Jasper Smits

Jasper Smits is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Psychology. He serves as the Department Liaison for Medical Affairs. His research focuses on developing and validating interventions for anxiety and related disorders, with a particular emphasis on exposure therapy and health behavior modification. Dr. Smits leads the Anxiety & Health Behaviors Lab and founded the Exposure Therapy Consortium, advancing translational research in behavioral and pharmacological treatments.

Education: Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, followed by a fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital.

Research Interests:

• Exposure therapy optimization and its applications to phobias, panic disorder, and PTSD
• Interplay between anxiety vulnerability and health behaviors (e.g., smoking, physical inactivity)
• Exercise as an adjunct to mental health treatments
• Pharmacological augmentation (e.g., isradipine, d-cycloserine) in exposure therapy

Grants and Funding: Totaling over $23 million from NIH (NIMH, NIDA), NCI, DoD, and other agencies. Active NIH grants include studies on smoking cessation, depression interventions, and anxiety sensitivity.

Labs/Teams:

• Anxiety & Health Behaviors Lab (affiliated with the Institute for Mental Health Research)
• Exposure Therapy Consortium

Courses Taught: PSY 393 Clinical Practicum I (Fall 2025–2020).