Unhealthy behaviors – including tobacco use, physical inactivity, nutritionally poor food choices, and prescription opioid abuse – represent the leading cause of chronic disease and premature deaths in the U.S., are a major driver behind spiraling health-care costs and are overrepresented among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. The Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at the University of Vermont hosted its second annual national, interdisciplinary conference in an effort to discuss and share strategies for changing the personal behavior patterns that increase risk for chronic disease and premature death and contribute to the problem of health disparities.

The two-day conference opened with a keynote address on “Behavioral Economics of Obesity” by Leonard Epstein, Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Buffalo, will focus on the issues of obesity, tobacco regulatory science, and prescription opioid abuse. Presenters include scholars from UVM and other leading U.S. universities and medical centers who will share research and expertise on how to apply the concepts and methods of behavioral economics – the consideration of how irrational decision-making impacts the everyday choices we make and can eventually undermine health – and behavioral pharmacology to improve scientific understanding and clinical outcomes with these highly challenging and costly public health problems. Link to the conference agenda here.

Led by Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and psychology, the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health was established with an $11.3 million National Institutes of Health Institutional Development Award Center of Biomedical Research Excellence grant in 2013. Investigators at the UVM center are studying the impact of socioeconomic factors such as poverty and lower education levels on health-related decision-making and applying the principles of behavioral economics to develop targeted interventions for promoting healthier choices in vulnerable populations.

A number of UVM College of Medicine experts affiliated with the VCBH presented at the conference, including cardiologist Philip Ades, M.D., co-director of the VCBH and professor of medicine, who discussed eliminating type 2 diabetes with weight loss and exercise; Susan Lakoski, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine and cardiologist, who discussed the impact of socioeconomic status on exercise, obesity and other risk behaviors among women with a breast cancer-related diagnosis; Higgins, who spoke about cigarette smoking among disadvantaged women; Thomas Simpatico, M.D., professor of psychiatry and chief medical officer, Department of Vermont Health Access, who discussed the impact of prescription opioid abuse on the criminal justice and Medicaid systems; Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and director, The Chittenden Center opioid dependence treatment clinic, who shared details of her research on substitution therapy for prescription opioid abuse; Marjorie Meyer, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, who discussed caring for pregnant opioid abusers; and Sarah Heil, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry, who talked about preventing unintended pregnancies in opioid-maintained women.