News Archive
November 2011
The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies presented Peter Monti, Director of Brown’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, its Addictive Behavior Lifetime Achievement Award in Toronto on November 12. Although Monti has published 235 papers and co-authored five books, he says the legacy he is most proud of is his work in training scores of young addiction researchers, some of whom were on hand to hear him speak at the conference. “I’ve been teaching here at Brown for 35 years — since 1976,” said the Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies. For the last 10 of those years, he has been the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health “T32” grant to train postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to top professorships and senior scientist positions. Monti won the ABCT’s Outstanding Training Program award in 1996 and the Research Society on Alcoholism Distinguished Researcher Award in 2006.
Dr. Chris Kahler was interviewed on the Rhode Island news show The Rhode Show to discuss the Great American Smokeout and research on smoking cessation being conducted at CAAS. Click here for the interview.
October 2011
Kate B. Carey has recently joined the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. She also holds an appointment as Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Program in Public Health. Click here for more details.
Jennifer Tidey is a Research Component Principal Investigator of a new NIDA-funded P50 Center grant entitled "Evaluating New Nicotine Standards for Cigarettes" (Eric Donny, Dorothy Hatsukami, Co-PIs). Total direct costs of Dr. Tidey's component, entitled "Very Low Nicotine Cigarettes in Smokers with Schizophrenia", are $766,570 for the period of 3/1/13 to 6/30/16. In addition, she is a co-investigator and site Principal Investigator of a second research component, entitled "Human Laboratory Evaluation of Very Low Nicotine Cigarettes", the total direct costs of which are $328,889 for the period 9/15/11 to 2/28/13.
Lynn Hernandez (Assistant Professor) has been appointed Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee in the Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Jennifer Tidey recently presented a talk entitled "Contingency Management for Smoking Reductions in Smokers with and without Schizophrenia" at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco-Europe in Antalya, Turkey.
Dr. Jordan Braciszewski, a second-year postdoctoral fellow at CAAS, has received this year's Reginald D. Archambault Award for Teaching Excellence. This is an award that recognizes, rewards, and promotes excellence in teaching in the Brown University summer programs. Each year, a recipient is selected based on the ability to influence, motivate and inspire students to learn, as well as for creativity and innovation in the development of curriculum and resources that promote student learning.
The class Jordan taught was called, "Community Psychology: Making A Difference in the World." In addition to receiving a citation from Continuing Education, Jordan will be featured on the Graduate School website and will a $1000.00 honorarium.
January 2011
CAAS post-doctoral fellow, Jordan Braciszewski, has been selected to receive the 2011 APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology, which honors a graduate student in psychology who has demonstrated exemplary performance in working with underserved populations. The award includes presentation of a plaque at the APA Awards Ceremony and an invited address during the 2011 Convention. Jordan will also be featured in the American Psychologist awards issue next year.
New Center Grant on Alcohol and HIV awarded to CAAS Researchers
The Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies was recently awarded a new 5-year Center Grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study the health effects of drinking among people with HIV and provide doctors, patients, and the national and international community with the latest guidance their results might suggest.
Newly named the Brown Alcohol Research Center on HIV (ARCH), the project will be organized to conduct research on the neurophysiological and behavioral aspects of HIV and alcohol. Two major projects are funded and a third is being funded separately. The total funding exceeds $10 million. These projects involve studying the effects of HIV and alcohol on brain structure and function, studying the effects of an intervention to reduce heavy drinking among HIV-infected men who have sex with men, and studying a brief intervention for alcohol and sexual risk in an Emergency Department. The Center will also fund a Biostatistics Core, a Virology Core, an Education Dissemination Component, and a minimum of four pilot studies.
Heading the Center are Peter Monti (Principal Investigator), Christopher Kahler (Scientific Director), Ronald Cohen, Suzanne Colby, Joseph Hogan, Kenneth Mayer, and Bharat Ramratnam. Other CAAS investigators involved in the ARCH include Nancy Barnett, Nadine Mastroleo, Don Operario, Daniel Squires, and Tara White.
November 2010
Dr. Tara White was recently interviewed by the Providence Business News on her work using fMRI to explore the neural basis of individual differences in people’s moods, emotions and vulnerability to substance abuse and addiction. Click here for the full interview.
