Alison Breland, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Co-Principal Investigator
Background
Alison Breland, Ph.D., is an associate research professor in VCU’s Department of Psychology. She is an experimental psychologist, and her research is primarily focused on nicotine/tobacco, including the evaluation of novel products (such as electronic cigarettes), and tobacco use among vulnerable populations, such as adolescents, individuals with behavioral health disorders, and pregnant women.
She and Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D., are co-PIs of the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products. Dr. Breland also serves as project director for Project 2: “Using User Behavior Data Collected in the Clinical Lab to Test Hypotheses about Advanced-Generation ECIGs and Generate Population-Level Predictions Regarding Potential Regulatory Action" (NIH/FDA funding), co-investigator on a NIDA grant (PI: Dr. Kristin Ashford at the University of Kentucky) to study the impact of electronic cigarettes on perinatal immune responsiveness and birth outcomes, and co-PI (with Randy Koch, Ph.D.) of the Virginia Youth Tobacco Projects (with funding from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth) to build a statewide program of research on the causes and prevention of youth tobacco use.
