Christopher Kahler
Professor of Community Health (Research):
Bio Med Alcohol & Addiction
Phone: +1 401 863 6651
Christopher_Kahler@Brown.EDU
Christopher Kahler's work has focused on three primary topics: (a) the contribution of personality, psychiatric conditions, and emotional processes to the causes and treatment of alcohol and tobacco addiction, (b) methods for assessing alcohol use, problems, and dependence, and (c) the etiology and treatment of the co-use of alcohol and tobacco. He has published extensively in these and other areas with over 115 peer-reviewed publications to date.
Biography
Brief Bio
Christopher W. Kahler, PhD-Professor (Research)
Dr. Kahler is a Professor (Research) in the Department of Community Health at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in 1998 from Rutgers University and joined the Brown Medical School faculty that year. He is currently the Director of Biostatistics at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Dr. Kahler's work focuses (a) the role of personality and psychopathology in heavy alcohol use and smoking, (b) the etiology and treatment of combined heavy drinking and smoking, and (c) the measurement of alcohol use, problems, and dependence. He is currently the Principal Investigator on an NIAAA-funded laboratory study on alcohol administration and smoking relapse risk and an NIAAA-funded randomized clinical trial of naltrexone for at-risk and problem drinkers seeking smoking cessation treatment. His most recent publications focus on (a) treating heavy alcohol use in the context of smoking cessation, (b) hostility and sensation seeking and smoking cessation outcome, (c) the application of item response theory to measures of alcohol problems, and (d) personality, psychopathology and smoking.
Interests
Christopher Kahler's work has focused on three primary topics: (a) the contribution of personality, psychiatric conditions, and emotional processes to the causes and treatment of alcohol and tobacco addiction, (b) methods for assessing alcohol use, problems, and dependence, and (c) the etiology and treatment of the co-use of alcohol and tobacco. He has published extensively in these and other areas with over 115 peer-reviewed publications to date. His most recent publications focus on the role of hostility in smoking cessation treatment outcomes, the measurement of alcohol use problems in college students, and the treatment of heavy alcohol use in the context of smoking cessation treatment. He is currently conducting an NIAAA-funded laboratory study that investigates cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms through which alcohol, when consumed in the lab, contributes to difficulties in delaying smoking when delaying smoking is rewarded with money. He is also conducting a randomized clinical trial comparing naltrexone to placebo among at-risk and problem drinkers seeking smoking cessation treatment. The study tests the hypotheses that naltrexone, when added to nicotine patch and a smoking cessation treatment that incorporates a brief alcohol intervention, will result in a lower percentage of heavy drinking days and a greater odds of smoking abstinence compared to placebo.
Degrees
PHD
Awards
Leon A. Greenberg Memorial Award: Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University, 1998
Affiliations
American Psychological Association, 1993 - present
Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (formerly known as the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy), 1993 - present
Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 1999 – present
Research Society on Alcoholism, 2000-present
Funded Research
CURRENT GRANTS
1. Principal Investigator
"Naltrexone for At-Risk and Problem Drinking in Smoking Cessation Treatment"
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA017181); Period: 6/20/09-3/31/14
Total direct costs: $2,000,805; Total indirect costs: $1,172,355
2. Principal Investigator
"Mechanisms Linking Alcohol Use and Smoking Relapse Risk"
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA016978); Period: 4/1/08-3/31/12
Total direct costs: $1,221,901; Total indirect costs: $720,021
3. Principal Investigator
Diversity Supplement for "Mechanisms Linking Alcohol Use and Smoking Relapse Risk"
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA016978-S1); Period: 7/25/08-12/31/10
Total direct costs: $141,322; Total indirect costs: $83,380
4. Co-Investigator
"Naturalistic Influences on Alcohol Problems in College"
Principal Investigator: Nancy P. Barnett, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA13970); Period: 9/1/03-8/30/10
Total costs: $3,044,348
5. Co-Investigator
"Nicotine Dependence: Phenotype, Endophenotype and Contexts"
Principal Investigator: Ray Niaura, Ph.D.
