Biography

  Dr. Nathan T. Kearns earned his B.Sc. in Psychology (minor in Statistics) from John Carroll University; his M.Sc. in Psychology from the University of North Texas; and his Ph.D. in Behavioral Science (minor in Research, Measurement, and Statistics) from the University of North Texas following completion of a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Fellowship through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; F31AA027142). Following doctoral training, Dr. Kearns completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; T32DA016184) at Brown University in the School of Public Health. He currently serves as a Clinical Research Psychologist for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research – West (WRAIR-W), a forward directorate co-located with Madigan Army Medical Center and numerous military commands (e.g., U.S. Army I Corps, U.S. Air Force 62d Airlift Wing) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, WA.
 
Dr. Kearns’ current program of research takes an applied biopsychosocial approach to identifying and evaluating etiological and mechanistic factors that impact behavioral health outcomes and military readiness. His work primarily involves targeting of these malleable constructs (e.g., motivations, normative beliefs, interoception) to develop effective health education trainings, prevention tools, and interventions for military personnel and their communities. Broadly, Dr. Kearns provides subject matter expertise in the areas of substance use, psychological and physiological distress (e.g., posttraumatic stress, suicidality, pain), deleterious risk-taking behaviors (e.g., intoxicated driving, risky sexual behavior), and psychometrics.
 
Dr. Kearns has successfully executed funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) and other Department of Defense (DoD) granters, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In addition to primary appointment responsibilities, Dr. Kearns serves on several behavioral health prevention working groups and committees for DoD stakeholders (e.g., Joint Base Lewis McChord Suicide Prevention Working Group), as a grant review member for academic and federal funding mechanisms (e.g., Department of Veterans’ Affairs Rehabilitation Research and Development Service), and as a primary member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Madigan Army Medical Center.

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Current Research Projects

      
          
 

 

 


Selected Research:
  1. Trachik, B., Merrill, J., Pardue-Bourgeois, S. Ganulin, M., Crouch, C. L., Fawver, B., Kearns, N. T., Reddy, M., Novosel-Lingat, J., Osgood, J., Dretsch, M. N., & Knust, S. (In press). The Ask, Care, Escort Suite of Trainings: Initial Evaluation of the Army’s Primary Suicide Prevention Strategy. Psychological Services.
  2. Kearns, N. T., Trachik, B., Fawver, B., Osgood, J., & Dretsch, M. N. (2024). Alcohol Motivations Associated with Frequency of Alcohol Use, Binge Drinking, and Alcohol Problems among Active-Duty Junior Enlisted Soldiers and Non-Commissioned Officers. Alcohol, 115, 23-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2023.09.001
  3. Berey, B. L., Aston, E. R., Kearns, N. T., McGeary, J. M., Borsari, B., & Metrik, J. (2022). Prospective Associations between Sleep Disturbances and Cannabis Use among Veterans: A Behavioral Economic Approach. Addictive Behaviors, 134, 107424. https://doi.org/1016/j.addbeh.2022.107424
  4. Kearns, N. T., Gunn, R. L., Stevens, A. K., Berey, B. L., & Metrik, J. (2022). Longitudinal Associations between Impulsivity and Alcohol and Cannabis Use Frequency, Quantity, and Problems among Military Veterans. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 36(7), 762-774. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000825
  5. Kearns, N. T., Blumenthal, H., Contractor, A. A., Guillot, C. R., & *Rafiuddin, H. (2021). Effects of Bodily Arousal on Desire to Drink Alcohol among Trauma-Exposed College Students. Alcohol, 96, 15-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2021.07.002
  6. Contractor, A. A., Weiss, N. H., Kearns, N. T., Caldas, S., & Dixon-Gordon, K. (2020). Assessment of PTSD’s E2 Criterion: Development, Pilot Testing, and Validation of the Posttrauma Risky Behaviors Questionnaire. International Journal of Stress Management 27, 292–303. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000145
  7. Kearns, N. T., Blumenthal, H., Contractor, A. A., Aston, E. R., & Metrik J. (2021). Effect of Trauma-Related Stress After Alcohol Consumption on Perceived Likelihood of Negative Consequences and Willingness to Drive. Addictive Behaviors. 117, 106836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106836
  8. Kearns, N. T., Contractor, A. A., Weiss, N. H., & Blumenthal, H. (2021). Coping Strategy Utilization among Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity and Substance Use Co-occurrence Typologies: A Latent Class Analysis. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy 13(8), 929-939. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000964
  9. Kearns, N. T., Powers, M. B., Jackson, W. T., Elliott, T. R., & Ryan, T. (2019). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters and substance use among patients with upper limb amputations due to traumatic injury. Disability and Rehabilitation, 41, 3157-3164. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1485180
  10. Kearns, N. T., Carl, E., Stein, A. T., Vujanovic, A. A., Zvolensky, M., Smits, J. A. J., & Powers, M. B. (2018). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Cigarette Smoking: A Systematic Review. Depression and Anxiety, 35, 1056-1072. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22828