After graduating Yale in 1991 with degrees in English and mathematics, Dr. Primack received his master's degree from Harvard in education, psychology, and human development. He attended Emory University School of Medicine on a full academic scholarship and pursued medical residency in Family Medicine. He then leveraged career development awards from the National Cancer Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to obtain the MS and PhD degrees in clinical and translational science.

He then developed and founded the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, focusing on (1) understanding both positive and negative effects of media and technology on health outcomes; and (2) developing, implementing, and testing interventions to increase positive and buffer negative influences of media and technology on health. He has been PI on multiple R01 and R21 awards from NCI, NIDA, and AHRQ. He has also been Co-I on grants from NICHD, NIAAA, NHLBI, and NIMHD. The diversity of the source of these awards testifies to his multifaceted research interests, penchant for collaboration, and passion for bridging disciplines.

One area of concentrated scholarship examines associations between social media use and mental health outcomes. His 2017 manuscript in this area was named the #1 article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and he was featured in the NIH Director's Blog for this work. Dr. Primack has also studied the role for media literacy education to improve health outcomes. Finally, his work on adolescent transitions from electronic to traditional cigarettes has influenced national and international policy.

His work has been published in a wide variety of leading peer-reviewed journals in public health, medicine, and social science, and this research has been cited in leading international news sources including the New York Times, the BBC, NPR’s Here and Now and All Things Considered and the Today Show.