Jason A. Oliver, PhD, is an Associate 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:
- University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, PhD, 2015, Clinical Psychology
- State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, NY, BA/BS, 2005, Psychology and Business Administration
Postgraduate Training:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Addiction Neuroscience, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 2015 - 2017
- Clinical Psychology Resident, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 2014 - 2015
Funding:
Active (Selected)
Tonkin S (PI), Businelle MS (Mentor)*, Oliver J (Mentor)*.
"A translational evaluation of depressive symptomology and smoking cessation treatment mechanisms for just-in-time-adaptive-interventions."
Sponsored by National Institute on Drug Abuse, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: K23DA062104
Award period: 09/01/2025 - 08/30/2030
McClernon FJ (PI), Engelhard M (Co-Investigator), Oliver J (Co-Investigator), Carpenter M (Co-Investigator).
"Project DEDUCE: Digital Envirotyping to Develop Understanding of Cigarette smoking and the Environment."
Sponsored by National Institute on Drug Abuse, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R01DA062639
Award period: 07/15/2025 - 03/31/2030
Oliver JA (PI), Businelle MS (Co-PI), Walters ST (Co-PI), Vesely (Co-Investigator), Shi D (Co-Investigator).
"Efficacy of a smartphone-based just-in-time adaptive intervention to reduce drinking among adults experiencing homelessness."
Sponsored by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R01 AA031280
Award period: 08/20/2024 - 04/30/2029
Fish L (PI), Pollak K (Co-Investigator), Noonan D (Co-Investigator), Oliver J (Co-Investigator), Brandon T (Consultant), Shiffman S (Consultant).
"Feasibility of cue-based treatment intervention to promote cessation among light and intermittent smokers."
Sponsored by National Cancer Institute, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R34
Award period: 09/01/2025 - 08/31/2028
Pope ZC (PI), Yabluchanskiy A (Co-PI), Kellawan JM (Co-PI), Oliver J (Co-Investigator), Robertson MC (Co-Investigator), Henson CE (Co-Investigator).
"Cerebrovascular, Cognitive, Pro-Inflammatory, and Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Cancer Survivors with and without Type II Diabetes Reporting Chemo-Brain: Baseline Differences and Impact of Activity."
Sponsored by Harold Hamm Diabetes Center/Stephenson Cancer Center/The University of Oklahoma, Institutional
Award period: 07/01/2024 - 06/30/2027
Completed (Selected)
Oliver J (PI)
"Nicotine withdrawal and reward processing: Connecting neurobiology to real-world behavior." Career Development Award
Sponsored by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Federal
Grant/Contract Number: K23DA042898
Award period: 04/01/2017 - 03/31/2024
Oliver J (PI), Smoski M (Co-Investigator), Schick R (Co Investigator).
"Anhedonia and activity patterns: Working towards a geospatial understanding of etiology and intervention," NARSAD Young Investigator Award
Sponsored by Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, Foundation
Grant/Contract Number: 28608
Award period: 01/15/2020 - 01/14/2024
Wheeler D (Co-PI), Fuemmeler B (Co-PI), McClernon FJ (Co-Investigator), Oliver J (Co-Investigator), Murphy S (Co-Investigator), Hoyo C (Co-Investigator), Dahman B (Co-Investigator).
"Clarifying the role of tobacco retail outlets on maternal smoking during pregnancy and child secondhand smoke exposure."
Sponsored by National Cancer Institute, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R01CA239595
Award period: 05/02/2019 - 04/30/2024
McClernon FJ (PI), Oliver J (Co-Investigator), Engelhard M (Co-Investigator), Carin L (Co-Investigator).
"Deep learning-based image analysis for assessing real-time smoking risk," R21 CEBRA (Cutting-Edge Basic Research Awards)
Sponsored by National Institute on Drug Abuse, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R21DA047131
Award period: 09/01/ - 08/31/2020
Oliver J (PI), McClernon FJ (Co-Investigator), Sweitzer MM (Co-Investigator), Dew RE (Co-Investigator).
"Neurobehavioral substrates of propranolol's effects on drug cue reactivity,"
Sponsored by National Institute on Drug Abuse, Federal
Grant/Contract Number: R03DA043756
Award period: 09/01/2017 - 08/31/2019
Oliver J (PI)
"Paving the road to cardiovascular health: Translational science for smoking cessation."
Sponsored by American Heart Assocation, Non-Profit
Grant/Contract Number: 13PRE1466007
Award period: 01/01/2014 - 12/31/2015
Select Honors and Accomplishments:
2015 to Present:
- Editorial Fellow, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (2022)
- 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)