Dr. Timothy Baker, PhD, co-founded UW-CTRI with Dr. Michael Fiore in 1992. He has served as UW-CTRI Associate Director and Director of Research ever since. Now, he is one of three UW-CTRI Directors of Research and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
Baker been PI or co-PI on five consecutive five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center grants (from 1999 to the present), providing funding for a broad array of research at UW-CTRI.
In 2008, the National Cancer Institute awarded Baker a five-year Career Scientist Award. During the last two decades, under the direction of Dr. Baker, UW-CTRI has secured more than $150 million in total external grant funding, primarily from the NIH.
Baker’s research interests are broad and include a concentration on tobacco-dependence treatment and outcomes. In these studies, various pharmacotherapies and counseling approaches to assist in successful smoking cessation have been examined in numerous comparative effectiveness trials. His research findings and perspectives on tobacco science have been published in prominent journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, Addiction, and others. His research has not only examined the effectiveness of treatments, but also how quitting smoking affects a person’s physical health, mental health, quality of life and social interactions. In addition, his research has explored the genetics of nicotine dependence and treatment response. He is particularly interested in motivational factors in addiction and has published multiple papers on that subject. The former Editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Baker is a recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Award from the American Psychological Society. He accepted the 2016 recipient of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco’s Ove Ferno Award, honoring scientists who have made groundbreaking advances in nicotine addiction and tobacco control clinical research.
Baker served as the senior scientist on the panel that produced the United States Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence for all three editions of that publication (1996, 2000, and 2008). This document provides a gold standard for healthcare providers regarding evidence-based tobacco dependence treatments.
He holds the Glaxo Wellcome Chair for the Study of Tobacco Dependence.
He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California and his Masters and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Utah.
To schedule interviews with UW-CTRI representatives, contact Communications.
Dr. Tim Baker, PhD
Publications