She is known nationally and internationally for her work on the assessment and treatment of addictions, particularly brief motivational interventions, the process of self-change, and assessment instruments including the Timeline Followback method. She is a Motivational Interviewing Trainer (MINT) and holds a Diplomate in Behavioral Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is on the editorial board of eight professional journals and is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association. She is past President of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy and is currently President of the Society of Clinical Psychology, American Psychological Association. She has received several awards including the Norman E. Zinberg Memorial Award from Harvard University, the Brady/Schuster Award for outstanding behavioral science research in psychopharmacology and substance abuse from the American Psychological Association Division 28, and the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy's Outstanding Service Award.

Her research has been supported by grants from several different federal agencies. She has had extensive consultation and training experience having given over 200 invited presentations and clinical workshops/institutes nationally and internationally. She has published over 250 articles and book chapters, and 6 books. Her two most recent books are (a) Promoting self-change: Implications for policy, prevention, and treatment (coauthored with H. Klingemann and others; Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 2001), and (b) Problem Drinkers: Guided Self-Change Treatment (coauthored with M. Sobell; Guilford Press: NY, 1993, 1996). What best characterizes her 30-year career is a blending of science and practice.