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Biography

Ali M. Yurasek, Ph.D. joined the faculty in the Department of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida in 2016.  She has expertise in conducting and evaluating brief motivational interventions (BMIs) for marijuana and alcohol use among at-risk populations.  Her primary research interests include using behavioral economic theory to identify risk factors for substance misuse and poor response to treatment, as well as examining marijuana use amid the changing legal climate. Additionally, she is interested in working with substance using juvenile offenders and court-involved youth and using behavioral economic theory to adapt BMIs for at-risk youth and their families.

Prior to the University of Florida, Dr. Yurasek was at Brown University where she completed her Clinical Psychology Internship and then continued on at Brown University as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Dr. Yurasek received her BA/MA in general psychology at Marietta College in 2007/2008, then completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Memphis in 2014.

Current grant-funded projects include a 1) K23 Training Award (NIDA) to adapt a behavioral economic intervention for truant youth who use marijuana and 2) an Early Career Psychologist Research Award (APA Division 50) that will use a mixed-methods approach to assess behavioral economic variables in truant youth and guide treatment development for this population. She was also the recipient of a clinical research loan repayment award from NIDA from 2016-2018 and a research foundation grant from 3rd Millennium Classrooms in 2012.

Recently, she was awarded an SEC Faculty Travel Award (2018-2019) to collaborate with colleagues at the University of Missouri and was the 2019 recipient of the Research Excellence Award for the Department of Health Education and Behavior.​

Research Interests

• Marijuana use among adolescent and other at-risk populations
• Behavioral economic applications to addictive behaviors
• Treatment development, evaluation, and implementation
• Substance misuse and risky health behaviors
• Adolescent and juvenile justice involved youth