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Faculty

Jason A. Oliver, PhD
Family and Preventive Medicine

Jason A. Oliver, PhD

Assistant Professor

Health Promotion Research Center
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
655 Research Parkway, Suite 400
Oklahoma City, OK  73104

(405) 271-6872

Jason-Oliver@ouhsc.edu

Jason A. Oliver, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida in 2015 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Addiction Neuroscience at Duke University. After completion of fellowship, Dr. Oliver remained on as faculty at Duke University where he conducted research on tobacco use and maintained an active clinical practice specializing in health behavior change and coping with chronic illness. He joined the TSET Health Promotion Research Center at SCC and OUHSC in 2021.

Dr. Oliver's research program draws on concepts and methods from basic, clinical and epidemiological research to help improve our understanding of why people engage in unhealthy behaviors and develop novel behavioral and pharmacological interventions that can help people lead healthier lives. One current topic of focus in Dr. Oliver's lab is the development and testing of interventions that can curtail the impact of environment on smoking behavior by enabling smokers to better cope with the "breakthrough" cravings that can emerge in settings they associate with smoking. Another focus is on understanding the role that alternative rewards (i.e. pleasurable activities incompatible with smoking, drinking or other drug use) can play in the development and maintenance of addiction. Cutting across both topics is an effort to better understand how these factors may contribute to health disparities. For example, by increasing exposure to environments where smoking, drinking or other drug use are common or by limiting access to alternative rewards.

Dr. Oliver has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the American Heart Association.

Academic Section(s):

OUFMC Research Division

Education:

Degree-Granting Institutions:

2007 - 2015 University of South Florida / Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL

  • PhD Clinical Psychology Dissertation: Effects of Nicotine Withdrawal on Motivation, Reward Sensitivity and Reward Learning
  • MA Clinical Psychology Thesis: Visual Search for Smoking Stimuli: Detection and Distraction


2001 - 2005 State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, NY

  • BA Psychology
  • BS Business Administration
  • Certificate in Human Resource Management
  • Summa Cum Laude
     

Postgraduate Training:

2015 - 2017 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Addiction Neuroscience, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC

2014 - 2015 Clinical Psychology Resident, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

Funding:

Active

Nicotine withdrawal and reward processing: Connecting neurobiology to real-world behavior
K23DA042898
Role: Principal Investigator
This career development award examines the effects of nicotine withdrawal on neural responses to non-drug rewards and how these relate to real-world behavior measured using ecological momentary assessment.
Project Period: 4/1/2017 – 3/31/2022
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Anhedonia and activity patterns: Working towards a geospatial understanding of etiology and intervention
#28608 (NARSAD Young Investigator Award)
Role: Principal Investigator
This project examines the relationship between anhedonia and movement patterns as measured via GPS, as well as whether the effects of behavioral activation on anhedonia are mediated by changes in activity patterns. 
Project Period: 1/15/2020 – 1/15/2022
Funding Source: Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Clarifying the role of tobacco retail outlets on maternal smoking during pregnancy and child secondhand smoke exposure
R01CA239595
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Bernard Fuemmeler)
This secondary data analysis project examines whether TRO density relates to cotinine biomarkers in pregnant women and the healthcare utilization of their offspring throughout early childhood.
Project Period: 5/2/2019 – 4/30/2023
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Deep learning-based image analysis for assessing real-time smoking risk
R21DA047131
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Joseph McClernon)
This project seeks to apply machine learning algorithms to detect smoking contexts from images of smokers’ personal environments as an initial step towards the development of a novel mobile health intervention.
Project Period: 9/1/2018 – 8/31/2020
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

 

Completed

Neurobehavioral substrates of propranolol’s effects on drug cue reactivity
R03DA043756
Role: Principal Investigator
This translational pilot project builds off extensive pre-clinical findings to examine the acute effects of beta-adrenergic blockade on neural and behavioral responses to smoking cues.
Project Period: 9/1/2017 – 8/31/2019
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Paving the road to cardiovascular health: Translational science for smoking cessatio
13PRE14660076
Role: Principal Investigator
This predoctoral fellowship provided support for my dissertation research examining the effects of nicotine withdrawal on EEG and event-related potential (ERP) indices of motivation and reward response.
Project Period: 1/1/2014 – 12/31/2015
Funding Source: American Heart Association (AHA)

Select Honors & Accomplishments:

2015 to Present:

  • Selected for Alcohol Medical Scholars Program, University of California, San Diego (2020)
  • Selected for Early Career Reviewer Program, NIH Center for Scientific Review (2020)
  • Co-author on “2018 Best Paper Award”, Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (2018)
  • Reviewer of the Year, Nicotine & Tobacco Research (2017)
  • Top 2% of Reviewers in Timeliness, Quality and Volume, Nicotine & Tobacco Research (2017)
  • American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Travel Award (2017)
  • New Investigator Award for Best Abstract, Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (2016)

