Nicholas A. Livingston, PhD

Biography

Dr. Livingston received his PhD from the University of Montana and completed his predoctoral internship at VA Boston Healthcare System (rotations: Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program, Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program, and Women's Trauma Recovery Program). He subsequently completed the 2-year VA Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at VA Boston, with an emphasis in substance use disorder (SUD) and PTSD research and treatment. Dr. Livingston is currently a Principal Investigator in the National Center for PTSD, Behavioral Science Division, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. His clinical appointment is in the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program, VA Boston Medical Center, JP. Primary clinical expertise includes evidence-based SUD and PTSD treatment, and patient centered adaptations to evidence-based care.

Primary research interests include substance use and disorder, treatment access and outcomes, and adverse events (e.g., overdose); the longitudinal course of trauma, PTSD, and interrelated psychiatric sequelae; and health disparities. Current funding supports examinations of the impacts of COVID-19 and medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) policy changes on access to care and patient outcomes (e.g., relapse, mortality; PCORI COVID-2020C2-11081; PI: Livingston), the long-term impacts of combat and other traumas among OEF/OIF/OND veterans (W81XWH-22-S-TBIPH2; PIs: Marx & Bovin), and various studies focused on VA health services and patient outcomes. Current priorities include improving access to MOUD and treatment retention, substance use and relapse tracking using electronic medical record data (via Natural Language Processing and Large Language Models), modeling risk for acute and substance-attributable death among veterans with SUD, and identifying and addressing health disparities.

Dr. Livingston is also a primary or co-mentor on early career development awards (e.g., K, VA CDA-2) and core research training faculty for the Boston University NIMH T32, VA Medical Informatics Fellowship, VA Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment, and other psychology training programs at VA Boston Healthcare System.