Dale Cannon, Ph.D
Title: Research Professor
Current Position:
Education/Training
- B.A. 1964, Pepperdine College;
- M.A. 1966, Pepperdine College;
- Ph.D. 1970, University of Utah;
- M.S. 1999, University of Utah;
- Psychology Internship 1968-1969, Salt Lake VA Medical Center.
Certifications
- None
Honors
- Fellow, Division of Clinical Psychology, American Psychological Association 1988
- 2001: Leadership Award, Association of VA Psychologist Leaders 2001
Publications
- Cannon, D. S., Baker, T. B., Piper, M. E., Scholand, M. B., Lawrence, D. L., Drayna, D. T., McMahon, W. M., Villegas, G. M., Caton, T. C, Coon, H., Leppert, M. F. (2005). Associations between Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) Gene Polymorphisms and Cigarette Smoking. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 7, 853-858.
- Cannon, D. S., Tiffany, S. T., Coon, H., Scholand, M. B., McMahon, W. M., & Leppert, M. F. (2007). The PHQ-9 as a brief assessment of lifetime major depression. Psychological Assessment, 19, 247-251.
Academic Activities
- Both nicotine dependence and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a common health consequence of cigarette smoking, have been shown to be heritable (that is, more common in some families with a high percentage of smokers than in other such families), but the specific genes associated with risk for these diseases are just beginning to be identified. I am part of a multidisciplinary group of geneticists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and biostatisticians at the University of Utah School of Medicine that is attempting to locate genes that are associated with severity of nicotine dependence and with the odds of developing COPD in smokers. Our research group has identified nicotinic receptor (nAChR) variants that are relative risk and protective factors for nicotine dependence in smokers who begin daily smoking at or by 16 years of age but not in those who begin daily smoking at an older age. This finding suggests that age of onset of daily smoking affects expression of these variants. The same variant that is a risk factor for nicotine dependence severity appears to increase COPD risk, even when smoking history is statistically controlled. Future work will focus on replicating these findings, exploring the biological function of these nAChR genes, and trying to identify nAChR effects that are common to both nicotine dependence and COPD.
