Q&A: 6 Questions with Rich Yi

Tell us about your role at the Life Span Institute. 

I am the director and an investigator with the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment. Within the director role, I support addictions-relevant research, training and education, and outreach at KU, in whatever form that takes. Most typically, that means identifying opportunities and leveraging the resources of the Cofrin Logan Center to support the professional growth and impact of research by investigators, staff, and students affiliated with the Cofrin Logan Center.  

Within the investigator role, I study decision-making and its relevance for health relevant behaviors, and in particular substance use and misuse. Specifically, I explore factors associated with whether we behave in ways that are more aligned with less healthy, short-term interests or more healthy, long-term interests. I am also interested in developing approaches that support decision making aligned with healthy, long-term interests. 

What are you most proud of in your work? 

The opportunities to support the professional and scientific growth of colleagues, students, and staff is the most rewarding part of my work. To that end, I feel a great sense of pride whenever I am able to play any part in supporting the success of colleagues and trainees.  

For my research, I like that it doesn’t follow a single thread, but borrows from and incorporates ideas from different disciplines. I've been fortunate to have mentors and collaborative partners who have backgrounds in psychology, behavior analysis, pharmacology, neuroscience, economics, engineering, and philosophy. So without doing it intentionally, I am finding multiple disciplinary perspectives sprinkled into ideas that I explore. 

What prepared you to do this work? 

It is a combination of my academic training from college, graduate school, and post-doctoral fellowships, as well as my personal experiences and perspectives. But what is personal is what I'd like to emphasize. While I gained the technical skills and knowledge to conduct research by obtaining training in a formal educational environment, it is the impact of my personal experiences and perspectives that makes my research different than that of others who do similar work. So I think it was, and continues to be, important to be open to new perspectives and experiences that complement the technical training. 

What is unexpected or misunderstood about what you do? 

Many people think, and use language implying, that behaviors like substance misuse are irrational. But when we see it in such high rates in society, and in such systematic conditions, and among individuals who are not “irrational” in other contexts, I think it is difficult to argue that substance misuse is irrational.  

Who do you hope is helped through your work? 

I’m of the opinion that addiction is a symptom of broad societal challenges that impede the best in human potential. So big picture, I’d like societal views about addiction to shift: to address the circumstances under which myopic, health-compromising behaviors occur, and enhance widespread access to resources that support human flourishing. If we want to address problems related to addiction, we need to address broader issues like economic inequality and the resulting disparity in access to resources and environments that support well-being. 

Who are you when you’re at home? 

Most of my time away from work is spent in the orbit of my tweenage children, shuttling them between extracurricular activities. I particularly enjoy watching them play in team sports. It can be really rewarding to watch as they (hopefully) gain takeaways that will be relevant for adult life: discipline and effort, learning how to win humbly and lose graciously, resiliency, accountability to self and others, and teamwork. I already enjoy watching lots of sports on TV, so getting to watch them from the sidelines merges my favorite things.