Jesse B. Milby, Ph.D., Director and Founder, CSART, and Professor of Psychology. As Director and Founder of this program, Dr. Jesse B. Milby has received national and international recognition for several components of these programs including serving as the model for the care of the homeless in Houston, Texas. Jesse B. Milby, Ph.D., ABPP., is Professor and Director of the Medical Psychology Doctoral Program in Psychology. He is also Professor in Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine, and School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior. He has expertise in developing and evaluating empirically supported substance abuse treatment programs, especially those in community settings, and with colleagues, is interested in brain mechanisms involved in addictive behavior and initiating and sustaining abstinence. With UAB colleagues, Dr. Milby has developed one of the first effective substance abuse interventions for cocaine dependence and replicated its effectiveness in a homeless, non-psychotically mentally ill, homeless cohort treated in a community treatment program. Also, he has a long history of successfully recruiting and mentoring faculty and training students, many of whom have become faculty at UAB and other universities and medical centers.

Stephen Kertesz, M.D., M.S. , Division of Preventive Medicine. Stephan Kertesz, M.D., MPH is an Assistant Professor in Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine. He has special expertise in medical care and health systems which serve homeless populations, especially substance abusing homeless. He also has a long time interest in health care policy, and policy relevant research, especially as it impacts under-served populations, particularly homeless persons. Dr. Kertesz currently has a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) career development award for which Dr. Milby serves as mentor.

Foster Cook, M.A., Department of Psychiatry. Foster Cook, M.A. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. He has expertise in the structure, administration and public funding of substance abusers, including those involved in Alabama’s criminal justice systems. He has special expertise in outreach services to sub-populations of under-served substance abusers.

Max Michael, M.D., Dean of the School of Public Health. Max Michael has been the Medical Director of Birmingham Health Care for more than 20 years and was part of the original coalition that created the program.  He has maintained a strong interest in the problems of substance abuse among homeless persons during this time, working closely with UAB researchers to facilitate a strong community-university partnership.

Joseph Schumacher, Ph.D., Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine Joseph E. Schumacher, Ph.D. is Professor in Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Department of Health Behavior. Dr. Schumacher has been Co-Principal Investigator in the UAB General Endowment Fund supported Consortium. He is a former student of Dr. Milby and collaborator in opioid dependence treatment and the treatment of cocaine dependence over the last 16 years. With Foster Cook he has developed extensive empirically based substance abuse treatment programs and services in the Department of Psychiatry’s Substance Abuse Treatment Program. He has special expertise in empirically supported substance abuse treatment services evaluation and the development and assessment of the effectiveness of innovative treatments. Dr. Schumacher has been continuously and entirely research grant supported since his initial faculty appointment at UAB.

Jalie A. Tucker, Ph.D., Department of Health Behavior, School of Public Health.
Jalie A. Tucker, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Professor in the Department of Health Behavior in the School of Public Health. Dr. Tucker has published numerous journal articles and book chapters in the area of substance abuse and addiction, particularly in the areas of help-seeking for and natural recovery from alcohol problems. She is Past-President of the American Psychological Association Division 50 (Addictions) and currently is Chair of APA’s Board of Professional Affairs. Her research program has been continuously funded by NIAAA since 1992.

Rudy E. Vuchinich, Ph.D., Department of Psychology Rudy E. Vuchinich, Ph.D., is an Associate Director of the Medical Psychology Doctoral Program and Professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Vuchinich has published numerous journal articles and book chapters in the area of substance abuse and addiction, particularly in the area of behavioral economics and other extensions of basic behavioral science to applied problems. He is Past-President of the American Psychological Association Division 50 (Addictions). His research program currently is funded by NIDA.

Michael Windle, Ph.D., Department of Psychology Michael Windle Ph.D. is Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics. He is Director of the UAB Center for the Advancement of Youth Health and the UAB Comprehensive Youth Violence Center. He is a well-known researcher in child development and has published widely in the areas of alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, and other child health research.

In his new book Choice, Behavioural Economics and Addiction, Professor Rudy Vuchinich (Psychology), associate director of the medical psychology department, presents information by psychologists across the country about behavioral economics and addiction.        Click to Read More...

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Psychology Professor Jesse B. Milby, Ph.D., ABPP, has received two grants totaling $8.5 million from the National Institute of Drug Abuse for two studies involving experimental, intensive day-treatment and training for homeless abusers of drugs and alcohol. Click to Read More...