Kenneth A. Perkins

I have been on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh since 1986, funded by NIH since then to conduct research focused largely on two broad “themes”:

One theme emphasizes translational studies drawing on preclinical findings to examine acute effects of nicotine (and cigarette smoking) that may explain persistence of tobacco dependence in humans. Some of that work was recognized in 2020 by Division 28 (Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse) of the American Psychological Assoc (APA) with the Med-Associates Brady-Schuster Award for outstanding behavioral science research in psychopharmacology or substance abuse.

The second theme aims at improving clinical treatments for smoking cessation. Our recent focus has been on the development, validation, and extension of an efficient crossover procedure to evaluate whether new treatments are, or are not, efficacious for helping smokers quit, thereby informing subsequent large and formal randomized trials to confirm such efficacy. Also, in 2008, I co-authored a smoking cessation treatment guide for health care providers, “Cognitive-behavioral therapy for smoking cessation: a practical guide to the most effective treatments.” For this work, I was named by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) as 2022 recipient of the Ove Ferno award for groundbreaking advances in clinical research on nicotine and tobacco use. Several projects address both themes, as basic research findings are followed by study of their implications for clinical treatment.

The first two decades of this effort resulted in my being listed among the most cited authors in tobacco and nicotine research (see Byrne & Chapman, 2005, Tobacco Control, 14, 155-160), as well as the most productive faculty in clinical psychology (Stewart et al., 2007, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 1209-1215). I was also elected SRNT president in 2001 and a Fellow of APA, SRNT, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM).

Today, two decades later, I am author of over 300 publications, most as first or senior author, with a citation index (h) over 80 and over 20,000 total citations.