Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., is a social psychologist with a long-term commitment to research on alcohol and drug abuse among young people and the evaluation of policies and programs to reduce the harms produced by these high-risk behaviors. He is a Lecturer in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr Wechsler is the principal investigator of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS) funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Since its inception in 1992, the CAS has conducted four national surveys at a representative sample of over 50,000 students at 120 colleges in 40 states. The study has resulted in 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals. The study has focused national attention on the widespread pattern of college binge drinking and the harms produced for both drinkers and others on campus.
Currently, Dr. Wechsler is examining the relationship of college, state, and local alcohol control policies to student binge drinking and related problems. His research has pointed to the important role that the alcohol environment plays in student problem drinking including the availability, marketing, and low cost of alcohol, as well as the heavy drinking traditions of many colleges, especially those found in fraternities, sororities and intercollegiate sports.
Dr. Wechsler is also the principal investigator of the study evaluating the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "A Matter of Degree Program," designed to support the development of model approaches for reducing high-risk drinking on ten college campuses and in their surrounding communities. This evaluation has found that an environmentally based comprehensive intervention utilizing a college and community coalition can effect reductions in alcohol consumption and the harms associated with binge drinking.
In addition to alcohol, Dr. Wechsler studies tobacco and illicit drug use. He has taught courses on alcohol use and abuse and high-risk behaviors.
Dr. Wechsler is the author of 18 books and monographs and nearly 200 articles in professional journals on alcohol abuse and other high-risk behaviors. He recently published Dying to Drink based on his work at the CAS and his views of the national scene.
He lectures nationally on college student binge drinking and other forms of substance abuse.
He is the recipient of the American Public Health Association's Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs section's College-Based Leadership Award and the American College Health Association's Clifford B. Reifler Award.
