Roberta Freitas-Lemos

Roberta Freitas-Lemos, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and in the Department of Psychology within the College of Science at Virginia Tech. She leads the Freitas-Lemos Lab and is affiliated with the Center for Health Behaviors Research, Addiction Recovery Research Center, and Cancer Research Center – Roanoke. Her research focuses on behavioral economics, tobacco use, health disparities, and policy interventions to reduce cancer risk and promote health equity.

• Ph.D., Behavioral Sciences, University of Brasília
• Professional Degree in Public Management, Cândido Mendes University
• Master's Degree, Experimental Psychology: Behavior Analysis, Pontifical Catholic University - São Paulo
• B.A., Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University - São Paulo
• B.A., Sports Sciences, University of São Paulo

Dr. Freitas-Lemos investigates how tax policies, marketing, product characteristics, and regulatory changes influence consumption of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and ultra-processed foods, particularly among underserved populations. She uses the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace to simulate policy impacts and forecast behavioral responses. Her work aims to inform equitable public health policies that reduce preventable deaths and cancer disparities.

Her recent publications focus on delay discounting, vaccine hesitancy, flavor restrictions, menthol bans, and socioeconomic disparities in tobacco use. She examines how policies affect purchasing behavior, substitution patterns, and psychological distress, with a strong emphasis on social justice and health equity.

• Five-year, $680,000 Career Development Award from the National Cancer Institute

Dr. Freitas-Lemos has mentored research teams and collaborated extensively with experts like Warren Bickel. She has secured grant funding to develop novel tax proposals based on abuse liability models and to project long-term cancer outcomes. She serves on editorial boards and as a reviewer for journals in tobacco control, addiction, and behavioral science, and consults for institutions including Virginia Commonwealth University and Brazil’s Ministry of Health.

Her lab is actively involved in training researchers and developing scalable methods to assess policy impacts. She has also contributed to book chapters on behavioral science in public policy and social change.