James MacKillop is Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, University of Georgia and Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University. Dr MacKillop's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Alcoholic Medical Research Foundation, among other granting agencies, and he has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in this area.

Harriet de Wit is Professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago. Dr de Wit has published over 200 empirical papers and is an editor of the journals Psychopharmacology and Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.