Michael Otto

Michael Otto is Professor and Director of the Translational Research Program in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Boston University. With over 25 years of continuous NIH funding and 500+ publications, his research develops psychosocial treatments for mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders, while investigating therapeutic learning mechanisms.

Dr. Otto's translational work extends to health-behavior promotion, including addictive behaviors, medication adherence, and exercise interventions. His NIH-supported program examines brain-behavior relationships underlying treatment efficacy.

Research spans anxiety sensitivity mechanisms, exposure therapy optimization, and transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral approaches. Recent work focuses on international consortiums for anxiety treatment development and biomarker prediction of treatment response.

Honors include APA's Distinguished Scientific Contributions award, ABCT's Outstanding Researcher award, and mentoring awards recognizing his educational impact. He leads the Mechanistic Behavior Research Consortium and Exposure Therapy Consortium to advance team science.