Robin Room

{{short description|Australian sociologist and researcher (born 1939)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Robin Gerald Walden Room | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1939|12|28}} | birth_place = Australia | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Public health, health effects of legal and illegal drugs, sociology | workplaces = Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Stockholm University | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley. | thesis_title = Governing images of alcohol and drug problems: the structure, sources, and sequels of conceptualizations of intractable problems | thesis_url =https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15030937 | thesis_year = 1978 | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Jellinek Award (co-winner, 1983), Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Drug and Alcohol Endeavours (2012) | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|http://www.robinroom.net/}} | footnotes = }} '''Robin Gerald Walden Room''' (born 28 December 1939)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tf09BCmodB0C |title=Q-S |publisher=Gale Group |year=2005 |page=302|isbn=9780787673987 }}</ref> is an Australian sociologist and researcher who studies the health effects of alcohol and other drugs. From 2015 - 2017 he was the director of the [https://www.latrobe.edu.au/research/centres/health/capr Centre for Alcohol Policy Research] at La Trobe University, formerly at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, as well as the Professor of Alcohol Policy Research at the School of Population Health of the University of Melbourne, since March 2006.<ref name=capr>{{cite web | url=http://www.capr.edu.au/about-us/our-people/professor-robin-room/ | title=Professor Robin Room | work=CAPR | accessdate=26 December 2015}}</ref> Room is currently Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at La Trobe University. He is also a professor at the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University.

==Education== Room received his B.A. from Princeton University in English in 1960, and his two M.A.'s (the first in English, the second in sociology) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962 and 1967, respectively. He later received his PhD in sociology from Berkeley in 1978.<ref name="cv">{{cite web | url=http://www.robinroom.net/CV.html | title=Curriculum Vitae | work=Robinroom.net | accessdate=26 December 2015}}</ref>

==Career== Room began working at the National Alcohol Research Centre in Berkeley, California in 1963 and remained there until 1991. He became the centre's scientific director in 1977.<ref name=capr/> From 1991 to 1998, he worked at the Addiction Research Foundation in Canada, as their vice president for research.<ref name=capr/> In 1999, he was appointed professor and founding director of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University,<ref name=capr/> where he is still a professor as of December 2010.<ref name=cv/> In 2006, he joined both the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research and the University of Melbourne in 2006.<ref name=official>{{cite web | url=http://www.robinroom.net/ | title=Robin Room website | accessdate=26 December 2015}}</ref>

==Research== Room's research pertains to alcohol, illegal drugs, and gambling behavior.<ref name=capr/> 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 was attributable to alcohol consumption, about the same amount as tobacco consumption.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Room|first1=Robin|last2=Babor|first2=Thomas|last3=Rehm|first3=Jürgen|title=Alcohol and public health|journal=The Lancet|date=February 2005|volume=365|issue=9458|pages=519–530|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)17870-2|pmid=15705462|pmc=5936368 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/study-alcohol-kills-as-many-as-tobacco | title=Study: Alcohol Kills as Many as Tobacco | work=Fox News | date=4 February 2005 | access-date=26 December 2015 | author=WebMD}}</ref>

==Editorial activities== Room is the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal ''Drug and Alcohol Review''.<ref name=capr/>

==Honors and awards== Room received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship from the Drug Policy Alliance in 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://idpc.net/alerts/2015/11/robin-room-wins-dpa-award-for-achievement-in-the-field-of-scholarship | title=Robin Room wins DPA award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship | work=International Drug Policy Consortium | date=13 November 2015 | accessdate=26 December 2015}}</ref> He has also received the Jellinek Award for Alcohol Studies in 1983,<ref name=cv/> the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Section of the American Public Health Association in 2002,<ref name=official/> and the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Drug and Alcohol Endeavours in 2012.<ref name=capr/> Robin Room was a founding member and the inaugural President of the International [http://www.kettilbruun.org Kettil Bruun Society] <ref>Room, Robin. "The Kettil Bruun Society: an international forum for social and epidemiological research on alcohol." Addiction 94, no. 11 (1999): 1621.</ref> and was established as Honorary President in recognition of his service in 2011.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Scholia}} *{{Official website|robinroom.net}} *{{Google Scholar id | Q_To21YAAAAJ }} {{Authority control}}

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