Lawrence Sweet

Lawrence Sweet is the Gary R. Sperduto Professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Georgia (UGA), holding a joint appointment in the Clinical and Neuroscience Programs. He directs the Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (CNS Lab), which focuses on multimodal neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessments to study brain-behavior relationships in clinical populations. His work integrates functional MRI, structural morphometry, and neuropsychological methods to investigate substance use disorders, chronic stress, cardiovascular disease, and aging.

Education: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology) from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at Brown University. He is a Fellow of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research at UGA.

Research Interests: Dr. Sweet’s research emphasizes neuroimaging biomarkers for addiction treatment outcomes, the impact of early life stress on adult cognitive function, and the neural correlates of decision-making in health contexts. His lab specializes in experimental paradigms to predict treatment success for smoking, alcohol, and opioid cessation.

Awards: Inaugural Gary R. Sperduto Professorship (2021), William A. Owens Creative Research Award (2021), and Lillian Eby OIBR Mentoring Award (2022). His work has been featured in high-impact journals like Psychological Bulletin and NeuroImage.

Grants & Advising: Active grants focus on neuroimaging predictors of intervention efficacy. He advises graduate students in clinical psychology and neuroscience programs, with Colleen Markey as a notable advisee.

Labs & Teams: The CNS Lab collaborates with interdisciplinary teams at UGA and beyond, emphasizing translational research linking brain imaging to clinical outcomes.