentration) on adult cigarette smoking and addiction. Project Leads: Fucito, Bold. Funding: NIDA U54DA036151. This 4-week randomized, controlled trial will compare the effects of product type, flavor availability, and nicotine concentration on tobacco product use behavior, dependence, and appeal and explore potential interactions between conditions and participant characteristics in adults who smoke cigarettes (N=256). Our results will provide crucial evidence to the FDA about non-combustible product standards for flavor and nicotine to maximize their potential benefit on cigarette smoking and tobacco harm reduction

A photoplethysmography sensor-based personalized feedback intervention for heavy-drinking young adults targeting heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and sleep. PI: Fucito. Funding: NIAAA R21AA028886. The current proposal will conduct the first controlled test of a feedback/brief advice intervention targeting HRV, RHR, and sleep via PPG sensors and smartphone daily diaries for young adults who drinking heavily (N=60). This study will yield important preliminary data to support a larger investigation of this novel approach.




Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Exercise; Harm Reduction; Health Risk Behaviors; Mobile Applications; Nicotine; Secondary Prevention; Sedentary Behavior; Sleep; Sleep Hygiene; Technology; Tertiary Prevention; Tobacco Use; Tobacco Use Cessation; Vulnerable Populations

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Lisa Fucito's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Nicotine & Tobacco Research

  • activity

    Current Addiction Reports & Current Sleep Reports

  • activity

    Board

  • honor

    Yale Life Sciences Pitchfest Semifinalist

  • honor

    Chairman's Award

Clinical Care

Overview

Lisa Fucito, PhD, director of the Tobacco Treatment Service at Smilow Cancer Hospital, helps patients quit or reduce cigarette smoking and their use of other tobacco and nicotine products such as e-cigarettes.

Fucito, a clinical psychologist, provides individual counseling tailored to a person’s circumstances. If they need to quit smoking for an upcoming surgery, she might meet with someone multiple times a week to help them quickly replace the ritual of lighting up at particular times with different habits. For another person uncertain about quitting smoking, she might focus counseling on increasing their motivation by emphasizing the benefits of smoking cessation at all ages.

The Smilow service also provides prescriptions for nicotine-replacement therapies such as “the patch,” gum, lozenges, inhalers, and other FDA-approved medications such as varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban). Additionally, patients are advised of potential tobacco harm reduction strategies such as switching to alternative tobacco products (e-cigarettes, oral nicotine products) in place of cigarettes.

Prior to attending graduate school, Fucito worked in a psychiatric hospital helping people with alcohol and substance use disorders. “I noticed that many of these patients were smoking, but we were not addressing it,” she says. “I wanted to better understand this primary substance use disorder and help reduce the substantial public health burden of tobacco use.”

Fucito appreciates how hard it can be for people to change a lifelong habit like cigarette smoking, but that is also why she finds this work so rewarding. One woman who wanted to quit in advance of cancer treatment told Fucito that without her support, she would not have been able to stop smoking. “It is a tremendous privilege to help people change one of their most important health behaviors and change their health trajectory,” she says.

An associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, Fucito studies new treatment strategies to help people with their tobacco use including a pre-surgical intervention for patients with cancer and e-cigarette cessation. She is also interested in how technology (e.g., smartphones, biosensors, social media, electronic health records) can increase the reach and effectiveness of interventions and improve health outcomes across substance use disorders.

Clinical Specialties

Psychology; Behavioral Medicine; Addiction Medicine; Sleep Medicine Psychiatry

Fact Sheets

Yale Medicine News

Get In Touch

Contacts

Mailing Address

Psychiatry

20 York Street, Fitkin Building

New Haven, CT 06510

United States