Julianne Flanagan, Ph.D.

Work with me

About Me

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with a passion for research aimed at helping people create healthy relationships and happy lives. I am also enthusiastic about helping early career researchers define (and, when necessary, re-examine) their short and long-term career goals, achieve success in a values-aligned manner, and maintain health and resilience in the context of complex career transitions. My own journey has had plenty of twists and turns and I actively engage in a program of career coaching and professional development.

I earned a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, during which time I was awarded my first federal grant and solidified my love for research. Following clinical internship at the Seattle VA and an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University, I began my faculty appointment at a southeastern academic medical center where I am a tenured Professor leading the Family Recovery Research Program. I also hold a dual appointment at VA and it was my honor to serve in two recently completed long-term research consulting roles with the Department of Defense.

Mentorship and education is also tremendously important to me. In addition to having reviewed nearly 2,000 internship applications over the past decade, and conducting scores of interviews, I am PI of a mid-career mentoring award (K24) from NIH and PI and Director of an NIH-funded research training program (R25) in which we prepare for internship and postdoctoral fellowship/faculty transitions. I am also a dedicated mentor to graduate students, post-bac research staff, predoctoral psychology interns, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty.

For the past 20 years, my research program has focused intently on understanding romantic relationship conflict, especially conflict that involves physical and other types of aggression. These efforts would not be complete without also striving to understand the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that help partners cultivate and maintain healthy relationships. The research I conduct is aimed at developing accessible, evidence-based treatments for individuals and couples in civilian, veteran, and military settings who experience intimate partner violence, posttraumatic stress disorder, and alcohol and drug use disorders. I have authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, have been PI on more than 10 federally-funded awards to date (totaling approximately $18M), and Co-Investigator or Consultant on numerous others.

I look forward to learning how I can put my expertise to work for your program, your students, and you!

About My Research

The Family Recovery Research Program aims to improve outcomes and access to evidence-based treatment for individuals, romantic partners, and families. We work with civilians and military populations on issues such as alcohol and substance use, posttraumatic stress disorder, relationship health, and varying forms of aggression including intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Ongoing and recently completed projects of which I am Principal Investigator are shared below!

Alcohol, Substance Use, & Mental Health

R01AA031667 (Gilmore and Flanagan, MPIs) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Examining Peer Influences in Alcohol and Sexual Violence among Marines Using a Dyadic Multimethod Approach

R01AA029679
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Evaluating the Efficacy of Telehealth-Delivered Brief Family Involved Treatment (B-FIT) for Alcohol Use Disorder among Veterans

R01AA028811 (Back and Flanagan, MPIs)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Oxytocin to Optimize Integrated Exposure-Based Treatment of Co-occurring Alcohol Use Disorder and PTSD

R01AA027212
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Oxytocin to Enhance Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy

CX001962
Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Sciences Research & Development
Enhancing Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD with Oxytocin

CX001136/W81XWH-13-2-0065 (Back and Flanagan, MPIs)
VA/Department of Defense: Consortium to Alleviate PTSD
Doxazosin in the Treatment of Co-occurring PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder

Intimate Partner Violence

K23AA023845
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Effects of Oxytocin on Alcohol Craving and Intimate Partner Aggression

R21AA029235
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Using Wearable Technology to Develop Biomarker-Driven Intervention for Alcohol-Facilitated Intimate Partner Violence

Education & Mentoring

R25AA028464 (PI and Director)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders in Alcohol Research

K24AA030825 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Advancing Couple and Family Alcohol Treatment through Patient-Oriented Research and Mentorship

Selected Recent Publications

  • Metcalf, O., Henry, L., Fairbairn, C.E. & Flanagan, J.C. (in press). Digital technology prediction of anger, aggression, and violence: Recent innovations and methodological considerations. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Nietert, P.J., McCrady, B.S., Sellers, S., Yates-Johnson, A., Giff, S.T., & Forkus, S.R. (in press). Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Efficacy of Intranasal Oxytocin to Enhance Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Hogan, J.N., Massa, A.A., & Jarnecke, A.M. (2024). Examining the Role of Posttraumatic Stress in Intimate Partner Violence among Couples with Alcohol Use Disorder. Aggressive Behavior, 50(2), e22137.
  • Fleming, C.J., Giff, S., Forkus, S.R., Massa, A.A., & Flanagan, J.C. (2024). Psychosocial Sequalae of Sexual Assault in a Sample of Partnered Adults Experiencing Alcohol Use Disorder and Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39, 23-24.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Leone, R.M., Melkonian, A.J., Jarnecke, A.M. Hogan, J.N., & Massa, A.A. (in press). Effects of Alcohol Use Problem Discrepancy on Relationship Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Conflict Negotiation among Couples with Alcohol Use Disorder and Intimate Partner Violence. Family Process.
  • Back, S.E., Flanagan, J.C., Mintz, J., Brady, K.T., Joseph, J.E., Jones, J., Jarnecke, A.M., Malcolm, R.J., Hamner, M., Shirley, D.L., Litz, B.T., Niles, B.L., Young-McCaughan, S., Keane, T.M., & Peterson, A.L., for the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (2023). A Double-blind, randomized clinical trial of doxazosin for co-occurring PTSD and alcohol use disorder among Veterans. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 84(2), 46081. *denotes joint first-authors.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Nietert, P.J., Sippel, L., Hogan. J.N., Kirby, C., Jarnecke, A.M., Massa, A.A., Brower, J., Back, S.E., & Parrott, D. (2022). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Oxytocin to Reduce Alcohol Craving and Intimate Partner Aggression among Couples. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 152, 14-24.
  • Weiss, N.H., Hogan, J.N., Brem, M., Massa, A.A., Kirby, C.M., & Flanagan, J.C. (2021). Advancing our understanding of the intersection between emotion regulation and alcohol and drug use problems: Dyadic analysis of couples with intimate partner violence and alcohol use disorder. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 228.
  • Leone, R.M., Jarnecke, A.M., Gilmore, A.K., & Flanagan, J.C. (2021). Alcohol Use Problems and Conflict among Couples: A Preliminary Investigation of the Moderating Effects of Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 11(4), 290–299.
  • McCrady, B.M. & Flanagan, J.C. (2021). The Role of the Family in Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery for Adults. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 41 (1), 1-19.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Jarnecke, A.M., Leone, R.M., & Oesterle, D.W. (2020). Effects of Couple Conflict on Alcohol Craving: Does Intimate Partner Violence Play a Role? Addictive Behaviors, 109.
  • Flanagan, J.C., Jones, J., Jarnecke, A.M., & Back, S.E. (2018). Behavioral Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 39(2) 181-192.