Biography

Dr. Kosten is Jay H. Waggoner Chair & Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. He is Research Director, for the VA National Substance Use Disorders Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) at DeBakey VA Medical Center. Dr. Kosten's current research involves pharmacogenetics and vaccines for substance abuse. Medication development contributions include cocaine & methamphetamine vaccines, pharmacogenetics of dopamine beta hydroxylase inhibitors for cocaine dependence, vasodilators for cocaine induced cerebral perfusion defects, buprenorphine for opioid dependence, and combining medications with contingency management for opioid and cocaine dependence. His research also covers clinical trials of new medications for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the neurobiology of these disorders using functional MRI neuroimaging. With his wife Therese Kosten PhD, they conduct animal laboratory studies to develop new vaccines and other medications for addictions such as heroin addiction and to understand the neurobiology and contribution of early life stress to later addictions and PTSD in animal models of these disorders. From these studies he has published over 500 papers, chapters and books.

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