Suzanne K. Vosburg, Ph.D.
Dr. Suzanne K. Vosburg is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurobiology in the Department of Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, her Master's of Science degree from the Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College with Dr. Mary C. Murdock, and her Doctorate from the University of Bergen in Norway with Dr. Geir Kaufmann. Dr. Vosburg's graduate training focused on the study of creative behavior, where she also developed an interest in data analysis and research methodology. She joined the Department of Substance Abuse initially as a data analyst, completed the post-doctoral training program, and was subsequently offered a faculty position. As the newest faculty member of the laboratory, Dr. Vosburg has focused on methodologies in the laboratory and in clinical trials, and has also blended her research interests in creative behavior and drug self-administration.

E-Mail: vosburg@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu

Current Research Activities
1. Abuse liability of medications for cocaine dependence. One of the long term goals of this laboratory has been to identify and study medications useful in the treatment of cocaine abusers. It is important, especially when dealing with a patient population that abuses drugs, to use medications that have minimal abuse potential in and of themselves. Dr. Vosburg and colleagues are working with a relatively new laboratory design that has been created to study the abuse potential of certain medications, and Dr. Vosburg recently completed a study that will add to this body of literature.

2. Effects of marijuana and cocaine on creativity. There has been virtually no work done on the effects of drugs of abuse on creativity, although the idea of a relationship existing between the two has been a popular concept. Dr. Vosburg has designed two studies that are currently underway to examine whether or not such a relationship exists, and to what degree. This information will be used to add to the body of literature on the cognitive effects of drugs of abuse.

Teaching Activities and Training Opportunities
Dr. Vosburg has advised Ph.D. candidates on both design and data analysis of thesis work. She has provided counsel to both faculty and fellows within the Department of Substance Abuse on biostatistics and data management. She has lectured at the undergraduate level, and is the course director for the graduate level Drugs & Society course (PH8724) in the Columbia School of Public Health, in which she teaches along with her colleagues.

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
Kaufmann, G. & Vosburg, S. K. (1997). “Paradoxical” effects of mood on creative problem solving. Cognition and Emotion, 11(2), 151-170.

Vosburg, S. K. (1998). The effects of positive and negative mood on divergent thinking performance. Creativity Research Journal, 11(2), 165 - 172.

Collins E.D., Vosburg, S.K., Hart, C.L., Haney, M., & Foltin, R.W. (in press) Amantadine does not modulate reinforcing, subjective, or cardiovascular effects of cocaine in humans. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior.