Johannes Thrul
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drjthrul.bsky.social
Johannes Thrul
@drjthrul.bsky.social
1.1K followers 430 following 85 posts
mHealth and substance use research, Associate Prof, @JohnsHopkinsDMH, @JohnsHopkinsSPH, immigrant 🇩🇪 ➡️ 🇺🇸
thrulresearchlab.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/3 I was recently interviewed by @NPR about alcohol and health:
www.npr.org/2025/12/08/n...
@johnshopkinssph.bsky.social
@dmh-bsph.bsky.social
Does one drink make you dizzy? Why alcohol hits us harder as we age
For many people, the holidays mean more parties and more occasions to drink. But if you've noticed that one cocktail hits you harder than it used to, there's a scientific reason to explain it.
www.npr.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:59 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/3 Cannabis rescheduling from Schedule I to III is a major federal policy shift that acknowledges medicinal use and lowers barriers to research and clinical study.
December 18, 2025 at 8:54 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/3 Technology is a critical determinant of population health and is shaping sleep, social connection, and identity formation at a massive scale.

Several colleagues and I contributed to this BSPH Magazine article on technology and mental health:
magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/mental-...
Mental Health in the Scroll Age | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine
What is digital life doing to young minds?
magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu
December 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/4 New publications from our team on just-in-time mobile interventions
Smartphones offer a way to deliver high-quality support when people actually need it: Applied here at the moment they feel an urge to smoke.
November 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/2 Wonderful news and proud mentor moment: My first-ever PhD student and former mentee, Dr. Courtney Nordeck, received her first R01! Congrats @cdnordeck.bsky.social!
Securing this level of funding is a massive validation of grit, resilience, and scientific vision.
November 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/5 Important new work on cannabis and alcohol substitution. I got to weigh in on these results for @nytimes.com
Link to original paper: psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...
Link to NYT article: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/w...
Acute Effects of Cannabis on Alcohol Craving and Consumption: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial | American Journal of Psychiatry
Objective:Cannabis use is strongly linked with heavy drinking and worse alcohol treatment outcomes; however, it may also contribute to decreased alcohol consumption. To date, no human studies have est...
psychiatryonline.org
November 20, 2025 at 2:12 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
It was a pleasure talking to @publichealthpod.bsky.social about the health effects of alcohol, especially the cancer risk. Thanks for having me on the podcast!
@dmh-bsph.bsky.social @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social
publichealthpod.bsky.social Public Health On Call Podcast @publichealthpod.bsky.social · Nov 17
Updated research unravels claims about alcohol’s potential health benefits and links drinking at any amount with increased cancer risk.

@drjthrul.bsky.social shares how these findings can help people make their own decisions about drinking.

podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/977-the-heal...
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Johannes Thrul
jhsph-cmap.bsky.social
We spoke with @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social's Dr. Johannes Thrul to better understand his groundbreaking research into cannabis use. This MPI work w/ Dr. Ryan Vandrey is shaping the future of addiction science and public health.

🔗 Read the full story: bit.ly/46DOu66
October 16, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Johannes Thrul
jsadjournal.bsky.social
Text Messaging Intervention for Postpartum Alcohol Use: Micro-Randomized Trial Supports Feasibility, Acceptability ... (just accepted in @jsadjournal.bsky.social)
@johnshopkinssph.bsky.social @janardan.bsky.social @drjthrul.bsky.social @capraustralia.bsky.social
www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Text Messaging Intervention for Postpartum Alcohol Use: Micro-Randomized Trial Supports Feasibility, Acceptability, and Maternal Message Preference: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs: Vol 0, No ...
Objective: This pilot micro-randomized trial (MRT) evaluated feasibility of the MRT design and compared acceptability and preliminary impacts of drinking-focused and maternal-focused text messages to ...
www.jsad.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:27 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
When do people with chronic pain crave opioids or cannabis most?

Our new study in DAD followed patients for 30 days using real-time surveys.

🔹 Craving ↑ on co-use days
🔹 Pain catastrophizing was strongest predictor
🔹 ~⅓ reported little/no craving

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lj4z1LiD3...
September 4, 2025 at 1:32 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
New paper in @ecp-editor.bsky.social: Trials on cannabis for chronic pain often miss what matters most to patients: sleep, coping, function, opioid substitution. Time to look beyond pain scores. 👉 doi.org/10.1037/pha0...

@dmh-bsph.bsky.social @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social
August 29, 2025 at 8:27 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
Recent Gallup poll numbers on drinking in America show historic lows. I spoke with @nytimes.com about potential reasons incl changes in social norms, harm perceptions, and cannabis.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/w...

