Departmental News

Posted:  Mar 26, 2018 - 12:00am

Barbara S. McCrady is a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA), at The University of New Mexico. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Purdue University in 1969, and her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1975.  She is a licensed psychologist in the State of New Mexico.

Dr. McCrady is internationally known for her work in empirically supported treatments for substance use disorders, with a particular focus on conjoint therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mutual help groups, and therapies for women. She created one of the first cognitive-behavioral substance abuse treatment programs and tested the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this treatment model.  She has developed an original, conjoint treatment model for substance abusers and their spouses, and has conducted programmatic research on this treatment model.  Dr. McCrady also has been active in bringing scientific attention to Alcoholics Anonymous, has conducted controlled research on treatments to integrate 12-step and couples therapy models, as well as research on the mechanisms of change in 12-step oriented treatment.  She also has conducted controlled research evaluating alternative treatment models for women with alcohol and other substance use disorders, with a special focus on women in poverty.  Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1979.  Her current NIH funding supports research on mechanisms of change in family-involved treatment, the development of brief family-involved addiction treatment, the use of and cost-effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment in jails, and neurocognitive and behavioral change in recovery from alcohol use disorder.  She also is the principal investigator on a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) pre- and post-doctoral institutional research training grant, teaches graduate courses in the psychology department, and mentors doctoral students in clinical psychology. 

Dr. McCrady is a fellow of the Clinical Psychology and Addictions Divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA), a past president of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), and has served as president of Division 50 (Addictions) of the APA, as a member of the Board of Directors of the RSA, as secretary-treasurer of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and chair of the board of directors of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. She has served on numerous NIH advisory and review committees, editorial boards for major journals in psychology and the addictions field, and currently is a senior editor for Addiction. Dr. McCrady is the recipient of the 1999 AMERSA Betty Ford award, the 2007 outstanding educator award from Division 50 of the APA, the 2015 Lifetime Achievement award from the Addictions special interest group of ABCT, the 2016 G. Alan Marlatt Mentorship award from the RSA, and the 2017 RSA Seixas award. 

Dr. McCrady has published more than 250 refereed papers, books, book chapters, and commentaries, and has lectured widely on her work in the United States, Canada, and Europe.  Among her publications are four treatment manuals and client workbooks (with Elizabeth Epstein) on empirically supported treatments for couples therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorders, which are part of the Treatments that Work series from Oxford University Press, as well as the second edition of a textbook, Addictions:  A comprehensive guidebook, also published by Oxford University Press. 

Please join us in congratulating Barbara McCrady as UNM’s 63rd Annual Research Lecturer. This award is one of the highest honors the University bestows on its faculty.