Laurie Zawertailo

Dr. Zawertailo’s research interests are in the areas of behavioural and neurobiological aspects of tobacco dependence and treatment, especially in individuals with co-morbid depression or alcohol use disorders –sub-populations who have an especially high prevalence of tobacco dependence and tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Dr. Zawertailo utilizes a variety of techniques to approach this research question including neuroimaging, behavioural and cognitive tasks such as cue-induced craving, genetics, randomized clinical trials, and large population-based approaches to smoking cessation. Her goal is to understand the neurobiological processes involved in tobacco dependence in order to optimize treatment outcomes in these specific co-morbid populations.