Agency: National Cancer Institute
Type: P5O (CA84719); Period: 9/30/04 – 7/31/10
Total costs: $8,626,255
6. Co-Investigator
"Motivation and Skills for THC/ETOH+ Teens in Jail"
Principal Investigator: Lynda Stein, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA018851); Period: 9/25/04-8/31/10
Total costs: $3,401,064
7. Co-Mentor
"Identifying Mechanisms of Motivational Interviewing"
Principal Investigator: Timothy Apodaca, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: K23 (AA15595); Period: 04/01/05-03/31/10
Total costs: $735,131
8. Co-Investigator
"Stepped Care for Mandated College Students"
Principal Investigator: Brian Borsari, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA015518); Period: 6/1/05-5/31/10
Total direct costs: $1,025,000
9. Co-Investigator
"Adolescent Treatment and 12-Step Mutual Help Involvement"
Principal Investigator: John F. Kelly, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA015526); Period: 4/10/06-4/30/10
Total direct costs: $900,000
10. Co-Investigator
"Brief intervention to reduce drinking and intimate partner violence in women"
Principal Investigator: Gregory L. Stuart, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA016315); Period: 4/1/07-3/31/12
Total direct costs: $975,000
11. Co-Investigator
"Ecological Momentary Assessment of Adolescent Smoking Cessation"
Principal Investigator: Chad J. Gwaltney
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA021677); Period: 04/01/2007 - 03/31/12
Total direct costs: $1,125,000; Total indirect costs: $662,907
12. Co-Investigator
"Marijuana's Acute Effects on Risk Taking, Sexual/HIV Risk, and Impulsivity"
Principal Investigator: Jane Metrik
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA021403); Period: 06/01/2007 - 03/31/10
Total direct costs: $600,000; Total indirect costs: $353,750
13. Co-Investigator
"Underage Alcohol Use: Sequence and Progression of Early Drinking Milestones"
Principal Investigator: Kristina Jackson
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R21 (DA021403); Period: 07/10/2007 - 6/30/10
Total direct costs: $247,500; Total indirect costs: $391,667
14. Co-Investigator
"Development of Behavioral Couples Treatment for Smoking Cessation"
Principal Investigator: Heather LaChance
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA021265); Period: 8/15/07-5/31/10
Total direct costs: $600,000; Total indirect costs: $353,750
15. Co-Investigator
"Alcohol Phenotype Development in American Samoa"
Principal Investigator: Robert Swift
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R21 (AA016597); Period: 8/5/07-4/30/10
Total direct costs: $255,000
16. Co-Investigator
"Initiation and Progression through Early Drinking Milestones in Underage Drinkers"
Principal Investigator: Kristina Jackson
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 AA16838; Period: 9/1/08-8/31/13
Total costs: $3,675,000
COMPLETED GRANTS
1. Principal Investigator
"Improving Smoking Cessation Outcomes in Heavy Drinkers"
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA015534) Period: 8/15/03-4/30/08
Total direct costs: $1,111,032; Total indirect costs: $535,085
2. Principal Investigator
"Mechanisms Linking Hostility and Smoking"
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R21 (DA019628) Period: 3/5/06-2/29/09
Total direct costs: $278,434; Total indirect costs: $157,618
3. Co-Investigator
"Coping with Depression in Smoking Cessation"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type:R01 (DA08511); Period: 7/1/97 - 5/31/01
Total costs: $ 1,983,952
4. Co-Investigator
"Efficacy of Depression Skills Treatment with Alcoholics"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type:R01 (AA10958) Period: 7/1/97 – 6/30/01
Total costs: $1,886,845
5. Co-Investigator
"Nicotine Dependence: Risk and Recovery over Generations"
Principal Investigator: David B. Abrams, Ph.D.
Agency: National Cancer Institute
Type: P50 (CA84719); Period:10/1/99 – 9/30/04
Total costs: $11,582,454
6. Co-Investigator
"Biobehavioral Vulnerability to Early Smoking Relapse"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Cancer Institute
Type: R23 (CA99014); Period: 9/1/00-8/31/02
Total costs: $362,500
7. Co-Investigator
"Applying Exercise Intervention to Drug Treatment"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: RO1 (DA14599); Period 9/30/01 - 8/31/04
Total costs: $826,072
8. Co-Investigator
"Development of an Exercise Intervention for Alcoholics"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: RO1 (AA13418); Period 3/01/02 - 2/28/05
Total costs: $618,6960
9. Co-Investigator
"Preventing Depression in MMT Patients on Interferon"
Principal Investigator: Susan E. Ramsey, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA016797); Period: 9/1/03 - 6/30/06
Total costs: $911,684
10. Co-Investigator
"Mechanisms Relating Conduct Disorder and Drug Abuse"
Principal Investigator: Robert Miranda, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R21 (DA016904); Period: 9/1/03-8/30/06
Total direct costs: $300,000
11. Co-Investigator
"Distress Tolerance Treatment for Early Smoking Lapsers"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA017332); Period: 9/1/03-8/30/06
Total costs: $1,095,000
12. Co-Investigator
"Treatment of Youth Alcohol Abuse and Suicidality"
Principal Investigator: Christianne Esposito-Smythers, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA014191); Period: 4/15/04 - 10/31/07
Total direct costs: $750,000
13. Co-Investigator
"Effect of Mood on Impulsivity Among Adolescent Smokers"
Principal Investigator: Chad Gwaltney, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R21 (DA018942); Period: 10/1/04 - 9/30/06
Total direct costs: $275,000
14. Co-Investigator
"Brief Intervention to Reduce Drinking among Batterers"
Principal Investigator: Gregory L. Stuart, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA014193); Period: 7/1/03-6/30/08
Total direct costs: $1,250,000
15. Co-Investigator
"MI for Teen Substance Abuse with Psychiatric Comorbidity"
Principal Investigator: Richard A. Brown, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA016738); Period: 9/30/04 – 03/31/09
Total costs: $2,514,565
16. Co-Investigator
"Brief Alcohol Intervention with Depressed Patients"
Principal Investigator: Susan E. Ramsey, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Type: R01 (AA013895); Period: 9/5/03-5/31/09
Total costs: $1,843,646
17. Co-Investigator
"Mood Management Phone Counseling in Smoking Cessation"
Principal Investigator: David R. Strong, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA017947); Period: 5/20/05-4/30/09
Total direct costs: $750,000
18. Co-Investigator
"Smoking Versus Alternative Reinforcers in Adolescents"
Principal Investigator: Suzanne M. Colby, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type: R01 (DA016737); Period: 9/1/03-6/30/09
Total costs: $1,931,2580
Curriculum Vitae
Download Christopher Kahler's Curriculum Vitae in PDF Format