Eric Otto Johnson

Eric Otto Johnson, Ph.D., has more than 20 years of experience studying the epidemiology and genetics of drug addiction, HIV, and related phenotypes. He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles. 

Dr. Johnson has been the Principal Investigator of 12 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded studies. His current research focuses on multi-omics approaches to understanding the biological drivers of drug addiction and the biological consequences of drug exposure across a number of substances (e.g., opioids, cocaine, and nicotine), including in the context of living with HIV. Other areas of interest include analytical methods development and epigenetic epidemiology – using DNA methylation to measure exposures from the environment. 

He is the former Chair of the Behavioral Genetics and Epidemiology Study Section and has chaired and served on numerous other NIH review and advisory panels.