Mustafa al'Absi

Dr. Mustafa al’Absi holds the Max & Mary La Due Pickworth Endowed Chair and is a Professor of Behavioral Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he also serves as adjunct professor in Psychiatry and Epidemiology and participates in graduate programs in Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, Integrated Biosciences, and Cognitive Science. He directs the Behavioral Medicine Laboratories on both campuses and leads the Duluth Global Health Research Institute. Dr. al’Absi earned his undergraduate degree from Cairo University and his Ph.D. in clinical/biological psychology from the University of Oklahoma, specializing in behavioral medicine and psychophysiology under the mentorship of William Lovallo, Dorothy Hatsukami, Harry Lando, and Paul Rokke.

In 1998, he founded the Behavioral Medicine Laboratories to investigate biobehavioral mechanisms connecting stress, trauma, and early adversity with addiction, mental health conditions, and appetite regulation, using laboratory, clinical, and real-world approaches to inform personalized interventions. His early work—funded by the NHLBI and AHA—pioneered the use of lab and field stressors and pharmacological challenges to identify hormonal and cardiovascular predictors (e.g., hypoalgesia and stress response patterns) of hypertension and cardiac structural changes. These studies established the groundwork for a broader research agenda on stress response systems' influence on emotional challenges, pain, and addiction withdrawal symptoms.

Dr. al’Absi’s later work explored dysregulated stress responses in stimulant addiction (highlighting relapse risk linked to cortisol, opioid, and cannabinoid pathways), the influence of hormonal stress mechanisms on diet, weight, and tobacco cessation relapse, and sex differences in stress-response and addiction trajectories. His tobacco regulatory research, supported by NIH and FDA, contributed to FDA policy on nicotine content. He has authored over 240 scientific publications, two books, and numerous book chapters.

He has also advanced wearable technology in addiction research through the AutoSense program, developing validated sensors to monitor physiological stress markers (heart rate, respiration) in real-world settings, enabling just-in-time interventions for stress and craving. Additionally, his NSF and NIDDK-funded work has refined methods for measuring stress and substance exposure and for stress biomarker assessment in Indigenous populations with Type 2 diabetes.

Honors include the Neal E. Miller Award, Herbert Weiner Award, NIDA Excellence Award, and Hans Selye Lectureship. He is a fellow of ABMR, APS, and SRNT and has held prestigious fellowships including Fulbright and MacArthur. Dr. al’Absi has served in key leadership roles such as President of the American Psychosomatic Society (now SBPSM), VP of WASAD, and President of AMECA, and has served on global bodies including UNODC-WHO’s Informal Scientific Network. Notably, he has led international initiatives, including khat research collaborations and neuroscience schools, across Africa and the Middle East through IBRO, ARC, and SONA, and has convened numerous AMECA conferences, significantly advancing addiction and mental health research on the continent.

He has also contributed to editorial leadership as a guest and associate editor for journals including Journal of Neural Transmission, Biological Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine, Psychophysiology, and serves on the boards of Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Health Psychology, and Psychophysiology. Dr. al’Absi remains deeply committed to education, having developed courses in behavioral medicine, stress and trauma, pain, and substance use treatment, and has mentored over 100 scholars, including junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students, while fostering global research collaboration and shaping the future of behavioral medicine.