Dr. Lejuez received his Ph.D. in 2000 from West Virginia University. After serving as an Assistant Professor (Research) at the Brown Medical School, he joined the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Maryland in 2001. He has published over 125 articles and book chapters, served as PI for over $8 million in NIH grant funding, and received Young Investigator Awards from the American Psychological Association Division of Experimental Psychology (Applied) and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT, formerly AABT). Dr. Lejuez was promoted to Professor in 2008 and he is the founder and current Director of the Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research (CAPER). In conjunction with an active research program, Dr. Lejuez is very committed to student research mentorship with his students publishing at a high rate, competing successfully for NIH fellowships, and obtaining top clinical science internships. In line with this focus, he received the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Undergraduate and Graduate Mentorship Award in 2006.
Research and Teaching Interests:
Dr. Lejuez's current clinical and research interests focus on the development of ecologically valid laboratory analogues of addiction and their use to better understand the active ingredients of treatment (i.e., translational research). A common theme across much of his work is the identification of disparities in assessment and treatment for inner-city substance users, with a focus on short- and long-term strategies for addressing these disparities. His most recent projects involve (1) the creation and validation of a behavioral task to predict adolescent risk-taking behaviors (e.g., drug use, unsafe sexual practices); (2) the examination of factors underlying addictions treatment failure (e.g., low distress tolerance); (3) the development of novel treatments of co-morbid depression and anxiety among substance users with behavioral activation strategies; (4) factors underlying drug choice differences (e.g., crack/cocaine vs. heroin) among inner-city substance users; and (5) mechanisms underlying AXIS II Personality Disorders (primarily Borderline PD and Antisocial PD), with a focus on inner-city substance using samples.
Courses Taught:
Fundamentals of Clinical Psychology (Graduate)
Basic Foundations of Psychological Interventions (Graduate)
Clinical Laboratory (Graduate)
Seminar in Addictive Behaviors (Graduate)
Special Topics in the Assessment and Treatment of Addictive Behaviors (Undergraduate)
Key Publications:
Daughters, S. B., Braun, A. R., Sargeant, M., Reynolds, E. R., Hopko, D., Blanco, C., & Lejuez, C. W. (2008). Effectiveness of a brief behavioral treatment for inner-city illicit drug users with elevated depressive symptoms: The Life Enhancement Treatment for Substance Use (LETS ACT!). Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 122-129.
Hopko, D. R., & Lejuez, C. W. (2008). A cancer patient's guide to overcoming depression & anxiety: Getting through treatment and getting back to your life. New Harbinger: Oakland, CA.
Lejuez, C. W., Zvolensky, M. J., Daughters, S. B., Bornovalova, M. A., Paulson, A., Tull, M., Ettinger, K., & Otto, M. W. (2008). Anxiety sensitivity: A unique predictor of dropout among inner-city heroin and crack/cocaine users in residential substance use treatment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 7, 811-818.
Yartz, A. R., Zvolensky, M. J., Bernstein, Bonn-Miller, M., & Lejuez, C. W. (2008). Panic-relevant predictability preferences: A laboratory test. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 242-246.
Lejuez, C. W., Aklin, W. M., Daughters, S. B., Zvolensky, M. J., Kahler, C. W., & Gwadz, M. (2007). Reliability and validity of the youth version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART-Y) in the assessment of risk-taking behavior among inner-city adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 106-111.
Gratz, K. L., Rosenthal, M. Z., Tull, M. T., Lejuez, C. W., & Gunderson, J. G. (2006). An experimental investigation of emotion dysregulation in borderline personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 850-855.
Lejuez, C.W., Hopko, D. R., Levine, S., Gholkar, R., & Collins, L. M. (2006). The Therapeutic Alliance in Behavior Therapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42, 456-468.
Daughters, S. B., Lejuez, C. W., Bornovalova, M. A., Kahler, C. W., Strong, D. R., & Brown, R. A. (2005). Distress tolerance as a predictor of early treatment dropout in a residential substance abuse treatment facility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 729-734.
Lejuez, C. W., Aklin, W. M., Bornovalova, M. A., & Moolchan, E. (2005). Adolescent smoking status as a function of risk-taking propensity and impulsive sensation seeking. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 7, 71-79.
Lejuez, C. W., Bornovalova, M., Daughters, S. B., & Curtin, J. J. (2005). Differences in impulsivity and sexual risk-taking behavior among inner-city crack/cocaine and heroin users. Drug and Alcohol Dependence,, 77, 169-175.
Wallsten, T. W, Pleskac, T., & Lejuez, C. W. (2005). Cognitive modeling of a sequential risk-taking task. Psychological Review, 112, 862-880.
Brown, R. A., Lejuez, C. W., Kahler, C. W., & Strong, D. (2002). Distress tolerance and duration of past smoking cessation attempts. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 180-185.
Lejuez, C. W., Read, J. P., Kahler, C. W., Richards, J. B., Ramsey, S. E., Stuart, G. L., Strong, D. R., & Brown, R. A. (2002). Evaluation of a behavioral measure of risk-taking: The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 75-84.
Selected Active Grants:
Drug Choice, Impulsivity, and Risky Sexual Behavior
Principal Investigator: Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type and Number: R01 DA19405
Period: 6/01/06 – 5/31/10
Total Costs = $1,250,000
Behavioral Treatment for Depressed Smokers
Principal Investigator: Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type and Number: R01 DA18730
Period: 10/01/05 – 6/30/08
Total Costs = $1,100,000
Behavioral Technologies for Predicting HIV Risk
Principal Investigator: Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type and Number: R01 DA18647
Period: 7/1/05 - 6/30/10
Total Costs: $1,640,000>
Behavioral Technologies for Predicting HIV Risk: Genetics Administrative Supplement
Principal Investigator: Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D.
Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Type and Number: R01 DA18647-S2
Period: 9/1/06-6/30/10
Total Costs = $196,000
Primary Mentor on Funded Student Grants over the Last 5 years:
4 NIDA NRSA Grants (3 others currently under review)
Clinical Psychology Program • Department of Psychology • University
of Maryland
College Park, Maryland 20742-4411 • phone: 301-405-5890 • fax:
301-314-9566 • email: jcoldren@psyc.umd.edu