Select Publications:

  1. Bello MS, Zhang Y, Cho J, Kirkpatrick MG, Pang RD, Oliver JA, et al. Nicotine deprivation amplifies attentional bias toward racial discrimination stimuli in African American adults who smoke cigarettes. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2023, 31(6), 1023-1031. DOI: 10.1037/pha0000662
  2. Tonkin S, Kezbers KM, Noble B, Cropsey K, Kendzor DE, Oliver J, et al. Comparison of the Bluetooth iCOquit, piCO, and Vitalograph for the assessment of breath carbon monoxide among adults initiating smoking cessation and standardized canisters. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2023, 50, 110902. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.110902
  3. Wheeler DC, Boyle J, Barsell DJ, Maguire RL, Dahman B, Murphy SK, Hoyo C, Zhang J, Oliver JA, McClernon J, Fuemmeler BF. Neighborhood deprivation is associated with increased risk of prenatal smoke exposure. Prevention Science, 2022, 23(7),1078-1089. DOI: 10.1007/s11121-022-01355-7
  4. Ekhtiari H, Zare-Bidoky M, Sangchooli A, Janes AC, Kaufman MJ, Oliver JA, Prisciandaro JJ, et al. A methodological checklist for fMRI drug cue reactivity studies: Development and expert consensus. Nature Protocols, 2022, 17(3), 567-595. DOI: 10.1038/s41596-021-00649-4
  5. Wheeler DC, Boyle J, Barsell DJ, Glasgow T, McClernon FJ, Oliver JA, et al. Associations of alcohol and tobacco retail outlet rates with neighborhood disadvantage. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19(3), 1134. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19031134
  6. Engelhard MM, D’Arcy J, Oliver JA, Kozink R, McClernon FJ. Prediction of smoking risk from repeated sampling of environmental images: model validation. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2021, 23(11), e27875.  DOI 10.2196/27875
  7. Oliver JA, Sweitzer MM. Commentary on Kunas et al.: Hijacked brain reward systems-how methodological advances can help to bridge gaps in the translational science pipeline. Addiction, 2022, 117(3), 713-714.    DOI 10.1111/add.15678
  8. Oliver JA, Sweitzer MM, Engelhard MM, Hallyburton MB, Ribisl KM, McClernon FJ. Identifying neural signatures of tobacco retail outlet exposure: Preliminary validation of a "community neuroscience" paradigm. Addiction Biology, 2021, 26(5), e13029. DOI 10.1111/adb.13029
  9. Cernasov P, Walsh EC, Kinard JL, et al, Oliver JA, et al. Multilevel growth curve analyses of behavioral activation for anhedonia (BATA) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy effects on anhedonia and resting-state functional connectivity: Interim results of a randomized trial. Journal of Affective Disorder, 2021, 292, 161-171. DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.054
  10. Liautaud MM, Kechter A, Bello MS, Guillot CR, Oliver JA, et al. Anhedonia in tobacco withdrawal among African-American smokers. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2021, 29(5), 511-523.   DOI 10.1037/pha0000474
  11. Oliver JA, Foulds J. Association between cigarette smoking frequency and tobacco use disorder in U.S. adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2021, 60(5), 726-728. DOI 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.10.019
  12. Pollak KI, Oliver JA, Pieper C, et al. Cue-based treatment for light smokers: A proof of concept pilot. Addictive Behaviors, 2021, 114, 106717. DOI 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106717
  13. Oliver JA, Pacek LR, Locey EN, Fish LJ, Hendricks PS, Pollak KI. Lack of utility of cigarettes per day cutoffs for clinical and laboratory smoking research. Addictive Behaviors, 2019, 98, 106066. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106066
  14. Engelhard MM, Oliver JA, Henao R, Hallyburton MB, Carin LE, Conklin CA, McClernon FJ. Identifying smoking-risk environments from everyday images with Deep Learning. JAMA Network Open, 2019, 2(8), e197939. DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.7939
  15. Maynard OM, McClernon FJ, Oliver JA, Munafo MR. Using neuroscience to inform tobacco control policy. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2019, 21(6), 739-746. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/nty057
  16. Oliver JA, Hallyburton MB, Pacek LR, Mitchell JT, Vilardaga R, Fuemmeler BF, McClernon FJ. What do smokers want in a smartphone-based cessation application? Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2018, 20(12), 1507-1514. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx171
  17. Fowler CD, Gipson CD, Kleykamp A, Rupprecht LE, Rees VW, Gould TJ, Oliver JA, Bagdas D, Damaj MI, Schmidt H, Harrell PT, Duncan A, De Biasi M. Basic science and public policy: Informed regulation for nicotine and tobacco products. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2018, 20(7), 789-799. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx175
  18. Oliver JA, Evans DE, Addicott MA, Brandon TH, Drobes DJ. Nicotine withdrawal induces neural deficits in reward processing. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2017, 199(6), 686-693. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx067