Thomas E. Hanlon

Dr. Hanlon has had an extensive career in behavioral assessment and treatment evaluation, beginning in 1956 as a member of a psychiatric treatment team investigating the psychopharmacologic treatment of inpatients and outpatients manifesting symptoms of schizophrenia, and from 1974 onward by involvement in a long-term program of investigation of the characteristics and treatment responses of substance-abusers, principally opioid dependent individuals. Treatment approaches Dr. Hanlon has evaluated in this program include the use of opioid antagonists; methadone maintenance; a self-help group approach to aftercare/relapse prevention, social support services for parolees in conjunction with drug use urinalysis-based surveillance; and the provision of assessment-guided drug abuse treatment designed to bridge the gap between prison and parole drug abuse intervention efforts.

Originally a senior investigator at the Social Research Center of Friends Research Institute, Dr. Hanlon is now the Center’s Research Director. As such, he participates in overall research project planning, development, and implementation at the Center. In addition, he has been a Principal Investigator in a continuing drug abuse prevention program that evolved as a result of the Center’s program of research on the etiology of opioid drug dependence. This drug abuse prevention program has focused on the determination of the characteristics and treatment responsiveness of the adolescent children of methadone maintenance patients and incarcerated drug-dependent (heroin and/or cocaine) mothers. Presently, as Research Director, he is a member of the SRC’s Executive Committee. He is also the Principal Investigator for a drug abuse early intervention project targeting high-risk alternative learning students in the Baltimore school system.combined, Dr. Hanlon’s diverse research activities represent a broad interest and involvement in the behavioral sciences that has resulted in an extensive publication record.