Jellinek Memorial Awards

2011- Dr. Deborah Dawson

Deborah Dawson received her Ph.D. in Demography and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University in 1986 and worked from 1990 to 2010 as an alcohol researcher at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Her work at NIAAA focused on identification of optimal measures of risk drinking and the development and testing of low-risk drinking guidelines. Her research also focused on the natural history and course of alcohol use disorder in the general population, including innovative approaches to better measure the contribution of alcohol treatment to the recovery process. She participated in the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES) and Waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and coauthored the Alcohol Use Disorders and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule, which has been widely adapted for its comprehensive measurement of DSM-IV diagnoses. Dr. Dawson has made substantial contributions to the development of NIAAA's low-risk drinking guidelines, including the development of unique approaches to testing the validity of the guidelines with respect to a variety of concurrent and prospective health outcomes. She has been actively involved in the dissemination of research findings related to the impact of different consumption measurement techniques and different measures of harmful drinking. Dr. Dawson acted in an advisory capacity in the 2010 revision of the Dietary Guidelines recommendations for moderate drinking and in the DSM-V revision process. She is currently employed as a contractor to NIAAA and as an Affiliate Senior Scientist with the Alcohol Research Group.   

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