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Joe McClernon, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Founder/Director of the Center for Addiction Science and Technology (CfAST), and Associate Director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).
Dr. McClernon earned a PhD in clinical psychology in 2001 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke in 2002. He served as Director of the Addiction Division in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences from 2012-2020.
Research Interests
Dr. McClernon’s research is focused on increasing our understanding of tobacco and other addictions, developing new and more effective interventions to treat substance abuse, and informing the FDA’s regulation of tobacco products. He makes use of behavioral pharmacology, neuroimaging, epidemiology and clinical trial approaches in his work. He has led groundbreaking research on: the influence of drug-associated environments on drug use, relapse, and treatment; tobacco use disparities among individuals with comorbid psychiatric (e.g. ADHD) and health (e.g. HIV) problems; the role of nicotine in smoking behavior; and the evaluation of potential FDA tobacco regulatory actions. He is an active mentor having trained six postdoctoral fellows, five of which are now faculty at academic medical centers across the country. He has been continuously NIH, FDA, and foundation funded since 2002. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, has one patent, has served as Chair of NIH grant review panels, and is recipient of numerous awards including the SRNT Jarvik-Russell New Investigator Award