Sexual and reproductive health equity and justice; cancer screening and prevention among marginalized groups; LGBTQ+ health; structural and social determinants of health; intersectionality and health equity

Minority health & health disparities; nicotine addiction & smoking cessation (pharmacotherapy & behavioral interventions) in African Americans; mentoring & career development

Early childhood obesity prevention; sleep; racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities; global health; mixed methods approaches

Behavioral and pharmacological effects of marijuana; co-use of marijuana and alcohol; behavioral economics of substance use

Brief alcohol interventions; naturalistic change in problematic alcohol use; alcohol biosensor technology research; computer-based assessment & intervention; adolescent & young adult populations

Adolescent substance use; Direct-to-consumer marketing of evidence-based interventions; Dissemination and implementation approaches

Physical activity promotion in Latinos; health disparities; culturally and linguistically appropriate behavior change interventions

Understanding and harnessing the placebo effect in treatment

HIV/STI prevention in marginalized populations, both domestically and internationally; social and sexual network analysis; social and behavioral determinants of health; racial/ethnic, gender, and sexual minority health inequities

 Physical activity and exercise promotion, technology-based interventions, community-based interventions, dissemination and implementation, advancing the science of behavior change theory 

Habit formation and behavior change science; bringing together theory, basic and translational neuroscience with the development of consumer and clinical training tools to improve health

Screening and brief interventions for at-risk drinkers; understanding mediators and moderators of intervention effects; social influences (e.g., perceived norms) on drinking behavior; assessing and enhancing motivation to change; alcohol’s effects on HIV risk behaviors

Tobacco regulatory research; Adolescent smoking; e-cigarette use behaviors; smoking cessation; behavioral economics.

Uses qualitative and experimental methodology to better understand alcohol influences on sexual decision making.

HIV; smoking cessation; health promotion; cardiovascular risk; behavior change.

Neighborhood contexts of diet, physical activity, and obesity-related comorbidities; processes of neighborhood dynamics resulting from urban revitalization policies and public health interventions and the potential effects on the aforementioned behavioral and health outcomes; mixed methods approaches to identifying culturally appropriate childhood obesity interventions for under-served Asian populations; the roles of psychosocial stressors on health behaviors and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Advanced statistical methodology; Mediators and moderators of treatment effects; Patterns of behavior change; Methods for analyzing longitudinal incomplete binary data; Effects of Adherence on Behavioral Outcomes

Neural mechanisms underlying alcohol, opioid and other substance use disorders; pharmacological effects of drug treatments on behavioral and neural responses; stigmatization of opioid use

Social epidemiology, obesity, sleep, greenspace and health, mobile health, global health

Co-use of alcohol & cannabis; etiology of problematic alcohol & cannabis use; impulsive personality; executive cognitive functioning; use of ambulatory assessment & alcohol biosensors to study mechanisms of alcohol consumption &consequences

Global health; social and contextual determinants of HIV/AIDS in South Africa; adolescent sexual risk behaviors and the transition to adulthood; gender, fertility and reproductive health; health disparities and structural interventions; qualitative and mixed methods research. 

Adolescent substance use; juvenile justice; treatment development; community-based service delivery; mHealth technologies; dissemination and implementation science

Developmental course, alcohol, initiation, progression, trajectories, adolescents, alcohol-tobacco comorbidity; longitudinal methodology and analysis, fine-grained data collection

Adolescent development, alcohol, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, adolescents, longitudinal methodology and analysis, ecological momentary assessment, determinants of substance use

Smoking cessation; brief alcohol interventions; co-use of alcohol and tobacco; personality, affect, and addictions; alcohol and HIV/AIDS; positive psychology and positive psychotherapy

Health disparities research; addictions treatment; behavioral interventions; clinical trial development; process evaluation; obesity prevention; chronic disease management

Computational epidemiology; social network analysis; agent-based modeling; HIV/STI elimination; barriers to health equity;  substance use; incarceration.  

