Associate Professor
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School, Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Houston, Texas
Biography
Luba Yammine, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School. She completed her Master’s degree as Family Nurse Practitioner and her PhD studies at UTHealth Houston. She went on to complete postdoctoral studies in addictions research at Baylor College of Medicine, Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center. Dr. Yammine’s has served as Primary and Co-Investigator on multiple NIH, DoD, and SAMHSA funded projects on pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders. Her personal research interest focuses on nicotine dependence and post-cessation weight management. This line of work began about a decade ago when, while working in clinical practice, she heard incidental reports about decreased cravings for cigarettes from patients who had been prescribed GLP-1 agonists for the treatment of diabetes. Eventually, these clinical observations led to the trial of a GLP-1 agonist exenatide which she completed under a career development award. This RCT was the first human study of a GLP-1 agonist as a potential therapy for smoking cessation and post-cessation weight management. The promising findings of that work served as a basis for two large clinical trials that she currently leads. One is a NIDA funded trial of exenatide, the other one is a trial of semaglutide funded by Novo Nordisk.
Dr. Yammine has many years of clinical experience in various settings, including primary care and family practices and outpatient psychiatry clinics. She currently works in the UT Psychiatry Innovations clinic where she sees patients with substance use disorders.
Dr. Yammine enjoys working with students and has served as a research mentor to many nursing, psychology, and medical students.
She has published her research in peer-reviewed journals, and she serves as a reviewing editor for the Frontiers in Psychiatry. She is frequently invited to present her work at scientific meetings, including CPDD and SRNT annual meetings.
General Session - The Science of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: A Rising Tide in Addiction Treatment
Friday, April 25, 2025
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM
Disclosure(s): Eli Lilly: Consultant/Advisory Board (Ongoing); Novo Nordisk: Other Research Support (includes receipt of drugs, supplies, equipment or other in-kind support) (Ongoing), Research Grant (includes principal investigator, collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received) (Ongoing)
Heavy Hitters: Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists for Addiction Treatment
Sunday, April 27, 2025
10:15 AM – 11:30 AM
Disclosure(s): Eli Lilly: Consultant/Advisory Board (Ongoing); Novo Nordisk: Other Research Support (includes receipt of drugs, supplies, equipment or other in-kind support) (Ongoing), Research Grant (includes principal investigator, collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received) (Ongoing)
