Meetings/Conferences

On February 10-11, 2003 NIDA sponsored a meeting entitled Stem Cells: Opportunities for Drug Abuse Research? The purpose of this meeting was to link drug abuse research to stem cell research; to explore the opportunities afforded by stem cell research; and to guide future NIDA research directions in this area of endeavor. The target audiences were developmental neuroscientists inside and outside NIH; neuroscientists in general, and drug abuse researchers with a particular interest in this line of work.

NIDA (Drs. Bill Corrigall, Frank Vocci) NCI (Dr. Scott Leischow) and NIAAA co-sponsored a one day pre-meeting workshop at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Meeting on February 19, 2003, entitled, "Smoking Cessation Pharmacotherapy: Accelerating Discovery to Delivery". Dr. Bill Corrigall chaired the Discovery of Targets section. Speakers in the discovery section included Drs. Caryn Lerman, Marina Picciotto, Julie Staley, and Daniel McGehee. Speakers in the Development of Medications section included Drs. John Hughes, Charles Grudzinskas, Paul Pentel, and Frank Vocci. The Delivery and Demand for Medications section was chaired by Dr. Scott Leischow. Speakers included Drs. Saul Schiffman, Sue Curry, Richard Hurt, and Scott Leischow.

On March 12, 2003, to commemorate Brain Awareness Week, NIH held a symposium entitled Stress and the Brain: Developmental, Neurobiological, and Clinical Implications. NIDA was the lead Institute coordinating this effort. The symposium highlighted basic and clinical scientific findings related to the various ways that stress can impact the brain, the body, and ultimately, peoples' lives. The speakers included NIDA Director Designee, Dr. Nora Volkow (Brookhaven National Laboratory), and Drs. Stephen Suomi (NICHD), Steven Maier (University of Colorado), Joseph LeDoux (New York University), and Kathleen Brady (Medical University of South Carolina). The topics of discussion were: environmental factors that impact addiction; the influence of early rearing on behavioral development; interactions between the immune system and the brain; the neurobiology of fear and emotion; and the role of trauma in mental health and substance abuse disorders.

On April 3-4, 2003 NIDA's Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research sponsored a conference entitled What Do Schools Really Think About Prevention Research? Blending Research and Reality in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting provided a forum for discussing the challenges inherent in both conducting prevention research and implementing research-based prevention programs in schools. Researchers, practitioners (e.g., school administrators, principals, teachers), and Federal agency representatives explored their differing perspectives on these issues. The agenda included individual and panel presentations, and interactive workgroups. Program attendees were encouraged to fully participate in the dialogue.

On April 14, 2003, a NIDA sponsored workshop on Smoking Cessation in Opioid Dependent Patients was held at the meeting of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, in Washington, D.C. The workshop provided information on: the prevalence of cigarette smoking among opiate dependent individuals in the U.S.; behavioral and/or pharmacological treatments for nicotine dependence in opiate dependent patients; and approaches to relapse prevention. This workshop was organized by Dr. Dorynne Czechowicz and Dr. Ivan Montoya, both of DTR&D.

The Services Research Branch of the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research co-sponsored a services research conference, entitled, Beyond the Clinic Walls: Expanding Mental Health, Drug & Alcohol Services Research Outside the Specialty Care System. Over 250 individuals participated in the conference, which included 4 preconference workshops, 30 oral presentations, and 60 posters. Co-sponsored by NIDA, NIMH, and NIAAA, it was the first multi-institute services research conference ever to be held by NIH, and, as such, represents a new commitment to collaborative efforts among these three institutes to strengthen the research base underlying care for addictions and mental health problems. Abstracts from the conference presentations will be published on the NIMH homepage (www.nimh.nih.gov).

On March 27-28, 2003, a workshop was held on Drug Use and Suicidal Behavior. The workshop covered the epidemiology of suicidal behavior associated with drug use in adults and adolescents, treatment of suicidal drug users, prevention of suicide in adults and adolescents, and genetic and neurobiological approaches to understanding suicidal behavior, impulsivity, and aggression. Participants identified research gaps and suggested both new studies and ways of adding components to existing studies that would further our understanding of drug abuse and suicidal behavior and improve our ability to prevent and treat suicidal behavior in drug using populations.