The following presentations were made by CAAS faculty at the International Society of Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, Paris, France in September, 2010.
Jane Metrik, with CAAS co-authors Molly Magill, Damaris Rohsenow, John McGeary, Peter Monti, & Christopher Kahler presented a poster entitled: “Sexual risk behavior and heavy alcohol drinking among weekly marijuana users.”
John McGeary presented a talk entitled: “Genetic variation associates with hangover the morning after drinking to intoxication: Analyses of alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphisms.”
Peter Monti chaired a symposium entitled: “Implementation and outcomes of brief interventions in medical centers conducted in England, Poland, and the United States: Drinking, quality of life, and cost effectiveness.” In the symposium Dr. Monti presented: “Six and twelve month outcomes of brief alcohol interventions in Trauma and Emergency Departments,” and Nancy Barnett served as a discussant.
Robert Swift presented “Ethanol’s stimulant effects and sensitization in humans: Clinical relevance,” in the symposium: “Ethanol sensitization: Thirty years of research into its mechanisms and contributions to alcohol use disorders.”
Damaris Rohsenow co-organized a symposium entitled: “Hangover and other residual alcohol effects: predictors and consequences.” In the symposium Dr. Rohsenow presented “Hangover sensitivity in college does not predict transition to post-college drinking.” She also presented “Residual effects of Intoxication on brain activity during psychomotor vigilance task performance: fMRI results,” and was co-author of other talks entitled: “Hangover sensitivity predicts residual alcohol effects on attention reaction time,” and “Genetic variation associates with hangover the morning after drinking to intoxication: Analyses of alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphisms.”
Damaris Rohsenow, with CAAS co-authors John McGeary, Jennifer Tidey, Rosemarie Martin, Robert Swift, Robert Miranda, & Peter Monti, presented a poster entitled: “Effects of ondansetron and naltrexone on craving and mood before and after drinking are moderated by family history and DRD4 VNTR,” and was co-author on a poster entitled: “The effects of caffeinated alcohol on attention/reaction time.”
April 2010
Congratulations to Kat Story, a Research Assistant on Project STOP, and Jess Emerson, the Senior Research Assistant on Project STOP, who recently presented their research at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT). SRNT is an international research organization that truly values excellence in research, and it is a great accomplishment to have presented there. Here are the citations for their presentations:
Story, K. Gwaltney, C.J., Kahler, C.W., & Colby, S. M. (2010). Stroop effect predicts outcome in adolescent smoking cessation. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco, Baltimore, Maryland.
Emerson, J.E., Gwaltney, C.J., Colby, S.M., Kahler, C.W. (2010). Using social cognitive concepts to predict adolescent smoking cessation. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco, Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Kristina Jackson gave a presentation, “Developmental Trajectories of Smoking as a Promising Phenotype in Tobacco Research,” at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco’s pre-conference workshop, New Frontiers in Measurement: Phenotypes, Endophenotypes, and Envirotypes for Genetic and Behavioral Studies of Nicotine Dependence, which was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
February 2010
Dr. Suzanne Colby was elected by the North American members of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) to serve as North American Member Delegate. In this role, she will serve on the SRNT Board of Directors for a 3-year term.
January 2010
Congratulations to Molly Magill, Ph.D., who was recently appointed as Assistant Professor (Research) at the Center.
Congratulations to Nichea Spillane, Ph.D., who was recently appointed as Assistant Professor (Research) at the Center.
Damaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies and Professor (Research) of Community Health, received considerable international and national media attention for a study on hangover she conducted in collaboration with Prof. Jonathan Howland of Boston University. Please click here for details.
Jane Metrik, Ph.D., has received an R03 grant from NIDA in the amount of $300,000 total direct costs for "Genetic variation and marijuana's pharmacologic and cue-elicited effects" for the period of 9/15/09-08/31/11.
September 2009
Tara White, Ph.D. has received a developmental award from Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) in the amount of $40,000 direct costs for "Imaging Functional Alcohol Effects in HIV" for the period of 7/1/09 to 6/30/11.
Tara White, Ph.D. was invited to present "Real-time fMRI-Based Training: Individual Differences as Leverage not Noise" at the Real-Time fMRI-Based Training Summit 2009 in Menlo Park, CA on June 18, 2009.
