Last updated on:
10/23/2009 |
Author: ProCon.org
Harriet de Wit, PhD Biography
- Title:
- Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago
- Position:
- Con to the question "Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option?"
- Reasoning:
-
“[T]he effects of smoked marijuana on emesis were mild. Marijuana had a modest effect on nausea, queasiness and emesis in this model of nausea induced by syrup of ipecac. The comparison drug, ondansetron, totally eliminated both the subjective feelings of nausea and the emesis. These findings confirm clinical reports that smoked marijuana can reduce nausea, but relative to the potent effects of ondansetron and because of its psychoactivity, its usefulness in the clinical setting is likely to be limited.”
Cowritten with Anna H.V. Söderpalm and Alyson B. Schuster, “Antiemetic Efficacy of Smoked Marijuana,” Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, Feb. 12, 2001
- Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
-
Key Experts
Physicians [Physicians are the "key experts" in the medical marijuana debate because the issue is thought by many to be ultimately based on the medical value and risks of marijuana, and Physicians, with their training and clinical work, should (at least in theory) have the best knowledge of marijuana's medical value and risks.] [Note: Key Experts definition varies by sites that have this designation.] - Involvement and Affiliations:
-
- Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, 1981-present
- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Alcohol Research Center, Oregon Health Sciences University, 2007-present
- Member, International Society of Addiction Journal Editors, 2006-present
- Member, Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2004-present
- Mentor, Summer Research Program, Pritzker School of Medicine, 2004-present
- Deputy Editor, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2003-present
- Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2003
- Member, Society for Neuroscience, 2002-present
- Fellow, College on Problems of Drug Dependence, 2000
- Member, Board of Directors, Research Society on Alcoholism, 1999-2003
- Member, Board of Directors, College on Problems of Drug Dependence, 1997-2000
- Member, Brain Research Institute, University of Chicago, 1996-present
- Fellow, American Psychological Association (Division 28), 1995-present
- Field Editor, Psychopharmacology, 1992-present
- Education:
-
- PhD, Experimental Psychology, Concordia University (Canada), 1981
- Other:
-
- Registered Psychologist, State of Illinois
- Recipient, Marian W. Fischman Memorial Lectureship Award, 2009
- Elected Member, Council of the University of Chicago Senate, 2008-present
- Member, Faculty Advisory Committee of the Biostatistics Core Facility, 2007-present
- Member, Faculty of 1000, 2004-present
- Recipient, Solvay Award for Outstanding Basic Psychopharmacological Research in Affective Disorders, 1999
- Quoted in: