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Jason B. Colditz, PhD, MEd

  • Lead Investigator

Dr. Colditz’s research examines how digital environments shape health and personal growth.

His work sits at the intersection of addiction recovery, digital health, and community development. Using computational social science methods - including social media surveillance, natural language processing, and machine learning - he studies psychosocial predictors of addiction recovery and how different forms of social support (e.g., family, peer groups, in-person and online communities) shape recovery trajectories. He also develops digital behavioral interventions that enhance social connection and promote healthy identity development in recovery and related behavioral health contexts.

Dr. Colditz's work is shaped by both scholarly expertise and lived experience with addiction and recovery. His journey fuels his commitment to advancing research that not only observes but improves recovery pathways for others.

A Pittsburgh native, Dr. Colditz has been part of the University of Pittsburgh community since 2005. He worked for over a decade as a research coordinator in Psychiatry and Medicine while completing his graduate studies. He served as lead coordinator and staff researcher at the former Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, later supporting the founding of the Center for Behavioral Health, Media, and Technology. He also coordinated the Bridging Connections in Addiction Research (BCAR) initiative, which fostered interdisciplinary collaborations from bench science to community health.

He is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, where he conducts research, mentors emerging scholars, and teaches graduate courses in Applied Research Methods and Research Ethics.

Education & Training

  • BS, Psychology & Communications, University of Pittsburgh, 2007
  • MEd, Social and Comparative Analysis, University of Pittsburgh School of Education, 2012
  • PhD, Clinical and Translational Science, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2021
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical and Translational Science (TL1), University of Pittsburgh Institute for Clinical Research Education, 2023

Representative Publications

Colditz JB, Hsiao LH, Bergman BG, Best DW, Hulsey EG, Sidani JE, Rollman BL, Kraemer KL. (2024). Characteristics and engagement among English-language online forums for addiction recovery available in the US. Internet Interventions, 35. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2024.100708 

Colditz JB, Chu KH, Hsiao LH, Barrett EL, Kraemer KL, Pedersen SL. (2023). Characterizing online social support for alcohol use disorder: a mixed-methods approach. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 47(11). doi: 10.1111/acer.15187 

Colditz JB, Rothenberger SD, Liebschutz JM, Rollman BL, Kraemer KL. (2021). COVID-19 social distancing and online mutual help engagement for alcohol use recovery. Journal of Addiction Medicine, online first. doi:10.1097/ADM.0000000000000797

Russell AM, Bergman BG, Colditz JB, Kelly JF, Milaham PJ, Massey PM. (2021). Using TikTok in recovery from substance use disorder. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 229. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109147

Visweswaran S, Colditz JB, O’Halloran P, Han N, Taneja SB, Welling J, Chu K, Sidani JE, Primack BA. (2020). Machine learning classifiers for Twitter surveillance of vaping: comparative machine learning study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(8). doi:10.2196/17478

Chu K, Colditz JB, Sidani JE, Zimmer M, Primack BA. (2019). Re-evaluating standards of human subjects protection for sensitive health data in social media networks. Social Networks. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2019.10.010

Colditz JB, Welling J, Smith NA, James AE, Primack BA. (2019). World Vaping Day: contextualizing vaping culture in online social media using a mixed methods approach. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 13(2). doi:10.1177/1558689817702753

Colditz JB, Chu K, Emery SL, Larkin CR, James AE, Welling J, Primack BA. (2018). Toward real-time infovellience of Twitter health messages. American Journal of Public Health, 108(8). doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304497

Primack BA, Colditz JB, Pang K, Jackson K. (2015). Portrayal of alcohol intoxication on YouTube. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 39(3). doi:10.1111/acer.12640

Pilkonis PA, Yu L, Colditz JB, Dodds N, Johnston KL, Maihoefer C, Stover AM, Daley DC, McCarty D. (2013). Item banks for alcohol use from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®): use, consequences, and expectancies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 130(1-3). doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.11.002

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Research Interests

  • Addiction recovery pathways and identities  
  • Community-based research, human-centered design 
  • Observational, mixed-methods social media research
  • Computational methods, Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Survey and scale development, psychometric assesment
  • Online educational and behavioral interventions

Research Grants

Current and recent support:

  • 2023-2028: Principal Investigator. Toward measures and behavioral trials for effective online AUD recovery support (NIAAA: K01-AA030809)  
  • 2021-2023: Postdoctoral Fellow. National Research Service Award, TL1 Training Program (NIH: TL1-TR001858, Director: Kevin Kraemer) 
  • 2020–2022: Lead Investigator. Online recovery group scorecard (Staunton Farm Foundation) 
  • 2019–2021: Project Manager. NIDA Clinical Trials Network - Appalachian Node (NIDA: UG1-DA049436; PI: Jane Liebschutz)
  • 2018–2021: Project Manager. Leveraging Twitter to monitor nicotine and tobacco-related cancer communication (NCI: R01-CA225773; PI: Brian Primack)