Allen Zweben

Allen Zweben, Ph.D., is currently Professor Emeritus and Director of Motivational Training Program at Columbia University, School of Social Work in New York City, where he has been conducting and testing a MI skills-based lab project for incoming social work students. Dr. Zweben has been an active researcher in the addictions field for more than 40 years. His contributions to the addiction field have involved developing, adapting, and testing innovative behavioral treatments and medications for alcohol-related problems. Dr. Zweben has been principal investigator in large scale, multi-site, collaborative, NIH-funded clinical trials.

With regard to motivational interviewing, he played a key role in developing and testing motivational enhancement therapy (MET), a brief intervention that employed motivational Interviewing strategies for alcohol-related problems. MET was tested and found to be a promising approach in a landmark study known as Project MATCH. Consequently, MET has become a behavioral platform in numerous behavioral and pharmacological studies. MET has also been employed and adapted in community agencies serving individuals having addiction and related problems.

Dr. Zweben has had extensive experience in training social workers, nurses, physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and students from a variety of disciplines in motivational interviewing. He recently co-authored the second edition of Treating Addiction: A Guide for Professionals with Bill Miller and Alyssa Forcehimes. Dr. Zweben has been a member of Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) since its inception.

Last updated December 21, 2022