Family behavioral and psychosocial interventions; culturally and contextually appropriate intervention adaptation and development; new HIV prevention strategies in vulnerable global populations; community-engaged HIV research and dissemination

Addictions treatment, behavioral or psychosocial interventions, longitudinal data-analysis; mechanisms of behavior change; mediators/moderators of treatment outcomes; process research

Physical activity behavior, low-cost interventions to promote physical activity behavior in community, workplace, and primary care settings

Addictions treatment, behavioral or psychosocial interventions, longitudinal data-analysis; mechanisms of behavior change; mediators/moderators of treatment outcomes; process research 

Social network analysis; emerging adults; respondent-driven sampling and other sample methods; alcohol misuse and alcohol-related consequences; nonmedical use of prescription drugs; co-use of alcohol and other drugs; health disparities.

Physical activity and health promotion among Latinos, technology-based interventions, dissemination and implementation science, intersection of health and environmentally sustainable behaviors

Alcohol misuse and consequences among young adults; subjective evaluations of alcohol-related consequences; use of ecological momentary assessment to understand young adult drinking; brief alcohol interventions

Pharmacological and psychological bases of acute effects of marijuana on behavior and decision-making process; genetic factors and other individual differences characterizing users most vulnerable to development of cannabis use disorders; alcohol marijuana interactions and cross-reactivity

Prenatal substance exposure; development of externalizing behavior problems; familial influences on adolescent substance use; self-regulation; behavioral genetic methods

Alcohol and drug effects on brain white matter, neurometabolism, and cognition; alcohol use in the context of HIV infection; inflammatory biomarkers.

Alcohol treatment; brief interventions; mechanisms of change; cue reactivity; pharmacotherapy; adolescent use and abuse; alcohol and HIV/AIDs

Addictions treatment; nicotine addiction; smoking cessation, e-cigarette use behaviors; multiple health behavior change; behavioral economics; obesity; weight gain prevention

Structural and Social Determinants of Health and Illness; Immigrant Health; Women's Migration, Labor & Entrepreneurship; Qualitative Methods 

Racial disparities in HIV infection and linkage to care in the US; working with faith and other community leaders to eradicate racial disparities in HIV infection in the US; access to medicines and other technologies in developing countries, and community-based research and mobilization.

HIV prevention in high-risk communities - domestic and international; behavioral/social determinants of health in race/ethnic, gender and sexual minority populations

HIV treatment adherence; sexual and reproductive health of women; culturally and contextually appropriate behavioral intervention design and evaluation; social and contextual determinants of health

Development of mindfulness programs in underserved communities; bridging Native American & African-American traditional healing practices with mainstream mindfulness practices in order to create culturally-relevant stress reduction programs; resilience & well-being

Development and testing of technology-augmented interventions to identify, treat, and prevent violence and related behavioral health disorders; social media-based research, including qualitative and linguistic analysis of social media data; firearm injury prevention research and education; COVID-19 response, specifically melding technology with behavior change theory

Obesity, nutritional epidemiology and eating behaviors; the influence of location of fat on the body with disease risk; weight gain during pregnancy and keeping weight after pregnancy; breastfeeding; and diabetes, heart disease and obesity among African American women, in addition to Alaska Natives and other native peoples around the polar parts of the globe

Child and adolescent health and well-being, chronic health conditions, social determinants of health; complex data management (probabilistic matching; cohort, family, and/or paired; insurance claims; electronic medical records)

Pharmacotherapy and behavioral treatment for smoking among substance abusers; effects of pharmacotherapies for alcohol or smoking on mechanisms of effect; cue reactivity; measures development for alcohol, smoking, cocaine use/abuse/treatment; behavioral treatments for cocaine dependence

The multilevels of oppression that produce health and health service disparities; Socioculturally adapted interventions to help address alcohol and substance use issues 

Design of culturally relevant health behavior interventions using qualitative methodology; health research in the Pacific islands of American Samoa; vaginal microbicide acceptability

Implementation of evidence-based substance use and mental health interventions in community treatment settings; addiction workforce development and training; adolescent substance use; measurement-based care

Etiology and progression of nicotine and tobacco use; antecedents, patterns, and consequences of adolescent and young adult substance use; ecological momentary assessment and translation to just-in-time adaptive interventions; respiratory health

Minority stress and HIV prevention; LGBTQ health in domestic and international settings; early life adversities; mindfulness for underserved populations; mHealth and internet-based interventions

Tobacco regulatory science; smoking and other drug use in people with psychiatric illness; human behavioral pharmacology laboratory research; contingency management

To understand factors that shape eating behaviors early in life among diverse, underrepresented populations and develop community-based interventions among these populations to prevent diet-related diseases.

