Susan Luczak

• Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego, 2000-2001

Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments

• Research Professor, University of Southern California, 2018-
• Associate Research Professor, University of Southern California, 2009-2018
• Assistant Adjunct Professor, University of California, San Diego, 2005-2011
• Assistant Research Professor, University of Southern California, 2004-2009
• Assistant Project Scientist, University of California, San Diego, 2001-2005

Summary Statement of Research Interests

The major goal of my research is to understand how alcohol problems develop and manifest themselves. My research program, supported by NIAAA, NIDA, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, and the Fulbright US Scholars Program, examines a broad range of biopsychosocial risk and protective factors associated with the development and transmission of alcohol-related behaviors in a variety of ethnic groups and cultural settings. This research is conducted in the US with college student samples, and on the island of Mauritius (east Africa) with the Joint Child Health Project birth cohort family study. I also conduct research on real-time drinking pattern assessment and the development of data collection tools (e.g., web-based assessments, transdermal alcohol sensors) for capturing naturalistic drinking behavior. This research is conducted in collaboration with USC Mathematics Professors including Co-PI Gary Rosen and is currently focused on converting transdermal alcohol sensor data into more interpretable estimates of breath and blood alcohol levels using physics/physiologic-based first principles models and machine learning techniques (R01 AA026368).

Research Keywords

Alcohol;
Risk and protective factors;
Alcohol;
Ethnic group differences;
Religion;
Family transmission;
Genetics;
Alcohol metabolizing genes;
Real-time assessment;
Smart phone technology;
Transdermal alcohol sensors;
Estimated breath/blood alcohol levels

Research Specialties

Genetic and ethnic group differences in the lifecourse development of alcohol use and problems; real-time drinking behavior and biosensor monitoring.

