Shirley Y. Hill, Ph.D.

Dr. Hill is Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She completed her graduate training in Psychology at Washington University before being recruited to WPIC. In 1985 she was funded by NIH/NIAAA to initiate a family study of alcohol dependence utilizing what was then a novel strategy in which families were recruited if multiple cases of alcohol dependence were present. The first study identified families through a proband pair of brothers with alcohol dependence and included their parents and siblings. This strategy results in multiple cases of alcohol dependence with early onset to develop either alcohol or other substance use disorders. For comparison, a control sample of families without a history of substance use disorders was also included. A second family study was funded by NIH/NIAAA to address alcohol dependence in women, by selecting families through a pair of affected sisters. In 1990, longitudinal follow-up of the third generation offspring from both studies was initiated, an effort that has continued to present.

Dr. Hill has received many honors including membership on two National Academy of Science and Institute of Medicine committees charged with studying the ethical aspects of developing vaccines against drug dependence and ethical considerations associated with genetic studies of addiction. She was a consultant to the World Health Organization on substance use issues particularly as they relate to women, and was the recipient of the Spinoza Chair in Medicine and visiting professor at the University Of Amsterdam School of Medicine. She is author of over 160 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. In addition to her active research program she has been a member of standing NIH grant review committees almost continuously for over 30 years, most recently as a member of the NIAAA Neuroscience Review Committee (AA4).