Profiles

Following a successful 25 year tenure as professor and chief of Psychiatry at Yale University and VA Connecticut, Dr. Kosten joined the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC) in July 2006, bringing over 30 years of exemplary Federal service; the majority of which has been with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Over the period 2006-2011, Dr. Kosten served as the Research Director of the VA national Substance Use Disorders Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) program, fully revitalizing a research-to-practice implementation program to provide proven, cutting-edge treatment to improve the lives of veteran populations across the VA health care system. With a joint appointment at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Dr. Kosten is the JH Waggoner Chair & Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Immunology & Pathology. He is also vice-Chair for Psychiatry and Co-director of the Dan L. Duncan Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) at Baylor College of Medicine. His other key appointments are Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at Peking University Medical School and Professor of Epidemiology and of Behavioral Sciences at MD Anderson Cancer Prevention Center. He established the Division of Addictions Psychiatry at Baylor and Yale and directs their NIH Medications Development Center for substance abuse.

A recognized leader in clinical and translational sciences, Dr. Kosten is a recent past recipient of a Research Scientist Award (1987-2010) from the National Institute of Health (NIH), he has served on national and international review groups for medications and vaccines development in substance abuse, and is credited with the development of several cutting-edge discoveries in medications for addictions. A former Congressional Fellow in the House of Representatives, Dr. Kosten has held visiting professorships in Germany, Spain, Greece, China and Canada. He is the founding vice-chair for Added Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a distinguished fellow in the American Psychiatric Association and fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, past president of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, and past president of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). He has received several prestigious awards for clinical research and for his work in vaccine pharmacotherapy for drug addictions, particularly in treating cocaine, methamphetamine, and opiate addictions. He is the current Editor for the American Journal on Addictions, past Editor for the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and serves on the board of several notable journals in substance abuse. Additionally, Dr. Kosten retains ongoing recognition in the Best Doctors in America® ranking, an honor reserved by only 5% of the nation’s doctors. As of 2012, for the 12th year in a row, he has been named by U.S. News & World Report as a Top Doc®, ranking him among the top 10% of psychiatrists in the region, and for the 9th consecutive year, in the top 1% of psychiatrists in the field of Addictions Medicine. He is a much sought-after expert both nationally and internationally in the field of addictions with appearances on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and PBS as well as print, radio, and online publications that include WIRED, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal, among others.

Dr. Kosten’s recent work includes serving on the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee on vaccines for substance abuse. He also served on the recently concluded IOM’s Committee on Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management of Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces, a congressional mandate via the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111-84), to conduct an independent study on substance use disorders in the military.

From his studies in substance dependence, post-traumatic stress disorder, and neuroimaging he has published over 600 papers, books and reviews. His medication contributions include a cocaine vaccine, immunotherapy for hallucinogens, buprenorphine for opioid dependence, disulfiram for cocaine dependence, vasodilators for cocaine induced cerebral perfusion defects, and combining medications with contingency management for opioid and cocaine dependence.