Journal Article

• Sirlanci, M., Rosen, I. G., Wall, T. L., Luczak, S. E. (2019). Applying a novel population-based model approach to estimating breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) from transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) biosensor data. Alcohol: An International Biomedical Journal. Vol. 81, pp. 117-129.
• Sirlanci, M., Luczak, S. E., Fairbairn, C. E., Kang, D., Pan, R., Yu, X., Rosen, I. G. (2019). Estimating the distribution of random parameters in a diffusion equation forward model for a transdermal alcohol biosensor. Automatica. Vol. 106, pp. 101-109.
• Sirlanci, M., Luczak, S. E., Fairbairn, C. E., Bresin, K., Kang, D., Rosen, I. G. (2018). Deconvolving the input to random abstract parabolic systems; a population model-based approach to estimating blood/breath alcohol concentration from transdermal alcohol biosensor data. Inverse Problems. Vol. 34, pp. 125006.
• Luczak, S. E., Hawkins, A., Dai, Z., Wichmann, R., Wang, C., Rosen, I. G. (2018). Obtaining continuous BrAC estimates in the field: A hybrid system integrating transdermal alcohol biosensor, Intellidrink smartphone app, and BrAC Estimator software tools. Addictive Behaviors. Vol. 83, pp. 48-55.
• Luczak, S. E., Khoddam, R., Yu, S., Wall, T. L., Schwartz, A., Sussman, S. Y. (2017). A review of the prevalence and co-occurrence of addictions in US ethnic/racial groups: Implications for genetic research. The American Journal on Addictions. Vol. 26, pp. 424-436.
• Luczak, S. E., Prescott, C. A., Venables, P. H. (2017). Latent classes of alcohol problems in Mauritian men: Results from the Joint Child Health Project. Drug and Alcohol Review. Vol. online, pp. DOI: 10.1111/dar.12506.
• Luczak, S. E., Liang, T., Wall, T. L. (2017). Age of drinking initiation as a risk factor for alcohol use disorder symptoms is moderated by ALDH2 and ethnicity. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 41, pp. 1738-1744.
• Luczak, S. E., Wall, T. L. (2016). Gambling behaviors and associations with alcohol use disorders in Chinese-, Korean-, and White-American college students. The American Journal on Addictions. Vol. 25, pp. 195-202.
• Dai, Z., Rosen, I. G., Wang, C., Barnett, N. P., Luczak, S. E. (2016). Using drinking data and pharmacokinetic modeling to calibrate transport model and blind deconvolution-based data analysis software for transdermal alcohol biosensors. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering. Vol. 13, pp. 911-934.
• Qiu, B., Luczak, S. E., ., .., Liang, T. (2016). FKBP5 genes are associated with alcohol consumption in knockout mice and in humans. International Journal of Molecular Science. Vol. 17, pp. 1271, 1-17.
• Luczak, S. E., Yarnell, L. M., Prescott, C. A., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Mednick, S. A. (2015). Cognitive measures as predictors of alcohol use and problems by mid-adulthood in a non-Western cohort. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Vol. 29, pp. 365-370.
• Luczak, S. E., Rosen, I. G., Wall, T. L. (2015). Development of a real-time repeated-measures assessment protocol to capture change over the course of drinking episodes. Alcohol and Alcoholism. Vol. 50, pp. 1-8.
• Luczak, S. E., Rosen, I. G. (2014). Modeling BrAC estimates from transdermal alcohol concentration data using the BrAC Estimator software program. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 38, pp. 2243-2252.
• Luczak, S. E., Yarnell, L. M., Prescott, C. A., Myers, M. G., Carr, L. G., Wall, T. L. (2014). Effects of ALDH2*2 on alcohol consumption and problems over four years of college. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol. 123, pp. 130-140.
• Rosen, I. G., Luczak, S. E., Weiss, J. (2014). Blind deconvolution for distributed parameter systems with unbounded input and output and determining blood alcohol concentration from transdermal biosensor data. Applied Math and Computation. Vol. 231, pp. 357-376.
• Luczak, S. E., Prescott, C. A., Dalais, C., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Mednick, S. A. (2014). Religious factors associated with alcohol involvement: Results from the Mauritian Joint Child Health Project. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Vol. 135, pp. 37-44.
• Chartier, K. G., Scott, D. M., Wall, T. L., Covault, J., Karriker-Jaffe, K. J., Mills, B. A., Luczak, S. E., Caetano, R., Arroyo, J. A. (2014). Framing ethnic variations in alcohol outcomes from biological pathways to neighborhood context. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 38, pp. 611-618.
• Leffingwell, T. R., Cooney, N. J., Murphy, J. G., Luczak, S. E., Rosen, I. G., Dougherty, D. M., Barnett, N. P. (2013). Transdermal alcohol monitoring: 21st century measurement for an age-old problem. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 37, pp. 16-22.
• Yarnell, L. M., Sargeant, M. N., Prescott, C. A., Tilley, J. L., Farver, J. M., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Mednick, S. A., Luczak, S. E. (2013). Measurement invariance of an internalizing and externalizing factor structure of the CBCL behavioral syndromes in a non-Western sample. Assessment. Vol. 20, pp. 642-655.
• Luczak, S. E., Rosen, I. G., Weiss, J. (2013). Determining blood and/or breath alcohol concentration from transdermal alcohol data. Proceedings of the American Control Conference, International Federation of Automatic Control. pp. 473-478.
• Rosen, I. G., Luczak, S. E., Hu, W., Hankin, M. (2013). Discrete-time blind deconvolution for distributed parameter systems with dirichlet boundary input and unbounded output with application to a transdermal biosensor data. Proceedings of the 2013 SIAM Conference on Control and its Application. pp. 160-167.
• Luczak, S. E., Pandika, D., Shea, S. H., Eng, M. Y., Liang, T., Wall, T. L. (2011). ALDH2 and ADH1B interactions in retrospective reports of low-dose reactions and initial sensitivity to alcohol in Asian Americans. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 35, pp. 1238-1245.
• Eng., M. Y., Luczak, S. E., Wall, T. L. (2007). ALDH2, ADH1B, and ADH1C Genotypes in Asians: A literature review. Alcohol Research and Health,. Vol. 30, pp. 22-27.
• Luczak, S. E., Glatt, S. J., Wall, T. L. (2006). Meta-analyses of ALDH2 and ADH1B with alcohol dependence in Asians. Psychological Bulletin.. Vol. 132, pp. 607-621.
• Luczak, S. E., Shea, S. H., Hsueh, A., Chang, J., Carr, L. G., Wall, T. L. (2006). ALDH2*2 is associated with alcohol-induced blackouts in Asian-American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Vol. 67, pp. 349-353.
• Luczak, S. E., Wall, T. L., Cook, T. A., Shea, S. H., Carr, L. G. (2004). ALDH2 status and conduct disorder mediate the relationship between ethnicity and alcohol dependence in Chinese-, Korean-, and White-American college students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol. 113 (271-278)
• Luczak, S. E., Corbett, K., Oh, C., Carr, L. G., Wall, T. L. (2003). Religious influences on heavy episodic drinking in Chinese and Korean American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol,. Vol. 64, pp. 467-471.
• Luczak, S. E., Shea, S. H., Carr, L. G., Li, T. K., Wall, T. L. (2002). Binge drinking in Jewish and non-Jewish college students. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Vol. 12, pp. 1773-1778.
• Luczak, S. E., Elvine-Kreis, B. J., Shea, S. H., Carr, L. G., Wall, T. L. (2002). Genetic risk for alcoholism relates to level of response to alcohol in Asian American men and women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol.. Vol. 63, pp. 74-82.
• Luczak, S. E., Wall, T. L., Shea, S. H., Byun, S., Carr, L. G. (2001). Binge drinking in Chinese, Korean, and White college students: Genetic and ethnic group differences. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Vol. 15, pp. 306-309.
• Luczak, S. E., Raine, A., Venables, P. A. (2001). Invariance of alcohol problems across religious groups. Journal of Studies on Alcohol,. Vol. 62, pp. 834-837.