Lisa Fucito, PhD
Associate Professor of PsychiatryCards
About
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)
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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
Fact Sheets
Alcohol Use Disorder
Learn More on Yale MedicineSmoking and Cancer
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Yale Medicine News
News & Links
News
- September 18, 2024
Grant Funded Study Will Investigate Deficient Sleep as a Mechanism of Smoking Relapse
- August 14, 2024Source: Psychology Today
Ending Smoking or Vaping: Treatments from Medications to High-Tech Options
- August 05, 2024
Meet Yale Internal Medicine: Garrett Ash, PhD
- June 06, 2024Source: Healio
Varenicline plus minimal behavioral support aids in e-cigarette cessation