Program Developer

LifeSkills Training (LST) was developed by Dr. Gilbert J. Botvin, an internationally known expert on prevention and health behavior who has been a member of the Cornell University faculty for over 32 years. Dr. Botvin holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and earned his BA from Colgate University. Dr. Botvin is currently a Professor Emeritus of Psychology in Public Health at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College, serving previously as a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Public Health and a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. He was also an Attending Psychologist at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Chief of the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior, and Director of Cornell’s Institute for Prevention Research. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty, Dr. Botvin spent three years at the American Health Foundation where he was Director of Child Health Behavior Research.

Dr. Botvin is widely acknowledged to be one of the leading experts in the world on tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse prevention. He has more than 260 scientific papers and book chapters to his credit and he has also co-authored or edited four scholarly books on prevention. In addition, he has presented papers and given invited addresses on prevention and health behavior at over 300 national and international conferences. Dr. Botvin is past president and a former governing board member of the Society for Prevention Research, the leading professional association in the United States focusing on prevention science. Dr. Botvin was also the founding editor of Prevention Science, an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal that became one of the top scientific journals in the field under Dr. Botvin’s leadership.

In addition to being the developer of the LST program and a senior member of the Cornell faculty, Dr. Botvin is the founder and president of National Health Promotion Associates, Inc. (NHPA). NHPA is a health consulting and training firm involved in the development, training, and dissemination of prevention programs such as LST. Weill Medical College does not specifically support or endorse either entity.