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:
Returning on September 17, 2025

Annual Conference:
October 9-10, 2025

Visit the Center on Rural Addiction

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VCBH Career Opportunities

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Click here for more information.

VCBH News

  • Klemperer Recognized For Nicotine and Tobacco Research
    Elias Klemperer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Associate Director of the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, and a UVM Cancer Center member, talks about his research, which earned him the prestigious 2025 Jarvik-Russell Early Career Award for extraordinary contributions to the field of nicotine and tobacco research. The award is from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) -- the flagship professional organization for researchers in his field.
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  • Dr. Erath awarded K01 from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
    Tyler Erath, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, has received a K01 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This K01 award is designed to provide Dr. Erath with mentored training in implementation science to become an independent investigator focused on advancing the implementation of evidence-based treatments for stimulant use disorder (StimUD) and other substance use disorders (SUDs) in harm reduction and other community treatment and recovery settings. The proposed research plan seeks to develop hands-on experience and skills in implementation science advancing the use of contingency management, an evidence-based treatment for StimUD, in community harm-reduction settings using syringe service programs (SSPs) as a model.
  • New Study Evaluating Treatment for PTSD in People Receiving Buprenorphine or Methadone Published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence
    The prevalence of current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is many-fold higher in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) than in the general population. This study demonstrates that participants receiving MOUD who receive Prolonged Exposure (PE) tend to experience improvements in their PTSD symptoms without relapsing to substance use when they receive a sufficient “dose” of PE.
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  • New Study: Cumulative-Risk Model Documents Persistent Disparities in Adolescent Cigarette Smoking
    In a new publication from Tyler Erath, PhD, research indicates that adolescent smoking risk increases corresponding to the cumulative number of psychosocial and health risks experienced in their cumulative-risk model.
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  • VCBH Presents Preventive Medicine’s Eleventh Special Issue, November 2024
    The November 2024 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine is now available. As a part of the Behavior Series, this Special Issue centers on "Behavior change, health, and health disparities: Smoking and other tobacco use among women and girls." VCBH Director Stephen Higgins, PhD acted as guest editor and organized the selection of papers.