Campbell/Spillane Substance Use Research - Interview with Charles (Bob) Schuster

Abstract

C. Robert “Bob” Schuster, Ph.D., is a behavioral pharmacologist who pioneered the animal drug self-administration paradigm in the mid-to-late 1960s. After a brief stint in industry with Smith Kline French, Schuster returned to graduate school where he worked with Joseph V. Brady. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1961. He then joined the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan before moving to the University of Chicago, where he founded the Drug Abuse Research Center. He served as Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) from 1986 to 1992. Following his time at NIDA, Schuster became Director of the Substance Abuse Research Division and Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. Credited by many with bringing a uniquely nonjudgmental and multi-faceted perspective to the study of substance abuse, Schuster greatly influenced the field through research and mentorship. Development of medications for the treatment of substance abuse disorders became central goals of his later work. He worked with his wife, behavioral pharmacologist Chris-Ellyn Johanson, on post-marketing surveillance of treatment drugs. Bob Schuster died February 21, 2011. Sources: Transcript. School of Medicine News, Wayne State University, 24 Apr 2008. https://today.wayne.edu/medicine/news/2008/04/24/charles-schuster-phd-25068 Accessed 07 June 2023. “Charles R. Schuster, Ph.D.” The College on Problems of Drug Dependence. https://cpdd.org/charles-r-schuster-ph-d-2/ Accessed 07 June 2023. APA PsycNet. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-22112-001 Accessed 04 Feb 2023.