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Andrea Hobkirk, PhD

Andrea Hobkirk, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences
Assistant Professor, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences
Penn State Neuroscience Institute
Center for Cannabis and Natural Product Pharmaceuticals (CCNPP)
Penn State Center for Research on Tobacco and Health
Scientific Program:Cancer Control
ALH98@psu.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Andrea Hobkirk is the principal investigator of the addiction, behavioral neuroscience and social determinants of health research lab area in the Department of Psychiatry. Her lab’s mission is to better understand pathways between the brain and behavior that lead to the development and treatment of addiction.

She is working to uncover how pre-existing differences in stress, reward and executive control systems make some individuals more likely to develop an addiction when they first start using a drug, and how these same systems can be changed with intervention to alleviate addiction.

Although her lab studies many substances of abuse, her current projects are focused on how brain function changes as people develop and recover from nicotine addiction. She is specifically interested in how tobacco product features, like flavors, affect the development of nicotine addiction.

Her research studies collect data from participants through surveys, computer games, functional magnetic resonance imaging and biomarkers such as blood, urine and saliva.

  • HIV
  • Nicotine
  • Brain
  • Tobacco Products
  • Methamphetamine
  • Vaping
  • Smoking
  • South Africa
  • Smokers
  • Reward
  • Decision Making
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Recent Publications

2024

Salinas, KZ, Saran, S, Saulnier, K, Hoglen, B, Houser, KR, Krebs, NM, Kaynak, Ö, Bordner, CR, Yingst, JM, Foulds, J, Allen, SI & Hobkirk, AL 2024, 'A Comparison of Mental Health Symptoms among Adults Who Vape Nicotine, Cannabis, or Both', Substance Use and Misuse, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 601-607. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2023.2294956
Lin, D, Sturgeon, KM, Muscat, JE, Zhou, S, Hobkirk, AL, O’Brien, KM, Sandler, DP & Thompson, CL 2024, 'Associations of pre-diagnosis physical activity with treatment tolerance and treatment efficacy in breast cancer patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy', Breast Cancer, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 519-528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-024-01569-3
Yingst, JM, Bordner, C, Hrabovsky, S, Hobkirk, AL, Trushin, N, Richie, J & Foulds, J 2024, 'Nicotine Delivery of a Menthol-Flavored Heat-not-Burn Tobacco Product During Directed Use', Nicotine and Tobacco Research, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 397-401. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntad119
Eshak, TB, Hobkirk, AL, Whitener, CJ, Conyers, LM, Hwang, W & Sznajder, KK 2024, 'Syndemic of Substance Abuse, Depression, and Type 2 Diabetes and Their Association with Retention in Care Among People Living with HIV', AIDS and Behavior, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 1612-1620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-024-04275-5

2023

McLaughlin, PJ, West, EA, Grigson, PS & Hobkirk, AL 2023, 'Addiction III: From mouse to man', Brain Research Bulletin, vol. 193, pp. 22-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.12.001

2022

Saran, SK, Salinas, KZ, Foulds, J, Kaynak, Ö, Hoglen, B, Houser, KR, Krebs, NM, Yingst, JM, Allen, SI, Bordner, CR & Hobkirk, AL 2022, 'A Comparison of Vaping Behavior, Perceptions, and Dependence among Individuals Who Vape Nicotine, Cannabis, or Both', International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 19, no. 16, 10392. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610392
Lin, W, Hobkirk, AL, Zhu, J, Krebs, NM, Hayes, JE, Richie, JP, Liao, J, Horn, K, Foulds, J & Muscat, JE 2022, 'Effect of menthol on nicotine reduction: Pooled results from two double-blind randomized controlled trials', Brain Research Bulletin, vol. 189, pp. 131-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2022.08.019
Hobkirk, AL, Hoglen, B, Sheng, T, Kristich, A, Yingst, JM, Houser, KR, Krebs, NM, Allen, SI, Bordner, CR, Livelsberger, C & Foulds, J 2022, 'Intentions and Attempts to Quit JUUL E-Cigarette Use: The Role of Perceived Harm and Addiction', Preventing Chronic Disease, vol. 19, E06. https://doi.org/10.5888/PCD19.210255

2021

Krebs, NM, D'Souza, G, Bordner, C, Allen, SI, Hobkirk, A, Foulds, J & Yingst, J 2021, 'COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake and Hesitancy among Current Tobacco Users', Tobacco Use Insights, vol. 14, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/1179173X211068027
Hobkirk, AL, Midya, V, Krebs, NM, Allen, SI, Reinhart, L, Sun, D, Stennett, AL & Muscat, JE 2021, 'Characterizing nicotine exposure among a community sample of non-daily smokers in the United States', BMC Public Health, vol. 21, no. 1, 1025. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11052-9
Hobkirk, AL, Houser, KR, Hoglen, B, Bitzer, ZT, Fendrich, A, Bordner, CR, Foulds, J, Wang, J, Mukherjee, D, Yingst, JM, Karunanayaka, P, Goel, R, Richie, JP, Elias, RJ & Yang, QX 2021, 'Evidence From an fMRI Study That Dessert-Flavored E-Cigarettes Engage Taste-Related, but Not Smoking-Related, Brain Circuitry for Female Daily Smokers', Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 947-958. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000488
Hall, SA, Towe, SL, Nadeem, MT, Hobkirk, AL, Hartley, BW, Li, R, Huettel, SA & Meade, CS 2021, 'Hypoactivation in the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex during ambiguous decision making in individuals with HIV', Journal of neurovirology, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 463-475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-021-00981-1
Yingst, JM, Bordner, CR, Hobkirk, AL, Hoglen, B, Allen, SI, Krebs, NM, Houser, KR, Livelsberger, C & Foulds, J 2021, 'Response to flavored cartridge/pod-based product ban among adult juul users: “you get nicotine however you can get it”', International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 18, no. 1, 207, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010207
Yingst, JM, Krebs, NM, Bordner, CR, Hobkirk, AL, Allen, SI & Foulds, J 2021, 'Tobacco use changes and perceived health risks among current tobacco users during the COVID-19 pandemic', International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 18, no. 4, 1795, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041795

2020

Hobkirk, AL, Bitzer, Z, Goel, R, Sica, CT, Livelsberger, C, Yingst, J, Houser, KR, Rupprecht, S, Trushin, N, Karunanayaka, P, Foulds, J, Richie, JP, Spreen, L, Hoglen, B, Wang, J, Elias, RJ & Yang, QX 2020, 'An Electronic Aerosol Delivery System for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging', Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, vol. 14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178221820904140
Yingst, J, Foulds, J & Hobkirk, AL 2021, 'Dependence and Use Characteristics of Adult JUUL Electronic Cigarette Users', Substance Use and Misuse, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 61-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2020.1834582