NIDA's Office of Science Policy and Communications sponsored an Advisory Panel meeting on April 29, 2003 for the Effectiveness of NIDA's Public Information Publications. The meeting brought together experts to review the overall research design and the individual study methodologies. Participants included: Dr. David Rosenbloom (Boston University), Nancy Petry (University of Connecticut), Tom Valente (University of Southern California), Carol Schechter (Academy for Educational Development) and Ednita Wright (Cornell University). NIDA staff included: Drs. Timothy Condon, Cindy Miner and Denise Pintello.

On May 14-15, 2003, NIDA hosted Foundations and Innovations in the Neuroscience of Addiction, a 2-Day scientific meeting in honor of Dr. Roger Brown. For more than 20 years, Roger was instrumental in fostering the development of cutting edge neuroscience research in the area of drug abuse and addiction. The programs he helped stimulate and develop have made seminal contributions to our current understanding of neurobiology substrates for reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse, the transition to compulsive, uncontrollable patterns of use, and events that trigger relapse. Nobel laureate Dr. Arvid Carlsson, with whom Roger studied, delivered the keynote address. Other senior scientists contributing to these landmark developments presented a historical context for major accomplishments in this field. In addition, presentations from over 20 prominent investigators studying motivation and reward, cognition, neurotoxicity, pain and analgesia, and neuroplasticity highlighted contemporary findings from cutting edge research in the neuroscience of drug abuse and addiction.

National CTN Steering Committee Meetings - Miami, FL
The following meetings were held in Miami, Florida, January 25-30, 2003.

• The CTN Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee conducted a meeting on January 29, 2003.
• The CTN Quality Assurance Subcommittee held a meeting on January 30, 2003.
• A Buprenorphine Interest Group Meeting was held to discuss a pending liver safety study proposed by a drug company.
• The CTP Caucus met on January 26, 2003. The group reviewed a list of study priorities generated by the CTPs and developed a nomination process for the Eileen Pencer Lecture Series to be held at NIDA's Blending Meeting in September 2003.
• The Portfolio Coordinating Committee met on January 27, 2003. Members addressed the evaluation of Wave 4 Lead Investigators (LI) and teams, and requested supporting materials from LIs.
• The Operations Coordinating Committee met on January 27, 2003, to review and approve the final LI Report template for the LI monthly reports to the OCC and the Report to SC template. The Committee also reviewed progress on the GCP Competency Course and the proposed CTN Guidebook.
• The External Affairs Coordinating Committee met on January 27, 2003. The members reviewed the findings from the Criminal Justice Interest Group's assessment of criminal justice clients undergoing treatment throughout the Network. The group discussed how the CTN can develop and support a cadre of new researchers and clinicians for future studies. The Dissemination Subcommittee reported on a planning meeting set for March 18-19, 2003 to discuss joint SAMSHA, CSAT, NIDA and CTN approaches.
• The Executive Committee met on January 26 and January 29, 2003. The committee addressed the following: a proposition for close-out meetings for protocols; node performance objectives and critical indicators; a draft of CTN By-Laws; a policy on Lead Investigator qualifications; and a proposal for a formal strategic plan for the CTN.
• Several other interest groups met in Miami at the Steering Committee Meeting including: Behavioral Therapy Interest Group (IG), Co-Occurring Disorders IG, Minority IG, Treatment Matching IG, and Gender IG.
• The Baseline Protocol (CTN 0008) leaders met with staff from the three new nodes and conducted a training session on the active protocol.
• The Family Management Skills Concept Team met in Miami and worked on drafting the first version of this new protocol.
• The Design and Analysis Workgroup met on January 26, 2003 to discuss outcome measures in addiction clinical trials; CONSORT guidelines; and lessons learned from the protocol reviews by D&A, PRB and DSMB.

National CTN Steering Committee Meetings - Albuquerque, NM
The CTN By-Laws were reviewed and approved by the entire Steering Committee.
The following meetings were held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 23-28, 2003.

