Dr. Ray Niaura is Chair and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and former Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Global Public Health, New York University. From 2009-2017, he was Director of Research at the Schroeder Institute, Truth Initiative (formerly the Legacy Foundation) in Washington DC. Prior to this he was Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He received his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University in 1987. 

Dr. Niaura has extensive expertise in tobacco dependence and treatment, and he has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters in this area. His interests include studying the biobehavioral substrates of tobacco dependence; evaluating behavioral and pharmacological treatments for cessation; and understanding and addressing public health disparities in tobacco-related burdens of illness and disability. He has been Principal Investigator (PI) or co-Investigator of over 70 NIH-funded grants, and he is the former President of the Society of Nicotine and Tobacco Research.