NSU Horizons Spring 2012

26 HORIZONS Mark B. Sobell, Ph.D., ABPP, had been a senior scientist at the Addiction Research Foundation and a professor at the University of Toronto for 16 years when he and his colleague and partner, Linda Sobell, Ph.D., ABPP, received a call in 1994 from Frank DePiano, Ph.D., then dean of NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies. DePiano told him about the advantages of working at NSU. “The vision he presented was that this was a developing place where we could do teaching, research, and service all in one location,” Mark Sobell said. That, along with the promise of some warmer weather, was convincing for the Sobells, who have worked together for 42 years. Mark Sobell came to NSU in 1995, and Linda Sobell followed the next year, after their oldest daughter graduated high school. Since then, Mark and Linda Sobell have been recognized for ground-breaking research and signi cant contributions to the eld of clinical psychology, particularly in the area of addictions. In 2011, Frank DePiano, who is now provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at NSU, presented Mark Sobell with the rst-ever Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award. “It’s very tting that it’s the Provost’s Award, since it was his vision that really brought us here,” Sobell said. “It’s nice to be the rst one to receive this award, and it has kind of brought us full circle.” Four Decades of Work In presenting the award, DePiano said that he was “proud to honor a faculty member whose extraordinary accomplishments stand out in a community of bright, thoughtful, and engaged people. I commend Mark Sobell for his commitment to excel- lence and his signi cant contributions over four decades to the eld of clinical psychology. His contributions as a mentor and role model to students and young faculty members have made a signi cant difference in the careers of aspiring researchers in the substance abuse eld.” Mark and Linda Sobell are nationally and internationally distinguished clinical scientists, professors and researchers at NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies, and co-directors of the Healthy Lifestyles Guided Self-Change Clinic at NSU. Mark Sobell said that the university has been all that DePiano’s vision promised. “NSU gave us the opportunity to work directly with students, and we have especially enjoyed that,” said Mark Sobell. Every year, the Sobells train 10 to 12 doctoral clinical psychology students who are learning on the job at NSU’s on-campus clinic. “Being able to work in the clinic with students is de nitely something we didn’t have before we came here. It allows for a kind of passing of the torch,” he said. In fact, the torch is being passed all over the country as students who graduate bring their expertise to noteworthy estab- lishments across the world. One of the Sobells’ former students, Ben Toll, Ph.D., is now an assistant professor at Yale and received an NSU distinguished alumni award. (See story on page 29.) Mark Sobell was just a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of California—Riverside when he was presented with an opportunity that would determine the direction of the couple’s life work. Just two weeks after he had begun a job working with psychiatric patients at a state hospital, he was asked to take the lead on alcohol addiction research that would be conducted under a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Beginnings of Research It was a huge undertaking for a young student and the beginning of auspicious careers in alcohol and addictive behaviors research, which they are still enjoying today. From the start, the Sobells were dedicated to bringing good science to a eld where there was little research. Mark Sobell said that when they started, they were naïve as to just how much impact they might have and how much controversy their studies might cause. When they conducted a controlled trial on the feasibility of moderate drinking for some individuals with alcohol problems back in the 1970s, it ruf ed some feathers in the world of traditional alcohol treatment. “All we were trying to do is good science and things that made sense. But it challenged the very tenet of alcohol treat- ments—abstinence,” Mark Sobell said. Publicity raged around the study and, in the early 1980s, the Sobells found themselves defending their studies in four investi- gations. Thanks to Linda Sobell’s meticulous record keeping and saving of every item associated with the study, Mark Sobell said, they were vindicated on all counts. In addition, others began to replicate the Sobells’ studies and support their original ndings. FACULTY PROFILE Mark Sobell, Ph.D.: Devoted to Science, Students, and His Lifelong Research Partner BY ELLEN WOLFSON VALLADERES Mark Sobell was presented with the first Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award.