@johnshopkinssph.bsky.social @dmh-bsph.bsky.social
U.S. Drinking Drops to New Low, Poll Finds
www.nytimes.com
August 14, 2025 at 9:40 AM
drjthrul.bsky.social
📢 Participants Needed!
Work from home & office?
Join a Johns Hopkins study on work environments & well-being.
🏷️ Earn a $120 gift card
📩 homeworkproject@jh.edu | 📱 410-575-4631

Please share widely!
@johnshopkinssph.bsky.social @jhpoecenter.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 2:30 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/ Our new study in BMC Public Health examines stakeholder perspectives on digital wellbeing in Saudi Arabia.
Findings point to high screen time, concerns about health impacts, and strong support for education-based interventions.
🧾 doi.org/10.1186/s128...
July 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/3 Had a great time at my first @researchmj.bsky.social meeting in Detroit. Fantastic science & welcoming community. Highly recommend for anyone in the cannabis research space.

We shared our work using LLMs + NLP to extract structured data from EMRs.
July 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/5 New paper on medicinal cannabis: We followed adults with clinically significant anxiety & depression who were new to medicinal cannabis using 8 weeks of EMA and 6 months of longitudinal follow up and saw significant and clinically meaningful benefits.
authors.elsevier.com/c/1lQBfbXYiy...
July 14, 2025 at 3:18 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/2 Cannabis researchers: We’ve developed new instruments to help standardize self-reported cannabis data.
- Cannabis Use Questionnaire (CUQ)
- Core Assessment Battery on Cannabis (CABC)
Both are free to download (Qualtrics, REDCap):
www.cannabisandhealth.org
Cannabis and Health Research Initiative (CHRI)
A platform of data collection and dissemination focused on the health outcomes of therapeutic cannabis use at the patient level.
www.cannabisandhealth.org
July 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/4 🚭 New from our lab in BMC Public Health!
We tested 124 digital smoking cessation messages with over 300 young adults who smoke. Acceptance- and distraction-based messages were rated similarly overall, with some but key differences by sociodemographics.
doi.org/10.1186/s128...
Smoking cessation message testing to inform app-based interventions for young adults – an online experiment - BMC Public Health
Background To improve the efficacy of digital smoking cessation interventions for young adults, intervention messages need to be acceptable and appropriate for this population. The current study compa...
doi.org
May 21, 2025 at 2:35 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
Excited to have this paper out in @apsad-dar.bsky.social: We collected EMA data on drinking in the postpartum period and found that maternal self-efficacy may be a more relevant intervention target than drinking self-efficacy.
May 15, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Johannes Thrul
publichealthpod.bsky.social
What are Zyn nicotine pouches and how can they impact health?

@meghannnn.bsky.social and @drjthrul.bsky.social explains how they work, how they’re marketed, and what we know—and don’t yet know—about their long-term health effects.

Listen now: podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/889-zyn-nico...
Promo graphic for episode 889 of Public Health On Call podcast, titled Zyn Nicotine Pouches.
May 8, 2025 at 4:37 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
Do you want to capture health behavior as it happens? My summer institute on EMA is coming up at the end of this month. Spots are limited - don't miss out! @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social @dmh-bsph.bsky.social
drjthrul.bsky.social Johannes Thrul @drjthrul.bsky.social · Apr 24
1/2 ✨Join me at the end of May on Zoom for my Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Summer Institute! Learn to design and conduct studies with real-time data collection in everyday life. Gain hands-on experience with EMA study setup. 📱🧠
🗓️ May 28-29 📍Zoom
publichealth.jhu.edu/course/42016
May 7, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Johannes Thrul
dmh-bsph.bsky.social
“The fact that alcohol causes cancer is not widely known in the U.S.,” says Johannes Thrul, associate professor in the Department of Mental Health. Learn more about the effort to add warning labels to alcoholic beverages. magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/why-alc...
Why Alcohol Needs a Cancer Warning Label | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine
Less than half of Americans know that they’re increasing their cancer risk by drinking alcohol. Updated warning labels could help raise awareness.
magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu
May 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/2 📢 Most Americans don’t know that drinking alcohol causes cancer, and current warning labels aren’t addressing this issue. I spoke with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Magazine about why it’s time for stronger, clearer labels that inform and protect consumers.
May 2, 2025 at 3:30 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/2 A few weeks ago Meghan Moran and I joined @publichealthpod.bsky.social to talk about ZYN oral nicotine pouches: their rise in popularity, potential health risks, and why researchers are paying close attention. 📢
Episode now live: johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com/889-zyn-nico...
Public Health On Call: 889 - Zyn Nicotine Pouches
About this episode: Zyn nicotine pouches are suddenly everywhere. What are they and how can they impact health? In this episode: A look at the popular products, what they are and how they work, how th...
johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com
May 1, 2025 at 5:09 PM
drjthrul.bsky.social
1/2 ✨Join me at the end of May on Zoom for my Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Summer Institute! Learn to design and conduct studies with real-time data collection in everyday life. Gain hands-on experience with EMA study setup. 📱🧠
🗓️ May 28-29 📍Zoom
publichealth.jhu.edu/course/42016
April 24, 2025 at 2:50 PM