Adam Gonzalez, PhD, joined the faculty of the Psychiatric Epidemiology
Division of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science as a
Research Assistant Professor on May 1, 2012. He will work under the
direction of Drs. Roman Kotov, Evelyn Bromet and Benjamin Luft on a
project sponsored by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) to evaluate a new clinical intervention designed to
assist World Trade Center responders who have PTSD to quit smoking.
Dr.
Gonzalez recently completed a Clinical Psychology fellowship in the
Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard
Medical School, where he worked on a clinical trial to treat depression
and medication adherence problems among HIV+ depressed patients and
directed a clinical trial examining a smoking cessation and anxiety
management program for HIV+ smokers with elevated levels of anxiety.
Dr. Gonzalez previously collaborated with Dr. Michael Zvolensky,
Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston, on issues related
to smoking cessation and anxiety among people with HIV/AIDS and other
chronic illnesses. He is clinically trained in cognitive behavioral,
dialectical behavioral, and mind-body treatments.
A native of
Brooklyn NY, Dr. Gonzalez received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology
from St. Francis College and his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the
University of Vermont, where he received several honors and awards. He
has authored more than 20 published journal articles — many of them on
issues related to smoking cessation, anxiety, pain and/or HIV — and has
presented talks and posters at dozens of professional meetings,
conferences and workshops.
At Stony Brook, Dr. Gonzalez will be
responsible for evaluating a protocol that he was instrumental in
designing that uses cognitive behavioral therapy to aid in smoking
cessation and anxiety management for smokers who have significant
symptoms of PTSD. The three-year project, supported by an award of $1.5
million from NIOSH, will enroll patients of the World Trade Center
Health Program. In addition to his work as a researcher, Dr. Gonzalez
will advance the clinical practice of the center by introducing a new
mind-body intervention program to address co-morbid mental and physical
health problems experienced by World Trade Center responders.
