Carl Hart

Carl Hart

Associate Professor of Psychology, Columbia University

Dr. Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.  A major focus of Dr. Hart’s research is to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology.  

He is the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology, co-author of the textbook, Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior, and a member of a NIH review group.  Dr. Hart was recently elected to Fellow status by the American Psychological Association (Division 28) for his outstanding contribution to the field of psychology, specifically psychopharmacology and substance abuse.

A split image showing a brain scan on the left and hands using a smartphone on the right.
7 min
Addictions and habits, explained by a neuroscientist, a psychologist, and a journalist
Daily habits can help you thrive or quietly turn into addictions. The difference is how your brain handles cues, routines, and rewards. Three experts explain how to work with your wiring instead of against it.
Unlikely Collaborators
4 min
Columbia professor: “Drug use is your birthright”
Dr. Carl Hart breaks taboos surrounding drug use in America.
5 min
Are drugs really frying your brain?
What the ‘decade of the brain’ taught us about drug addiction. (Hint, we had it all wrong before.)
3 min
The Highs and Lows of Legalized Marijuana
Professor Carl Hart says wide-scale marijuana legalization is a thorny issue, but he thinks we need to continue investigating the drug’s therapeutic potential.
6 min
Carl Hart Takes On Drug Policy and Public Opinion
Carl Hart on America’s public policy paradoxes.
2 min
Carl Hart Discusses the Most Popular Drugs in America
The professor says alcohol is the most prevalent drug in America followed by tobacco and marijuana.
8 min
Carl Hart Discusses the Complexity of Drug Abuse
The professor talks about the conditions needed for a society to turn to hardcore use and if the recession might inspire an upswing.