Robin Gerald Walden Room (born 28 December 1939) is an Australian sociologist and researcher who studies the health effects of alcohol and other drugs. From 2015 - 2017 he was the director of th
Centre for Alcohol Policy Research
at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

, formerly at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre in

Fitzroy, Victoria Fitzroy is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Fitzroy recorded a population of 10,431 at the 2021 census. Pl ...

, Australia, as well as the Professor of Alcohol Policy Research at the School of Population Health of the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, since March 2006. He is also a professor at the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

Education

Room received his B.A. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in English in 1960, and his two M.A.'s (the first in English, the second in sociology) from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1962 and 1967, respectively. He later received his PhD in sociology from Berkeley in 1978.

Career

Room began working at the National Alcohol Research Centre in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

in 1963 and remained there until 1991. He became the centre's scientific director in 1977. From 1991 to 1998, he worked at the Addiction Research Foundation in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, as their vice president for research. In 1999, he was appointed professor and founding director of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at

, where he is still a professor as of December 2010. In 2006, he joined both the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research and the University of Melbourne in 2006.

Research

Room's research pertains to alcohol, illegal drugs, and gambling behavior. For example, in a 2005 study, Room and his co-authors Thomas Babor and Jurgen Rehm found that about 4% of the

global burden of disease Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both ...

was attributable to alcohol consumption, about the same amount as tobacco consumption.

Editorial activities

Room is the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the peer-reviewed journal ''

Drug and Alcohol Review ''Drug and Alcohol Review'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research related to alcohol and drug-related problems. It is the official journal of the ''Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs''. It publishes seven ...

''.

Honors and awards

Room received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship from the

Drug Policy Alliance The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...

in 2015. He has also received the Jellinek Award for Alcohol Studies in 1983, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Section of the American Public Health Association in 2002, and the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Drug and Alcohol Endeavours in 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Room, Robin Gerald Walden Living people 1939 births Researchers in alcohol abuse Australian sociologists Princeton University alumni Academic journal editors University of Melbourne faculty Academic staff of Stockholm University