Program Directors

Dr. Potenza has significant expertise and experience in clinical research, leadership, administration and mentoring. Dr. Potenza’s focuses on clinical research of substance and non-substance (“behavioral”) addictions. His multifaceted, developmentally informed research program includes clinical trials, multimodal neuroimaging and genetic approaches and their integration. Major accomplishments include imaging and clinical trials studies that link pathological gambling with substance addictions, with such work in part leading to pathological gambling being reclassified with substance use disorders in DSM-5. He is currently PI on an R01 to investigate the neural correlates of cocaine use disorder and multiple PI on an R01 that focuses on understanding the neural correlates of treatments for obesity and binge eating disorder. Additionally, Dr. Potenza is co-Director of the Clinician Scientist Program, organizes and teaches in the core seminars, has chaired the CMHC Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for approximately 20 years, and serves as research mentor for multiple trainees. He has mentored over 100 early career investigators, including over 12 individuals with entry-level NIDA or NIAAA K Awards (including 5 current individuals).

Dr. O’Malley’s research focuses on behavioral pharmacology, clinical trials of psychosocial and behavioral interventions with substance abusers, and studies of risk for alcoholism and nicotine dependence. Dr. O'Malley is co-Director of the Clinician Scientist Program, teaches in the core seminars, holds a Senior Scientist and Mentoring K05 and has mentored multiple past and current trainees and other junior faculty members including many women who are now internationally renowned addictions researchers. Dr. O’Malley has made seminal contributions to addiction treatment, including having conducted initial investigations of naltrexone, including one of the two pivotal studies used in the FDA approval of naltrexone for alcohol dependence and the development of a laboratory alcohol self-administration model that has been used by NIH, pharma and academic investigators to evaluate several compounds for alcoholism. She has made substantial contributions to tobacco research through her leadership of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale, funded by NIDA, NCI and NIAAA. She has an exceptional track record of leadership within the Department of Psychiatry as the Director of the Division of Addictions (DA), as the President of the Research Society on Alcoholism, and as a leader of multi-site clinical trials and transdisciplinary research.