The Pac-TARC Team

​Dr. Anthenelli founded Pac-TARC in 2011 when he returned to UC San Diego after a 15-year career at the University of Cincinnati. The lab’s name pays homage to the one he directed in Ohio named “Tri-TARC” (Tri-State Tobacco & Alcohol Research Center). Dr. Anthenelli is a Professor Emeritus who retired from UC San Diego on July 1, 2025. He was the former Interim Chair, Executive Vice Chair, and Vice Chair for Veterans Affairs, respectively, in the university’s Department of Psychiatry. He earned his baccalaureate degree from the Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his internship in internal medicine at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, and his psychiatry residency training at UC San Diego and its affiliated Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Additional post-doctoral training included a two-year fellowship in addiction psychiatry research funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was formerly a Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine where he founded and directed the Center for Treatment, Research & Education in Addictive Disorders and the Addiction Sciences Division. He also directed the Substance Dependence Program at the Cincinnati VA which was awarded the Department of Veterans Affairs, Undersecretary for Health’s Award as a Clinical Program of Excellence in Substance Abuse, and was selected as a National Tobacco Cessation Clinical Resource Center. The overarching theme of Dr. Anthenelli’s work has been to develop improved treatments for alcohol, tobacco, and stimulant (methamphetamine and cocaine) use disorders and their intersection with psychiatric disorders. He has lectured across the globe on these topics, and he is the author or co-author of roughly 300 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and published abstracts. Support for his research was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Department of Veterans Affairs, University of California Office of the President’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, and many industry sponsors.