Dr. Mustafa al’Absi is a Professor of Behavioral Medicine and the holder of the Max & Mary La Due Pickworth Chair at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He is the founding director of the Duluth Medical Research Institute (DMRI). Professor al’Absi is the Course Director of Behavioral Medicine at the Medical School. He has a joint appointment as a Professor and a graduate faculty at the Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Family Medicine, and the Integrated Biological Sciences Program. Dr. al’Absi completed his undergraduate education at Cairo University and his doctoral training at the University of Oklahoma in biological psychology with specialization in clinical psychology/behavioral medicine.

After completing his graduate training in 1997, Prof. al’Absi joined the University of Minnesota Medical School where he has been the Director of the Behavioral Medicine Laboratories. Prof. al’Absi directs a research program focusing on neurobiology of stress, appetite regulation, and tobacco addiction. His programs have been funded by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the American Heart Association. His program is currently focusing on: 1) linkages between the biological stress response and relapse in nicotine dependence, 2) the involvement of the stress-response systems in appetite regulation, and 3) the development of novel methods to measure stress and addictive substances. He was also recently funded through the NIH initiative on Brain Disorders in Developing Countries to launch an international program focusing on neurobehavioral impact of long-term use of psychostimulants. He has chaired various national and international scientific committees and functions, and has received several honorary awards, including the Neal E. Miller Young Investigator Award from the Academy for Behavioral Medicine Research and the Herbert Weiner Early Career Award from the American Psychosomatic Society.