Tomoko Udo, Ph.D.

Tomoko Udo, Ph.D is an Associate Professor at Department of Health Policy, Management, and Behavior, School of Public Health, University at Albany. Prior to joining UAlbany SPH, Dr. Udo was an Associate Research Scientist and Junior Faculty Scholar for Yale Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program at Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine. She also completed postdoctoral training at Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University.

The overarching goal of Dr. Udo’s research program is to identify ways to improve health of individuals with various addictive behaviors, including drug abuse and behaviors partly overlap with drug addiction such as binge eating/obesity, as well as other mental health problems. She is also interested in understanding the impact of social stress on health, such as discrimination, incarceration, and childhood adversity. Dr. Udo uses a wide range of research approaches, from basic laboratory behavioral experiments, survey methods, quasi-experimental studies, mixed methods, to secondary data analysis of epidemiological data. She is currently involved in multiple funded projects aiming to evaluate innovative programs targeting substance users that are implemented by the New York State Department of Health, community health organizations, and law enforcement.