Neural basis of individual differences in emotion and drug effects using fMRI, monoamine challenge; validated laboratory assessments of temperament, affect and behavior

Epidemiological and bio-psycho-social intervention development research on HIV/AIDS, substance use, mental health, and health inequities with sexual, gender, and racial/ethnic minorities and other underserved and marginalized populations.

Role of affect in health behavior; exercise promotion; smoking cessation; health behavior theory testing and development 

Using technology to prevent HIV/STIs and improve care; Alcohol and HIV; Statistical learning; Adaptive ecological and “just-in-time” interventions; User-centered design; Addictions; Healthcare use and adherence

Developing and testing innovative interventions for smoking cessation, exercise promotion, with an emphasis on the use of computer-based and mobile technologies to promote health behavior change.  Development of new behavioral theory to enhance our understanding of the process of decision making for stopping drug use among incarcerated individuals. 

Sleep, emotional disturbances, and new treatment/prevention strategies for mood disorders. The neurophysiological effects of mindfulness meditation in depression, including executive, affective, sleep, EEG, and endocrine functioning.

Behavioral assessment and interventions for sexual risk reduction, HIV/STD prevention, and sexual health promotion; mechanisms of health behavior change; health promotion for multiple health behaviors; health disparities.

Medical Director of the only publicly funded sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinic in Rhode Island, as well as Rhode Island’s only dedicated Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Program; HIV/STI prevention, substance use, intervention development & implementation science

Laboratory and clinical studies, treatment development, and instrumentation research related to adolescent and young adult substance use disorders. Innovative interventions targeting heavy drinking, HIV risk behavior, and smoking in various poplulations including adolescents, young adults, adults receiving emergency medical care, and adults with schizophrenia.

Dissemination and implementation science, health communication, access to mental health care, and complementary and integrative health approaches to care

Psychosocial treatment development; mHealth; transitions of care; acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions; psychosis and severe mood disorders; suicide prevention

Emergency department clinical trials; fall prevention; interventions to improve medication safety and mobility; digital health; qualitative methods

Assessment of biotechnology perceptibility & acceptability (patient experience) & use behaviors (adherence); quality of life, particularly in chronic illness; qualitative research methods in patient-oriented research; biomedical prevention technology design & development; assessment & prevention intervention development; HIV/STI prevention & reproductive health

Transitional research (neuroscience-human laboratory studies) examining biobehavioral mechanisms of addiction, focus on: stress (HPA/extrahypothalamic), neuroendocrine pathways (brain-gut axis, ghrelin, leptin, insulin) and ethanol pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics modeling.

Research focuses on elucidating biological mechanisms by which social factors such as mindfulness, education, and early life adversity may influence cardiovascular disease. Dr. Loucks has generated research findings that have helped to better understand how biological factors such as inflammatory markers, epigenetics, blood pressure, obesity, lipids, amongst others, may be important mechanisms through which social factors could influence cardiovascular disease. He is now increasingly moving into practical applications of the work, including randomized controlled trials of mindfulness interventions for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.

Leveraging behavioral neuroscience and human laboratory and ambulatory assessments to advance treatment options for youth who struggle to reduce their alcohol and other drug use.

Biobehavioral mechanisms of risk for depression and addiction (smoking/nicotine dependence); focus on child/adolescent and perinatal-fetal-infant transitions; physiological (HPA, neuroendocrine) responses to stress  in children/adolescents, infants, and pregnant mothers; HPA and fMRI response to social stressors in relation to risk for depression/addiction, maternal smoking and depression during pregnancy and effects on fetal and infant stress response and neurobehavior, emergence of sex differences in depression across the adolescent transition.

Advancing current theories of addiction etiology; ecological momentary assessment; subjective alcohol and drug response; substance-use outcome expectancies; affect-based momentary impulsivity