Welcome Letters - Edward Nunes, MD

Dear Fellow Participants,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to NIDA's 2002 Blending conference on behalf of New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, and the Long Island Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network.

The Clinical Trials Network was established by NIDA, under the visionary leadership of Dr. Alan Leshner, to bridge the gap between treatment and research. In the field of addictions, treatment and research were each taking place too much in isolation from one another. Advances in treatment methods were being developed and tested in specialized research clinics and laboratories with funding from NIH institutes such as NIDA. But these methods were not finding their way into routine practice, and the field was not benefiting from the new knowledge. At the same time, many of our dominant treatment paradigms, as well as many new innovative ideas, have come from the field -- from clinicians working with patients and getting a feel for what works, trying new things out, and making astute serendipitous observations. Such new ideas should be the lifeblood of research. But how do they find their way into carefully designed research in order to confirm their effectiveness and understand their mechanism of action? Too often in our field they have not.

The Clinical Trials Network was launched to begin to bring researchers and community treatment providers together to work jointly on the develpoment and testing of new treatments. But of course this is only a beginning. The Blending Conferences are another important initiative in the service of this goal, and we are all about to participate in the second of what is hoped will become a long and fruitful series.

I hope that over the two days of the Conference we can come together in the spirit of discovery, share ideas, and come away with renewed energy to push the confines of our knowledge and practice. This is not meant to be a passive experience. Each of the Workshops has been crafted by its presenters to elicit discussion and imput from all participants. It is hoped that the conference will mark the beginning of an ongoing blending process. So please bring your ideas and questions to the table, and help make the New York Blending Conerence a success.

Sincerely,

Edward Nunes MD
Associate Professor and Research Psychiatrist
Principal Investigator, Long Island Node
National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network