Predicting Risk: How Alison Haney is Rethinking Addiction Research

When she worked in the Cincinnati VA Hospital’s residential substance abuse program, Alison Haney faced a quandary. As a clinical psychologist there, she met daily with patients struggling with addiction, many without stable housing or support.

“The VA has great post-treatment services, so patients do get connected to outpatient care and housing services. However, this transition is really hard for folks just starting their treatment journey, and I wished there was more we could do,” she recalls.

And when the pandemic necessitated sending patients home in the middle of their stay, said Haney, “I thought there must be another way I could help.”

That conviction led her away from one-on-one clinical work and into the emerging space where psychology, public health and technology meet. Today, as an assistant professor of community health and health behavior at UB, she’s developing AI-powered tools to help people make safer decisions about alcohol use—tools that could reach far more people than she ever could in a clinic.

Haney’s background in psychology still shapes her work, but the scale of addiction pushed her to think differently. “I could see a client every hour for the rest of my life and not make a dent,” she says. “Addiction is a population-level problem, and AI is really good at predicting behavior. That’s where public health comes in.”

Her research often begins with “ecological momentary assessment”—brief, real-time surveys sent via smartphone to capture how people feel, where they are and who they’re with. Add wearable data from Apple Watches or Bluetooth-enabled breathalyzers, and patterns emerge. “You can’t wrap your head around all that data, but an algorithm can look at it and predict what might happen in a personalized way,” Haney explains.

One project Haney led paired a mobile breathalyzer with a machine-learning algorithm to notify participants when they were over the legal limit. “It can help us give a ‘nudge’ to help them make a better decision,” she says. In early trials, the system reduced drinking and driving over six weeks.

The approach can also flag other risks, from relapse triggers to escalating arguments with a significant other. “Helping people recognize patterns they’re already in is powerful,” Haney says. “We have the technology now that can help predict when people might be vulnerable.”

Haney came to UB because of its reputation in addiction science. “We have some of the best researchers in the world here,” she says, pointing to university colleagues across public health, psychology, computer science and social work. “Addiction by nature needs a multi-disciplinary approach.”

She also emphasizes responsible innovation in the classroom. In her public health ethics and public mental health courses, students explore questions of data, equity and AI. “It’s exciting that we can take what we know in clinical psychology, and in this burst of technology, we can leverage it for good,” Haney says.

Outside of academia, she’s a singer-songwriter and active in Buffalo’s LGBTQ+ community, working to create sober spaces. Music, she says, often helps her solve research problems.

Through it all, her focus remains: helping people make better choices, and now, with tools to reach many more of them.