Davis, Alan, PhD
Associate Professor & Director, Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education
Bio
Dr. Davis’s clinical and research training was motivated by answering the following question: Why do evidenced-based psychotherapies fail and how can we improve them? As part of his training, he worked primarily with adults in a variety of community and clinical research settings, including academic medical centers, university clinics, community programs, and long-term acute care hospitals, delivering a variety of evidenced-based and experimental psychotherapies to individuals diagnosed with substance use, trauma-related, mood, and anxiety disorders. Grounded in a humanistic and process-oriented approach, such interventions included motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, harm reduction, acceptance and commitment therapy, cognitive processing and prolonged exposure therapies, and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. These clinical approaches were complemented by extensive research training, wherein he had broad exposure to different research methodologies and advanced statistical techniques. Consistent with his clinical interests, his research interests and expertise focus on contributing to the knowledge of and ability to help those suffering with substance use and mental health problems. Understanding how to improve clinical outcomes through examining novel treatments and developing ways to conceptualize substance use and mental health problems through a strengths-based approach have been the guiding framework of his professional career.
Radio/Podcasts: NPR 2021 / WSJ / JAMA / NPR 2020 / WPR / WBUR /
Print/Online: The New Yorker / New York Times / Teen Vogue / Yahoo News / Time / CNN / NBC / Elemental / Popular Science / Newsweek / Vogue / Men’s Journal / Vox / Daily Mail / Hopkins Magazine / Big Think / Vice / Psychology Today / Science Daily
Audio/Video Presentations: Mt Sinai / CBS / Ohio State University / Yale / University of Michigan / Horizons-NYC / Psilocybin Summit
Ohio State University Media: March 2021 / December 2020 / OSU Video News
Education
NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow - Johns Hopkins University, 2019
NIAAA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow - University of Michigan, 2017
PhD - Bowling Green State University, 2016 - Clinical Psychology
MA - Bowling Green State University, 2012 - Clinical Psychology
BLS - Wingate University, 2010 - Human Services
Areas of Expertise
Exploring the acute and persisting effects of psychoactive substances
Understanding determinants of problematic patterns of substance use and associated harms
Investigating the individual and systemic barriers to addiction treatment retention and successful outcomes
Examining novel psychological and pharmacological interventions
Areas of Interest for Mentoring Students
Substance use research
Measurement of acute drug effects
Examining novel constructs to understand substance use
Cross-sectional and longitudinal research
Advanced statistical models/analysis
Secondary analysis of clinical trials in human drug administration