Dr. Messer is Professor of Biostatistics at UCSD, and was Chief of the Division of Biostatistics from 2013 to 2022.   She has been Director of the Biostatistics Shared Resource at UCSD Moores Cancer Center since 2006. Her research interests include causal inference, survey statistics, and innovative clinical trial designs. She has particular expertise in the epidemiology of tobacco use.

Dr. A. Eden Evins is the William Cox Family Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founding director of the Center for Addiction Medicine and the Addiction Research Program of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is a member of the Schizophrenia Clinical and Research Program and the Depression Clinical and Research Program of MGH.

Dr. Evins earned her undergraduate degree at the University of

Virginia and her medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She completed an internship in Pediatric Medicine at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC and her residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Harvard-Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Boston, where she was also chief resident. She conducted a fellowship in molecular biology at the Mailman Research Center of McLean Hospital and a second fellowship in clinical and translational research at MGH with Dr. Don Goff. She received a Master’s in Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Evins’ research interests include development of novel pharmacologic and behavioral treatments for nicotine dependence, cannabis dependence and for prevention of relapse to addictive disorders in those with and without co-occurring psychiatric illness. Her research pursuits include study of the cognitive effects of nicotine and of cannabis, and development pharmacotherapy for addictive disorders and for negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. She has authored articles published in prestigious scientific journals, such as The Lancet, JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Addiction and the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Dr. Evins has received three career awards from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institute of Health (NIH). She serves as a director of a Mass General based NIDA K12 Fellowship Training Program in Addiction Medicine. She is currently funded by grants from NIDA, NCI, NIMH, and PCORI.

Adam Leventhal, Ph.D. is University Professor in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). He is a clinical psychologist, public health scientist, and academic administrator who advances research, education, practice, and policy that reduces addiction. He leads the USC Institute for Addiction Science, which supports transdisciplinary collaborative addiction research, education, and community engagement across 8 schools and colleges within the university and various partnering organizations.  Dr. Leventhal has authored over 400 scientific articles on the causes, treatment, prevention, and consequences of addiction to nicotine, cannabis, and other drugs across the lifespan.  Recent work focuses on translating science to policy for effective regulation of tobacco and other addictive consumer products. He is also active in public health service, having served in advisory roles for the US Food and Drug Administration, Surgeon General, and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the World Health Organization to inform tobacco and other drug policies.