Thomas Eissenberg

Background

About Thomas Eissenberg

Dr. Thomas Eissenberg is a professor in the VCU Department of Psychology (Health Program). Dr. Eissenberg obtained his doctorate in experimental psychology in 1994 from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He then spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow in the behavioral pharmacology research unit at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and joined the VCU faculty in 1997. Dr. Eissenberg’s primary area of research is the behavioral pharmacology of drugs of abuse. His past work involved applying clinical laboratory and clinical trial methods to the development of opioid dependence pharmacotherapies. Currently his research and publications are almost exclusively concerned with tobacco/nicotine. This effort, that has been funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), involves 1) developing and demonstrating methods to evaluate modified risk and other novel tobacco products and 2) examining an empirical model for testing proposed tobacco product regulations to determine the extent to which they will accomplish their intended public health goals without unintended consequences. His work with a wide variety of tobacco products led to his appointment as a member of the FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). His waterpipe research has given him international experience with human participant research, leading to his appointment as a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP). He has authored or co-authored over 300 peer-review publications and served as Principal Investigator on numerous NIH grants. He has also served as the Sponsor/Co-Sponsor of ten NIH-funded National Research Service Award applications (F31/30 mechanism).