August 2009
Brian Borsari, Ph.D. has received a grant from NIAAA in the amount of $995,189 total direct costs for "Within-session Mechanisms of Behavior Change in At-Risk College Students" for the period of 8/1/09 to 6/20/13.
Christopher Kahler, Ph.D. has received a grant from NIAAA in the amount of $2,000,805 total direct costs for "Naltrexone for At-Risk and Problem Drinking in Smoking Cessation Treatment" for the period of 6/20/09 to 3/31/14.
Jennifer Tidey, Ph.D. has received an R21 grant from NIDA in the amount of $444,750 for “Smoking abstinence and lapse effects in smokers with schizophrenia and controls” for the period of 6/1/09 to 5/31/11.
July 2009
Congratulations to Christopher Kahler, Ph.D. who was recently promoted to Professor (Research) in the Department of Community Health.
Congratulations to Bettina Hoeppner, Ph.D. who was awarded the Gordis award for her presentation “Daily College Student Drinking Patterns Across the First Year of College” at the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Diego, CA.
Congratulations to Jennifer Tidey, Ph.D. who was recently promoted to Associate Professor (Research) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.
March 2009
Damaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies and Professor (Research) of Community Health, was awarded a 7-year Senior Research Career Scientist award from the Department of Veterans Affairs to start April 1, 2009.
December 2008
Nancy Barnett, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Research), has received a grant from NIAAA for "Contingency Management for Alcohol Abuse Using Transdermal Alcohol Detection" for the period of 9/15/2008 to 8/31/2010 for $262,500 total direct costs.
Don Operario, Ph.D., Associate Professor, gave a presentation in Moscow on the 2008 UN Human Development Report, for which he is the lead author, at a national press conference including meetings with officials from the UN and other international aid groups. The title of this UNHDR is 'Living with HIV in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States'. The full report is available on the UNDP website.
Anthony Spirito, Ph.D., Professor, has received a grant from NIAAA for "Effects of the Family Check Up on Adolescents with Alcohol-Related Events and their Siblings" as well as a grant from NIDA for "Substance Use Prevention Program for Preadolescents with Psychiatric Disorders."
November 2008
Kristina Jackson, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Research), has received a grant from NIAAA for "Initiation and Progression through Early Drinking Milestones in Underage Drinkers" for the period of 10/1/2008 to 9/30/2013.
October 2008
Peter M. Monti, Ph.D., Professor of Medical Science and Director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, has been named Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies. This honor is bestowed upon Dr. Monti in recognition of his national and international standing in the addictions field, his success as a teacher and mentor, and his service to Brown and the community.
September 2008
The Center for Alcohol & Addiction Studies is proud to announce the launch of
a new distance learning program that will provide addiction treatment providers,
counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and physicians with access to
continuing education courses covering a range of topics relating to advances in
addiction treatment and prevention. For a complete listing of current courses,
as well as additional information about the program,
please go to: http://www.browndlp.org or call 1-401-863-6606.
2008-2009 CAAS Fellows
1st yr. Fellows
Yael Chatav
Nadine Mastroleo
Nichea Spillane
2nd yr. Fellows
Christy Capone
Travis Cook
John Hayes
Lynn Hernandez
Bettina Hoeppner
Adam Leventhal
Molly Magill
Kristen Stone
3rd yr. Fellows
John Hustad
Leila Tarokh
August 2008
Research Achievement Awards are awarded to CAAS staff for travel expenses up to $1000 to present at a conference.
Awardees for 2008:
Andrea Grenga
PI: George Kenna
“Matching 5-HT Genotypes to Serotonergic Medications for Alcoholism”
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, March, 2008.
Russell Chaput
PI: Anthony Spirito
“Aggression, Conduct Problems and Deviant Peer Affiliation: Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use among an Inpatient Adolescent Population”
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, May, 2008.
Amy Adolfo
PI: Jennifer Tidey
“Smoking Cues Increase Caffeine Urges in Outpatients with Schizophrenia”
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, June, 2008.
July 2008
Don Operario, Ph.D., will be joining the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies and the Department of Community Health in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section as an Associate Professor of Medical Science. Dr. Operario’s research addresses the social context of HIV/AIDS transmission and the experiences associated with social inequality.
Damaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., has been awarded a grant titled, “Varenicline and Motivational Advice for Smokers with SUD”, from NIDA for $2,241,000 in total direct costs. Co-Investigators are Drs. Tidey, Martin, Monti, and Swift.
Damaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., has been awarded a grant titled, “Contingent Vouchers for Smoking in Substance Abusers as Adjunct to Nicotine Patch”, from NIDA for $1,914,600 in total direct costs. Co-Investigators are Drs Martin, Tidey, Monti, and McGeary.
Damaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., has been awarded a training grant titled “Substance Abuse Intervention Outcome Research Training” from NIDA for $1,027,850 in total direct costs. This will allow five years of postdoctoral research training in the conduct of intervention research. Co-Directors are Drs. Spirito and Monti.
June 2008
Congratulations to Kristina Jackson, Ph.D., who was recently promoted to Associate Professor (Research) in the Department of Community Health.
April 2008
Christopher Kahler, Ph.D., has received a grant of $1,221,901 total direct costs from the NIAAA for "Mechanisms Linking Alcohol Use and Smoking Relapse Risk" for the period of 4/1/08-3/31/12.
Congratulations to James MacKillop, Ph.D., who was recently appointed as Assistant Professor (Research) at the Center.
Tara White, Ph.D., has been awarded a grant from the NIDA for "Project I.D.E.A.: Imaging Drug Effects on Activation."
March 2008
Research Achievement AwardsStaff members working in the CAAS are eligible for Research Achievement Awards to offset the expense of attending a national conference to present research findings derived from Center grants. Congratulations to Russell Chaput for receiving an award to present “Aggression, Conduct Problems and Deviant Peer Affiliation: Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use among an Inpatient Adolescent Population” at the American Psychological Society meeting in May; to Andrea Grenga to present “Matching 5-HT Genotypes to Serotonergic Medications for Alcoholism” to Eastern Psychological Association in March; and to Amy Adolfo to present “Smoking Cues Increase Caffeine Urges in Outpatients with Schizophrenia” to the meeting of the College on Problems in Drug Dependence in June.
Other NewsDamaris Rohsenow, Ph.D., was selected to serve on the VA Research Career Scientist Program Advisory Panel meeting in Washington, D.C. She Also was selected to be a reviewer for National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, and to have her Cocaine-Specific Coping Skills Training approach considered for inclusion in this program.
October 2007
Brian Borsari, Ph.D., was awarded the 2007 Early Career Research Award by the Addictive Behaviors Special Interest Group (Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).
September 2007
CAAS Welcomes 1st year Postdoctoral Fellows!NIAAA
Christy Capone, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island.
Travis Cook, received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Experimental Psychopathology from San Diego State University/University of California – San Diego.
John Hayes, received his Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Connecticut.
Bettina Hoeppner, received her Ph.D. in Behavioral Science from the University of Rhode Island.
Molly Magill, received her Ph.D. in Social Work Research from Boston College.
Lara Ray, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado and is a former Brown Intern.
Lynn Hernandez, received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Florida International University.
Adam Leventhal, received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston and is a former Brown Intern.
Kristen Stone, received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Memphis and is a former Brown Intern.
Christina Lee, Assistant Professor, Community Health
Alicia Justus, Assistant Professor, Community Health
George Kenna, Assistant Professor, DPHB
Jane Metrik, Assistant Professor, Community Health
Daniel Squires, Assistant Professor, Community Health
Tara White, Assistant Professor, Community Health
Nancy Barnett, promoted to Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Dan Squires, Ph.D., assistant professor of community health (research), received a renewal of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England (ATTC-NE) grant of $2,500,000 for 2007-2012 from SAMHSA.
July 2007
Chad Gwaltney, Ph.D., assistant professor of community health (research), received $356,907 for "Ecological Momentary Assessment of Adolescent Smoking Cessation" from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to run from April 2007 to March 2008. Suzanne Colby, Ph.D., and Christopher Kahler, Ph.D., are co-investigators.
Peter M. Monti, Ph.D., CAAS director, has been elected Vice President (President elect) of the Research Society on Alcoholism.
Peter M. Monti, Ph.D., has recently been appointed to the NIH National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Robert Swift, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and human behavior and a member of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, served as chair of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network renewal Study Section in March. He was an invited speaker on Bridging Research and Clinical Knowledge in Alcohol Dependence Treatment at the Harvard/Children's Hospital Adolescent Substance Abuse Program in April.