• The CTN Training Subcommittee conducted a meeting March 26-27, 2003. The meeting focused on discussing new roles and responsibilities of the TSC, developing a strategic plan for the rest of the year, reviewing current SOPs, developing mechanisms for better communication between trainers, developing a mechanism for ongoing review and update of training materials and finalizing the content of a training tracking system through review of new Training Schedule Grid and an old Documentation & Evaluation system.
• A Buprenorphine Interest Group Meeting was held on March 23, 2003 to continue discussing a buprenorphine liver safety study proposed by a drug company.
• The Portfolio Coordinating Committee met on March 24, 2003. Members had made recommendations to the SC on March 5, 2003 with regards to the Wave 4 LI and Team qualifications. All teams were approved, with the stipulation that the more junior investigators had the full support and mentorship of their Node PIs. PCC also finalized the protocol development and review flowchart, and endorsed the protocol monitoring template for monitoring the progress and development of Wave 4 protocols towards NIDA approval.
• The Operations Coordinating Committee met on March 24, 2003, to review the progress and problems in the current CTN protocols and presented guidelines that will address slow LI response to protocol tasks with step-wise interventions.
• The External Affairs Coordinating Committee met on March 24, 2003. Two invited speakers gave presentations: Wilson Compton, Ph.D, Director of NIDA's DESPR, presented on the CJ-DATS program. Dr. Cecilia McNamara reviewed research on training community providers in behavioral treatments. Other topics included a summarization of dissemination activities, future publications, CTP access to data prior to publication, and an outside request for support from the Research Liaison Group.
• The Executive Committee met March 23, 25-26, 2003 while in New Mexico. The group considered the following: a joint liver safety study of buprenorphine with a drug company; UCLA IRB comments on the planned CTN 0003 buprenorphine study; NIH Roadmap for Action developed by NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D; CTN's research agenda; and the first draft of the CTN Strategic Plan.
• Several other interest groups met including: Behavioral Therapy Interest Group (IG), Co-Occurring Disorders IG, Minority IG, Gender IG, Smoking IG, Adolescent IG, Homelessness IG, and the Spirituality Research IG.
• The CTP Caucus met on March 23, 2003 for their first all day meeting.
• Three protocol groups held meetings to train staff or kick off their protocols: CTN 0012 (Infections Screening in Drug Abuse Treatment Programs), CTN 0015 (Women's Treatment for Trauma and Substance Use Disorders), and CTN 0021 (MET for Spanish Speakers).
• The Family Management Skills Concept Team met to continue working on drafting the first version of this new protocol.
• The Data Management and Analysis Subcommittee met on March 27-28, 2003 to discuss the possible centralization of data management activities and Data Management Centers performance evaluation. Other important topics included the review of a series of Lead Node guidelines, policies and reporting templates. There were also workgroup and breakout discussions of systems validation, external system review, the handling of missing data, logic language standardization, CONSORT reporting requirements, and a substantial new implementation of SOP/Guideline review and revision procedures.
• The Design and Analysis Workgroup met on March 23, 2003 to go over the presentations that will be made in June at the CPDD meeting and in July at the ISCB/SCT meeting.
• The Design and Analysis Workgroup met on March 26, 2003 to discuss how the CTN can capitalize on data on minority populations already collected by the CTN; possible alternative methods (other than urine test) for assessing drug use; and ways to shorten time to dissemination.
• The CTN LI workshop was conducted on March 27, 2003 and was well received and appreciated by CTN investigators. This workshop's focus was on protocol development. Dr. Lynda Powell gave an excellent presentation of Clinical Trial Methodology, particularly as applied to clinical trials involving behavioral interventions. CCTN staff gave presentations on all the essential components of a good protocol. The CCTN Guidance on Data and Safety Monitoring Plan, and details on Adverse Event Monitoring for CTN Trials, were also presented. A preview of what is needed for protocol implementation was also given.

NIDA was a cosponsor of the Dr. Lonnie E. Mitchell National HBCU Substance Abuse Research Conference held April 2-4, 2003 in Baltimore, MD. The conference theme was "Reaching Beyond Our Traditional Roles: A Call to Action for HBCU and the Faith Community." Dr. Lula Beatty, Chief of NIDA's Special Populations Office, participated as an expert panelist during the Town Hall meeting and as moderator of a session on NIDA's HBCU U24 Programs. Approximately 500 persons attended the Conference, about one third of whom were students.

NIDA was a sponsor of the First Annual Cyber Therapy Conference held January 19-21, 2003 in San Diego, California. This meeting focused on recent advances in the use of computer-human interfaces (e.g. virtual reality technologies, remote therapeutics) in the treatment of disease. Dr. David Thomas, DNBR, gave a presentation titled, "Progress and Opportunities in Virtual Reality Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse." Dr. Nathan Appel, DTR&D, made a presentation titled, "Funding Opportunities Available at NIDA."

