| Thomas R. Kosten, MD, is JH Waggoner Chair and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as Acting Mental Health Care Line Executive for the VA in Houston, Texas. He is a former Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, and Chief of Psychiatry at VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Kosten is also Research Director of the VA National Substance Use Disorders Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) based at the Houston VA, and is founder of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry at Baylor and Yale, directing their NIH Medications Development Center for substance abuse. Dr. Kosten has been supported by a Research Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health since 1987 and has served on national and international review groups for medications development in substance abuse. He has been a Congressional Fellow in the House of Representatives and a visiting Professor in Germany, Spain, Greece, China, Russia and Canada. Dr. Kosten is the founding Vice Chair for Added Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association and Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Past President of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, and Past President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. Dr. Kosten has earned several major awards for clinical research, is editor of two major journals in substance abuse, and has been on the American Journal of Psychiatry board. His recent work includes serving on the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine committee on vaccines for substance abuse. From his studies in substance dependence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and neuroimaging, he has published over 500 papers, books, and reviews. Dr. Kosten’s neuroimaging research includes detecting and treating cocaine-induced cerebral perfusion defects, and using functional MRI to predict pharmacotherapy outcome. Dr. Kosten’s medication contributions include vaccines for cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine, buprenorphine for opioid dependence, disulfiram for cocaine dependence, vasodilators for cocaine-induced cerebral perfusion defects, and combining medications with contingency management for opioid and cocaine dependence. |
