Drug Abuse

Steve Sussman, Ph.D., FAAHB, received his doctorate in social-clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1984. He is a Professor of Preventive Medicine and Psychology at the University of Southern California. He studies the utility of empirical program development methods and multiple addictions, including tobacco and drug abuse etiology, prevention, and cessation. He has over 300 publications. His Projects include Towards No Tobacco Use, Towards No Drug Abuse, and EX, which are considered model programs at numerous agencies (e.g., CDC, NIDA, NCI, OJJDP, SAMSHA, CSAP, Colorado and Maryland Blueprints, Health Canada, U.S. Department of Education, and various state departments of education). He received the honor of Research Laureate for the American Academy of Health Behavior in 2005 and is currently President there (2007-8). Susan L. Ames, Ph.D., received her doctorate in preventive medicine from the University of Southern California in 2001. She is an assistant professor at the Institute for Prevention Research (IPR), Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California. She has been co-investigator on projects with the Transdisciplinary Substance Abuse Prevention Research Center and other substance abuse prevention projects funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She worked in substance abuse treatment for nearly a decade. Her research emphasis is on the mediation of implicit processes and competing cognitive, social, personality, and cultural constructs in the etiology and prevention of drug abuse and HIV-risk behavior among at-risk populations. Other major interests include neurobiological processes and brain structures associated with implicit processes and addictive behaviors. She has published in a variety of journals that emphasize the addictive process and health behaviors.