Sterling M. McPherson, PhD

Professor and Vice Dean for Research, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine

Dr. McPherson is a Professor, the Vice Dean for Research, and the Director of the Program of Excellence in Addictions Research (PEAR) at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Within PEAR, he is the Head and Principal Investigator of the Analytics and Psychopharmacology Laboratory (APPL). He has secured more than $35 million in grants and contracts as PI and another $45 million as a Co-I. Most of this funding has come from NIH (11 different institutes/centers) and 16 other agencies. He is involved in multiple research projects ranging from basic human toxicology to spatial epidemiology to the health economics of new therapeutics. He has led several therpaeutic development focused projects (e.g., Phase I/II trials) and has significant clinical research experience having successfully recruited participants with alcohol, opioid, stimulant, and tobacco use disorders. Currently, his primary area of foci is on the leveraging contingency management in combination with putative pharmacotherapies for alcohol, alcohol and tobacco combined, and methamphetamine and opioid use combined. Additionally, he is also working with three companies on advancing technology platform to improve buprenorphine/naloxone adherence, and naloxone carriage rates and use. 

He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed research articles in these domains and is a standing panel member and Chairperson for NIH study sections and several other sponsors. He has reviewed for more than 40 journals and either is or has been on the Editorial Boards of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, Journal of Cannabis Use Research, Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and Addiction. Currently, he is a Senior Editor and Deputy Statistical Editor at Addiciton, Associate Editor (Human Psychopharmacology) at the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and Associate Editor at Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports. He has partnered with seven different industry sponsors to pursue technology-enhanced addiction treatment platforms and advance the commercialization of novel therapeutics. Lastly, he is dedicated to international research with active collaborations across more than seven different countries.

Honors & Awards

  • Visiting Professor, King’s College London, Department of Addiction Sciences, 2023-present
  • Elected Fellow, Society for Psychopharmacology and Drug Abuse (APA Division 28), 2023
  • Elected Member, Washington State Academic of Sciences, 2020
  • Elected Board Member, College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), 2022-present
  • College on Problems of Drug Dependence’s (CPDD) 2020 Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award for Excellence, 2020
  • Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, 2019
  • Associated Students of Washington State University Spokane, Student’s Choice Award for Faculty Excellence, 2012
  • Early Career Travel Award, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
  • Alcoholism (NIAAA), and the American Psychological Association (APA) Divisions 28 (Psychopharmacology and Drug Abuse) and 50 (Addictions), 2012

IREACH Programs

Projects