Bartley G. Hoebel was best known for his seminal research on animal models to study Food Addiction. His research on sugar addiction in rats “generated worldwide attention for its possible public health applications,” according to his obituary published by Princeton, where was a professor of psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, when he died at age 76 in 2011.
“The work Bart produced has been influential on many other scientists,” said Nicole Avena, who earned her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience in 2006 under Hoebel’s mentorship and collaborated with him through 2010. “His studies on food addiction led to … a novel approach to studying the obesity epidemic.” Avena, herself a leading researcher and author of “Why Diets Fail, Because You’re Addicted to Sugar,” and “Sugar Less,” among others.
Hoebel, who joined the Princeton faculty in 1963, had been interested in the brain mechanisms that control appetite and body weight since he was an undergraduate at Harvard University studying with the renowned behaviorist B.F. Skinner, his obituary said.
Read an interview with Bart Hoebel.
