Renee Cunningham-Williams Associate Professor PhD, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis OFFICE PHONE: 314-935-4563 EMAIL:  WILLIAMSR@WUSTL.EDU 

Areas of Focus: Capacity development in higher education Health and mental health disparities Pathological gambling and comorbidity Risk-taking, substance use (including cigarette and hookah use) and antisocial behaviors

Renee Cunningham-Williams is a leading expert in the epidemiology and comorbidity of problem gambling, substance use/abuse, and mental and behavioral health, particularly among African-American youth and emerging adults. Her social work experience includes work with teen mothers, adult probationers/parolees, and adult survivors of abuse.

Cunningham-Williams has worked seamlessly across disciplinary boundaries in social work into public health, psychiatric epidemiology/nosology, and biostatistics. Her diverse experience has led to award-winning, high impact, NIH- and privately-funded research, including work to develop diagnostic assessments for gambling disorder. A passionate teacher and mentor, Cunningham-Williams infuses innovation into her research and evaluation courses, as well as to the NIDA-funded Transdisciplinary Training in Addictions Research (TranSTAR) predoctoral and postdoctoral program she directs.