Dr. Laurie Zawertailo is a senior scientist with Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, INTREPID Lab (formerly Nicotine Dependence Services) and the Addictions Research Division at CAMH. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and a full member of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto.
She received her PhD in pharmacology from the University of Toronto and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at CAMH, where she completed several studies investigating the neurobiological and behavioural effects of smoking in participants with depression under the supervision of Dr. Usoa Busto. Her research at this time was supported by funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, a CIHR team grant and a post-doctoral fellowship funded by a CIHR training grant in Tobacco Research in Special Populations (Dr. Peter Selby, PI). She also received a New Investigator Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (National Institute of Drug Abuse) and an early career researcher award from the Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative.
Areas of Research
Dr. Zawertailo’s lab is focused on increasing our understanding of nicotine and tobacco addiction (including e-cigarettes) and exploring novel approaches to treatment, especially for specific populations such as young adults, women, and people with co-occurring depression or alcohol use disorder. Current research is supported by: 1) CAMH womenmind to identify the role of menstrual cycle phase on tobacco and e-cigarette craving and cue-reactivity; 2) Pfizer Global Research Awards in Nicotine Dependence to examine the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation as an adjunct to varenicline treatment for smoking cessation; 3) Canadian Cancer Society to determine the effectiveness of titrating nicotine patch dose to improve smoking cessation outcomes; 4) CIHR to determine the effects of smoking cessation treatment on longer term health and healthcare utilization; plus others. She currently supervises 1 post-doctoral fellow and 4 graduate students.
Publications
View Dr. Zawertailo's publications on PubMed.