Scientific Advisory Board, Addiction Policy Forum
Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD., Director, Division on Addictions Research at Yale, Director, Yale Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, Director, Women and Addictions Core of Women's Health Research at Yale, Director, Yale Impulsivity Research Program, Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Child Study, Yale University School of Medicine
Dr. Potenza is a board-certified psychiatrist with sub-specialty training in addiction psychiatry. He has trained at Yale University, receiving a combined BS/MS with Honors in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics and a PhD in Cell Biology, the latter concurrent with the MD through the Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed an internship, psychiatric residency, and addiction psychiatry fellowship training at Yale. Currently, he is a Professor of Psychiatry, Child Study, and Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he is the Director of the Problem Gambling Clinic, the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, and the Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women's Health Research at Yale. He is also a Senior Research Scientist at the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. He is on the editorial boards of fifteen journals (including editor-in-chief of Current Addiction Reports) and has received multiple national and international awards for excellence in research and clinical care. Recently, he has received lifetime achievement research awards from the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling and the National Council on Problem Gambling and research awards from the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health and the Turkish Green Crescent Society (Phoenix Award for Addiction Research). He has consulted with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Registry of Effective Programs, the National Institutes of Health, the American Psychiatric Association, and the World Health Organization (WHO) on addiction matters. He has participated in two DSM-5 research work groups and five annual WHO meetings relating to Internet use and addictive behaviors in the ICD-11, addressing topics relating to gambling, gaming, impulse control, and addiction.
Dr. Potenza's research has focused on the neurobiology and treatment of substance and non-substance (behavioral) addictions and other disorders characterized by impaired impulse control and reward-related motivations. The majority of this work has focused on understanding the clinical and neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders and their co-occurrences with other mental health disorders in order to advance prevention and treatment strategies. Dr. Potenza's research has applied brain imaging, genetic, epidemiological, and clinical trial methodologies to gain knowledge and improve prevention and treatment strategies for addictive disorders. This work has also involved identifying potential intermediary phenotypes, like facets of impulsivity, that may, in part, explain the high rates of co-occurrence between psychiatric conditions and might represent novel targets for prevention and treatment strategies.