David B Abrams
· Professor of Social and Behavioral SciencesNew York University · Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Active 1970–2026
Academic metrics are sourced from OpenAlex and public funding records; values may differ from Google Scholar.
About
Dr. David B Abrams is a Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences with a career dedicated to systems and social learning frameworks aimed at enhancing population health. His expertise encompasses testing theory, research design, measuring mechanisms of behavior change and outcomes, and evaluating clinical trials involving behavioral and pharmacological interventions. His research interests span basic bio-behavioral mechanisms, clinical treatments, and policy issues across various risk factors and behaviors such as tobacco/nicotine use, alcohol consumption, obesity, and co-morbidity of medical and mental health conditions. He investigates disease states including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and HIV/AIDS across multiple levels—biological, individual, organizational, community, and global—and focuses on disparities among populations. His work converges in the domain of implementation science, where he provides scientific leadership in tobacco control, with a current emphasis on strengthening global and U.S. strategies for tobacco and nicotine management. Dr. Abrams advocates for harm minimization as a systems strategy to accelerate public health benefits from emerging technologies for cleaner nicotine delivery, aiming to reduce preventable deaths and health disparities driven by smoking. He has held prominent academic and leadership roles, including founding director of the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Brown University Medical School, director of the…
Research topics
- Medicine
- Demography
- Environmental health
- Internal medicine
- Psychiatry
- Geography
Selected publications
Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2020 · 81 citations
INTRODUCTION: Understanding the population impact of e-cigarettes requires determining their effect on cigarette smoking cessation. METHODS: Using the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health cohort, we examined smoking cessation among adult current cigarette smokers at Wave 1 with follow-up data at Waves 2 and 3 (n = 9724). RESULTS: By Wave 3 (2015/2016), 17.3% of smokers had quit smoking. Smokers using e-cigarettes daily or who increased to daily use over the three waves were two to four…
PLoS ONE · 2020 · 71 citations
BACKGROUND: More smokers report using e-cigarettes to help them quit than FDA-approved pharmacotherapy. OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of e-cigarettes with future abstinence from cigarette and tobacco use. DESIGN: Cohort study of US sample, with annual follow-up. PARTICIPANTS: US adult (ages 18+) daily cigarette smokers identified at Wave 1 (W1; 2013-14) of the PATH Study, who reported a quit attempt before W2 and completed W3 (n = 2443). EXPOSURES: Use of e-cigarettes, pharmacotherapy (in…
Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2020 · 46 citations
INTRODUCTION: According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), youth e-cigarette use (vaping) rose between 2017 and 2018. Frequency of vaping and concurrent past 30-day (p30d) use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products have not been reported. METHODS: We analyzed the 2018 NYTS (N = 20 189) for vaping among all students (middle and high school; 6-12th grades; 9-19 years old) by frequency of vaping, exclusive vaping, p30d poly-product use (vaping and use of one or more tobacco product), and an…
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2022-07-12 · 40 citations
articleOpen accessBACKGROUND: Lung cancer mortality is reduced via low-dose computed tomography screening and treatment of early-stage disease. Evidence-based smoking cessation treatment in the lung screening setting can further reduce mortality. We report the results of a cessation trial from the National Cancer Institute's Smoking Cessation at Lung Examination collaboration. METHODS: Eligible patients (n = 818) aged 50-80 years were randomly assigned (May 2017-January 2021) to the intensive vs minimal arms (8 v…
Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2020-11-03 · 39 citations
articleOpen accessINTRODUCTION: This study examined in youth (12-17 years), young adults (18-24 years), and adults (25+ years): (1) the prevalence of the first menthol cigarette and menthol/mint cigar use among new tobacco users; (2) association between the first menthol/mint use, subsequent tobacco use, and nicotine dependence ~1 year later compared with the first non-menthol/mint use. AIMS AND METHODS: Longitudinal analysis of data from Waves 1 to 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Stud…
Recent grants
NIH · $6.0M · 2000
NIH · $1.4M · 1990
NIH · $3.1M · 2002
Frequent coauthors
- 1020 shared
Yori Gidron
University of Haifa
- 764 shared
J. Rick Turner
- 695 shared
Raymond Niaura
New York University
- 633 shared
Amy Jo Marcano‐Reik
Cleveland Clinic
- 627 shared
Linda C. Baumann
University of Cologne
- 621 shared
William Whang
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- 615 shared
Akihisa Mitani
The University of Tokyo
- 615 shared
Alyssa Karel
Labs
Awards & honors
- Research Laureate Award, American Academy of Health Behavior…
- Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award for Tobacco Research, Americ…
- Distinguished Alumni Award: Rutgers University, The Graduate…
- The Musiker-Miranda Distinguished Service Award, American Ps…
- Distinguished Service Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine…
Similar researchers at New York University
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with David B Abrams
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup