Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H.
HFHCP Research & Evaluation
Dean’s Professor of Epidemiology
Chair, Department of Epidemiology
College of Public Health and Health Professions
College of Medicine
Gainesville, FL
Dr. Cottler is currently the Dean’s Professor of Epidemiology and the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the College of Public Health and Health Professions in Gainesville, Florida. She was formerly Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. She was also formerly the Director of the EPRG and the Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology (MPE) program as well as the WU CTSA Center for Community Based Research.
Dr. Cottler’s NIH funding has been in two major areas. First, the work has focused on the development of reliable tools to assess addiction to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, gambling, and the internet, and risk factors for addiction. These tools are used internationally. She has led the DIS Training Center and SAM Training since the early 1980s. Research in this area has also focused on nosological/classification studies of substance abuse and dependence (specifically MDMA, crack/cocaine, inhalant and prescription drug use). Second, Dr. Cottler’s studies have focused on community based peer delivered interventions to change behaviors associated with HIV and STDs. She and her team have worked with underrepresented populations including out of treatment crack cocaine and heroin users, seriously heavy drinkers, injection drug users, prescription drug misusers, and inmate populations. A special emphasis of her work has been changing high risk behaviors among women who use drugs and those who are in the criminal justice system.
Recently, Dr. Cottler and her team have expanded their community focus to the WU CTSA Center for Community Based Research. HealthStreet, originally funded by NIDA, is now the hub for street outreach to link the entire community to research opportunities at WU. The community Cottler works with extends to other countries as well. She has worked internationally as a consultant to the WHO since 1987, as well as conducted her own studies in Sydney, Taipei, and Bangalore. Her research, which has been funded since 1989 primarily by NIDA, has totaled over $45 million.
Dr. Cottler has received awards for her mentoring role including the WU Academic Women’s Network Mentor Award, the BU School of Public Health Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award from the Post-doc Society at Washington University School of Medicine. She has accepted awards for public health service and leadership from the Missouri Public Health Association and for community based research from the School of Medicine. Dr. Cottler has served on two National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panels to study the Social and Economic Impact of Pathological Gambling and the data on Firearm Injuries.
Dr. Cottler is the former Director of a 28-year NIMH Post-Doctoral Training Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is Director of a NIDA Pre- and Post-Doctoral Training Program in Comorbidity and Biostatistics, and PI of a Fogarty International Center Training Program at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India. She has reviewed for numerous journals and NIH institutes, was a 2006-2007 ELAM fellow, and is the APPA’s Centennial 2010 President.