Welcome

The Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH), led by Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, is an interdisciplinary research center committed to investigating relationships between personal behavior patterns (i.e., lifestyle) and risk for chronic disease and premature death. Our work has historically focused on health disparities for the most vulnerable populations, particularly among the socioeconomically disadvantaged where these risk factors are overrepresented.

 

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Located in Burlington, VT at the University of Vermont, Larner College of Medicine, VCBH researchers have a specific focus on understanding mechanisms underpinning risk and developing effective interventions and policies to promote healthy behavior. A common thread across VCBH research projects is the application of knowledge from the disciplines of behavioral economics and behavioral pharmacology to increase understanding of vulnerability to unhealthy behavior and the use of incentives and other behavioral and pharmacological interventions to support healthy behavior change interventions and policies.

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Upcoming VCBH Events

Monthly Lecture Series:

November 20:
Joseph McClernon, PhD
Duke University

December 18:
Hugh Garavan, PhD
University of Vermont

Visit the Center on Rural Addiction

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VCBH Career Opportunities

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Click here for more information.

VCBH News

Special Issue of Preventive Medicine Released

November 30, 2020 by Nicole Twohig

The November 2020 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine is the seventh in a series that focuses on behavior change, health, and health disparities. Edited by VCBH Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, this year's issue highlights some current challenges in tobacco control and regulatory science and features researchers that participated in the VCBH 7th Annual Conference held in October 2019.
The November 2020 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine is the seventh in a series that focuses on behavior change, health, and health disparities. Edited by VCBH Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, this year's issue highlights some current challenges in tobacco control and regulatory science and features researchers that participated in the VCBH 7th Annual Conference held in October 2019.

Dr. Higgins notes, "The challenge of balancing efforts to protect youth from e-cigarettes while allowing for evidence-based evaluation of their potential to reduce the harms of cigarette smoking among adults features prominently in many of these contributions, complemented by original studies on rural-urban disparities, tobacco harm perceptions, use patterns and toxin exposure, modeling of tobacco-related mortality, novel tobacco research methods, and reducing cigarette smoking through regulatory policies, including nicotine reduction in cigarettes, and novel clinical interventions."
This seventh issue includes 17 commentaries, reviews, and original empirical studies.