NIDA's Women & Gender Research Group sponsored the symposium, Drug Abuse as a Gender Issue, at the American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) meeting, April 11-15, 2003 in San Diego, CA. The co-chairs were Linda P. Dwoskin, University of Kentucky and Kathleen M. Kantak, Boston University and the speakers were Suzette M. Evans, Columbia University, Marlene A. Wilson, Ph.D., University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Kathleen Brady, Medical University of South Carolina, Marilyn E. Carroll, University of Minnesota, Sharon Allen, University of Minnesota, and Nadia Chaudhri, University of Pittsburgh.

NIDA sponsored a Special Events Program at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting in Tampa, FL, April 24 - 27, 2003. This program included two components. The first was a "Career Opportunities Program," which featured a Mentoring Program, a poster and discussion hour focusing on child and adolescent research support at NIDA, and a NIDA Exhibit Booth. The second component featured 2 scientific symposia titled "Substance Use and Cycles of Youth Homelessness and Street Life: Antecedents, Epidemiology, and Transitions" and "Adolescent Decision Making and Drug Abuse." Members of the Child and Adolescent Workgroup that participated in the planning of the events and/or represented NIDA at the conference include Drs. Jessica Campbell, Kevin Conway, Aria Crump, Kathleen Etz, Teresa Levitin, Nicolette Borek, Anthony Salandy, and Vincent Smeriglio.

As part of the CCTN Classroom Series, on March 21, 2003, Dr. Richard Rawson, UCLA Department of Psychiatry, presented on "Outpatient Treatments for Substance Use Disorders: An Update".

The second workshop for Safety Monitoring in CTN Trials was held on March 17, 2003, in Bethesda, MD, including NIDA, NIAAA, and NIMH colleagues. The purpose was to discuss standards for safety monitoring in behavioral and medication clinical trials in the CTN and to share and collaborate with our partner institutes. Dr. Belinda Seto also presented an update on the NIH Roadmap for a more global NIH clinical enterprise.

The CTN Data and Safety Monitoring Board met April 24, 2003, in Bethesda, Maryland. The group reviewed 4 new protocols.

Dr. Timothy P. Condon, Associate Director, NIDA, presented "Why NIDA Supports the Parent Corps," at the Parent Corps Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 30, 2003.

Dr. Timothy P. Condon, Associate Director, presented "The Substance Abuse Factor: Putting Practice into Action," at the Grantmakers In Health's Annual Meeting on February 21, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Timothy P. Condon presented "Addiction as a Brain Disease: Implications for Drug Addiction Treatment," at the Region X American Society of Addiction Medicine Conference on Addiction on March 28, 2003 in Kissimmee, Florida.

On February 14, 2003, Dr. Cathrine Sasek, Acting Chief, SPB, OSPC, participated in a workshop at the AAAS meeting in Denver, Colorado on the development of NIDA's high school curriculum supplement, "The Brain, Understanding Neurobiology Through the Study of Addiction." Dr. Sasek presented an overview of NIDA's science education program, as well as a description of the process whereby the curriculum supplement was developed and how scientists can become more involved in science education.

On May 16, 2003, Dr. Cindy Miner and Sheryl Massaro, both of OSPC, participated in an award ceremony at Scholastic, Inc. headquarters in New York, to honor the winner of a nationwide poster contest Scholastic began in November 2002, featuring artwork and messages based on the information provided in articles highlighting NIDA science. The winning poster, from more than 1,000 entries, was from Ania Lisa Etienne of Mark Twain Public School in Brooklyn, NY. Ms. Etienne's poster relates to snorting cocaine, with the theme "You can't sniff away your sorrows." The poster will be professionally rendered and distributed to schools in November 2003.

Dr. Lula Beatty, Chief, Special Populations Office, was the keynote speaker at Career Day at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA on February 26, 2003.

Dr. Lula Beatty presented a session on minority and health disparities research at NIDA to the minority committee at the Clinical Trials Network meeting on January 25, 2003 in Miami, FL.

Dr. Lula Beatty was a speaker at a faculty development session in the School of Social Work, Florida International University on January 27, 2003 in Miami, FL.

