Jeffrey M. Lackner

Jeffrey M. Lackner (born 1961) is an American clinical psychologist, educator, and researcher at the University at Buffalo (UB). He currently serves as a professor in the Department of Medicine at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. As chief of its Division of Behavioral Medicine, Lackner oversees a division whose clinical, research, and educational activities focus on the interplay of medicine and behavior as they impact chronic disease. He is known for his work on low-intensity behavioral self-management approaches for high-impact pain disorders, and has worked to improve the methodological rigor of behavioral trials and developing clinical innovations that have impacted the lives of many underserved people. 

Early life and education
Lackner graduated from the Kent Denver School in 1980. He received a bachelor's of arts degree in political science from Emory University in 1984. He went on to obtain a diploma in social psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1985 and a master's degree in general experimental psychology from The College of William & Mary in 1987. In 1992, Lackner received his doctoratal degree in clinical psychology from Rutgers University. He was a predoctoral clinical psychology resident at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. Lackner completed a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine/pain at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1994.

Career
Lackner joined the anesthesiology faculty at the University of Buffalo in 1994 as a clinical assistant professor before moving to the Department of Medicine where he was promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in 2009. In 2015, he was promoted to professor and in 2018 became the inaugural Chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Medicine. Currently, he serves as Vice Chair of Research.

Scientific research
Lackner's program focuses on developing and testing novel, low-intensity, and effective treatments for chronic pain disorders, understanding the "active ingredients" that explain why, how, and when they work, identifying patients for whom they are most effective, and their "real-world" value (e.g., economic cost). Lackner piloted a low-intensity version of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) for IBS to relieve abdominal pain and bowel problems (diarrhea and/or constipation). he study that supported the findings was a NIH grant called the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Outcome Study (IBSOS), led by Lackner at the University at Buffalo in collaboration with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Gastrointestinal Division and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Lackner has translated discoveries in cognitive science, neuroscience, and social psychology into clinical applications.

Lackner collaborated with Jim Jaccard (NYU) to identify symptom relief in CBT-treated patients as driven by a well-defined combination of specific and nonspecific factors common to all treatment modalities. His research with Emeran Mayer, and his team at UCLA, has focused on identifying biological mechanisms that drive symptom relief of behaviorally-treated IBS patients with treatment-refractory symptoms. Lackner's recent work has focused on validating behavioral treatment for chronic behavioral pelvic pain as part of the Easing Pelvic Pain Interventions Clinical (EPPIC) Research Program in collaboration with Quentin Clemens (University of Michigan), James Jaccard (NYU) and Bruce Naliboff (UCLA).

Lackner converted the clinical materials of his research into a trade book, Controlling IBS the drug-free way: A 10-step plan for symptom relief.

Awards
Lackner has been awarded fellowship status in honorary scientific organizations including the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the American Psychological Association (Society of Health Psychology), Association for Psychological Science, American Gastroenterological Association, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. In 2009, he received the Peterson Prize from Rutgers University for "outstanding contributions to Professional Psychology". In 2024, he was awarded SUNY Distinguished Professor at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.