Dr. Szapocznik has received over $100 million in NIH funding as PI or co-PI and has over 250 scholarly publications. He has been in academic leadership roles at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine since 1977 when he became director of the Spanish Family Guidance Clinic (later the Center for Family Studies).
Dr. Szapocznik is currently also director of the University’s Clinical Translational Science Institute and Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. Through his research, he pioneered the national effort to prevent and treat adolescent drug abuse and related behavior problems in Hispanic youth developing and testing family-based, evidence-based approaches. Dr. Szapocznik has a profound interest in the role of context in development, behavior and health outcomes and has dedicated his entire career to this area of work. He has been studying culture, family and neighborhood as important contexts influencing minority populations. As PI of one of 13 NIDA-funded Nodes of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), Dr. Szapocznik has been a leader in the national initiative to translate effective drug abuse treatments into clinical practice by engaging the Network’s 200+ community treatment sites in conducting randomized clinical trials. Refunded for years 2011-15 and a member of the Network’s Steering Committee since 2000, his Node includes scientists and/or sites in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin. The Node has led 5 national multi-site randomized trials.