Lorenzo Leggio, M.D., Ph.D.

Founded by Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, the Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology (CPN) Section is a joint laboratory of NIDA and NIAAA. The CPN Section’s overarching mission is to advance understanding of the mechanisms underlying addiction and to identify and evaluate new therapeutic interventions. These goals align with the strategic priorities of both NIDA and NIAAA. Our work uses multidirectional translational approaches spanning basic science, experimental medicine proof-of-concept studies, randomized controlled trials, biospecimen analyses, and big data analysis. A central focus of our research is the conduct of human laboratory studies and clinical trials conducted under well-controlled conditions. These studies serve as critical translational bridges between preclinical research and larger more resource-intensive clinical trials.

We further expand our translational framework through collaborative preclinical research including bench and rodent studies, as well as through big data approaches such as large-scale electronic health record-based pharmacoepidemiological human studies. These studies often use propensity score matching and are guided by target trial emulation principles.

Key areas of interest include the intersection of addictive disorders with neuroendocrine systems, the gut-brain axis, the heart-brain axis, and other peripheral-central pathways, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets and developing new treatments.

Dr. Lorenzo Leggio is a physician-scientist whose clinical work and research have focused primarily on the treatment of alcohol and other substance use disorders, as well as the medical consequences of alcohol use disorder, particularly alcohol-associated liver and cardiovascular diseases. Together with his team of trainees, staff, colleagues, and collaborators, Dr. Leggio has led research on medication development and on the role of neuroendocrine pathways involving the microbiome-gut-liver-brain axis, the heart-brain axis, and other peripheral-to-central pathways in addictions. This work has been conducted through human laboratory studies, clinical trials, and translational and reverse-translational experimental medicine approaches.

Dr. Leggio earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Rome and Agostino Gemelli Hospital, where he also completed residency and obtained board certification in Internal Medicine. He completed postdoctoral training in Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, Providence, RI, where he joined the core faculty of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies as an Assistant Professor in 2010. As Principal Investigator at Brown, he received extramural funding from the NIH (both NIAAA and NIDA), and several foundations. Dr. Leggio was subsequently recruited to NIH as a joint NIAAA/NIDA Tenure-Track Clinical Investigator in the Intramural Research Program (IRP), where he also serves as a NIH Senior Attending Medical Staff member. In 2018, he was awarded NIH tenure by the Central Tenure Committee and promoted to Senior Investigator (Clinical). He has also held several leadership roles within the NIH IRP including Associate Director for Clinical Research for the NIDA IRP Medication Development Program, NIDA Acting Clinical Director, Chair of the joint NIAAA/NIDA Scientific Review Committee, and Vice-Chair of the joint NIDA/NIAAA Addictions Institutional Review Board.

Dr. Leggio currently serves as NIDA Clinical Director and Deputy Scientific Director. In 2012, he founded the Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology Section, a joint NIDA-NIAAA laboratory and continues to serve as its Chief. In 2020, he founded the NIDA IRP Translational Addiction Medicine Branch and currently serves as its Chief. He also founded and serves as the Director of the NIDA IRP Translational Analytical Core. In addition, Dr. Leggio serves as Senior Medical Advisor to the NIAAA Director. He holds Adjunct Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University, Adjunct Professor of Addiction Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at Georgetown University.

In 2022, Dr. Leggio was elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Among other honors, Dr. Leggio received the 2008 Nordmann Award from the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, a 2010 Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the 2016 Early Career Investigator Award from the Research Society on Alcohol, the 2018 ACNP Eva King Killam Award, the 2020 Jacob P. Waletzky Award from the Society for Neuroscience, the 2023 Ward & Ryan Donovan Lectureship Award from the American College of Medical Toxicology, a 2023 Arthur S. Flemming Award (Social Science, Clinical Trials, and Translational Research category), the 2024 Max Glatt Memorial Lectureship Award from the U.K. Medical Council on Alcohol, and the 2026 Bowles Award from UNC at Chapel Hill. Dr. Leggio has published more than 350 papers, including original papers, reviews, meta-analyses, commentaries, and editorials.