October 2021

Dr. Susan Weiss is the Director, Division of Extramural Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which oversees NIDA’s extramural programs, operations planning, and trans-NIH initiatives, such as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD®) and HEALthy Brain Child Development (HBCD) studies, and the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative. Dr. Weiss also serves as a senior science advisor to the NIDA Director and scientific liaison to the NIH, HHS, and other Federal Agencies. Previously, she served as the Chief of the Science Policy Branch and Acting Director of NIDA’s Office of Science Policy and Communications.

Before coming to NIDA, Dr. Weiss was the Senior Director of Research at the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America), and previously she directed a translational research program in the Biological Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Weiss received multiple awards, including NIH Plain Language Awards, NIH and NIDA Director’s Awards, and an Emmy for her contributions to the HBO Addiction Project. She has published more than 150 scientific articles and chapters, graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maryland.