Saturday, December 21, 2024
12/21/2024
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This K24 midcareer research and mentoring program aims to provide the candidate with protected time from direct patient care to conduct patient-oriented research (POR) on adolescent alcohol misuse and to mentor early-career clinical investigators in translational research in addiction science. To meet the challenge of advancing treatment options for the millions of American youth who struggle to reduce their alcohol use, the field requires highly trained researchers who can integrate cutting-edge concepts and methods from a variety of areas. As our understanding of addiction has become more complex, so too has the training needs of early- career scientists. For more than two decades, the candidate has built a productive and continuously funded POR program that translates theory-driven hypotheses from preclinical and human laboratory research to real world applications. The proposed integrated plan will facilitate the candidate’s ability to mentor early-career clinical investigators in POR and augment his capabilities as an independent clinician scientist. The research plan, which focuses on improving treatment options for adolescent alcohol misuse through digital health, dovetails the mentoring goals by providing a vehicle for mentoring early career scientists in: i) mechanisms of alcohol use disorder pathogenesis and treatment effects, ii) clinical trial methods, iii) ecological momentary assessment approaches, and iv) training in the responsible conduct of research. The candidate’s goal is to further develop and refine an experimental therapeutics approach that yields high quality information to inform decisions about whether further development of novel treatments is warranted. This K24 will support the collection of pilot data for an integrative digital health platform based on gold standard psychosocial interventions for treating AUD among adolescents. Adolescence is a critical period for the pathogenesis of AUD. Alcohol use typically begins during adolescence and prevalence rates for AUD peak before age 21. Yet, despite clinical demand, AUD treatments for youth rely on psychosocial interventions that yield only modest benefits. One potential way to improve adolescent alcohol treatment is to augment the best available psychosocial interventions with innovative digital health solutions.
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