Leshner served as director of the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) from 1994 to 2001. One of the scientific institutes of the
U.S. National Institutes of Health, NIDA supports over 85 percent of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. Before becoming director of NIDA, Leshner was the deputy director and acting director of the
National Institute of Mental Health. He went to
NIMH from the
National Science Foundation (NSF), where he held a variety of senior positions, focusing on basic research in the biological, behavioral and social sciences, science policy and science education. Leshner has served on many non-profit boards and committees. Most recently he has been Chair of the Committee on Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Public Policy of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and Chair of the Health and Medicine Division Advisory Committee of the National Research Council. ==American Association for the Advancement of Science==