Dr. Lula Beatty attended the Multicultural Summit on January 23-25, 2003 in Los Angeles, CA, where she participated in meetings of the Society on the Psychology of Women.

Dr. Lula Beatty presented a session on Funding Opportunities at NIH for a workshop for minority investigators sponsored by the NIH Office on AIDS Research on April 4, 2003 in Washington, DC.

Dr. Lula Beatty presented information on NIDA's programs to staff and faculty at Bowie State University on March 5, 2003 in Bowie, MD.

Dr. Lula Beatty was a keynote speaker at Hampton University's 25th Annual Conference on the Black Family on March 21, 2003 in Hampton, VA.

Dr. Betty Tai, Director, CCTN, presented CTN's experience in blending research and practice to the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Best Practices Conference in Austin, TX on February 20, 2003.

Dr. Betty Tai, Director, CCTN, led a workshop at the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) April 13-16, 2003 in Washington, DC, entitled, "Overview of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network."

Dr. Frank Vocci, Director, DTR&D, attended a 2-day Buprenorphine Consensus Meeting on March 7-8, 2003. The meeting was sponsored by The American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

Dr. Frank Vocci represented NIDA and spoke at a dinner sponsored by Reckitt-Benckiser Pharmaceuticals on March 16, 2003. The theme of the meeting was "History in the Making" and Dr. Vocci spoke about the treatment of narcotic dependence in the US from 1914 to 2002.

Dr. Frank Vocci gave a seminar at Purdue Pharma in Stamford, Connecticut on April 16, 2003, entitled, "Addiction is a Brain Disease: A Conceptual Framework from a Neural Systems Perspective".

Dr. Cece McNamara, DTR&D, presented a talk on NIDA's Behavioral Therapy Development Portfolio highlighting the Stage III portfolio relevant to therapist training as well as a discussion on the NIDA funding mechanisms to train clinicians in research methods at the CTN Extramural Affairs Committee Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 23, 2003.

Dr. Lisa Onken, DTR&D, gave a talk on the Stage Model of behavioral treatment research as conceptualized in the Behavioral Therapies Development Program announcement to the NIAAA treatment review committee in Bethesda, MD on February 27, 2003. NIAAA is now partnering with NIDA on this program of research.

Dr. Lisa Onken presented a talk on behavioral treatment research at NIDA to the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at the Bayview campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD on March 13, 2003.

Dr. Steven Grant, DRT&D, represented NIDA at a conference on Computational Modeling of Dopamine Function held at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey on March 28, 2003.

Dr. Steven Grant represented NIDA at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in New York City on March 29-April 1, 2003.

On February 21, 2003, Dr. Ivan Montoya presented at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco meeting in New Orleans LA, the results of a study examining the prevalence of nicotine problems in patients seen in routine psychiatric practice and comparing the sociodemographic, clinical, and health care characteristics of psychiatric patients with and without nicotine problems. The results suggest that during routine clinical practice, psychiatrists tend to under-report patients who smoke and under-treat their smoking problem and that psychiatric patients with nicotine problems have more psychosocial stressors than those who do not. The results have important public health implications because psychiatrists can play a very significant role in the reduction of smoking among psychiatric patients.

Dr. Ivan Montoya presented at a workshop in the seventh annual meeting of the National Hispanic Medical Association held in Washington DC on March 22, 2003. The topic of his presentation was "Hispanic Drug Abuse Research." He examined representation of Hispanics in drug abuse research, Hispanic issues in science, and Hispanic community in drug abuse clinical trials. He provided some analysis of the gaps in those areas and discussed with participants possible recommendations.

Dr. Naresh Chand, DTR&D, presented "Perspectives on Research Opportunities: Basic and Clinical Priorities- GBR 12909 As A New Research Tool for the Understanding of the HERG Assay" and discussed the usefulness of this assay for the evaluation of the cardiac drug safety in early drug discovery and development at the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE) Meeting, Washington, D.C., May 14, 2003.

On April 29-30, 2003 in Bethesda, Maryland, the Behavioral Treatment Development Branch conducted a state-of-the-science meeting on Group Therapy Research. Participants discussed the achievements in the area, and the challenges to moving the field forward.

Dr. Wilson Compton, Director, DESPR, chaired a symposium at the American Psychopatho-logical Association Meeting held in New York City, March 6-8, 2003. The symposium was entitled "Synapses, Neuroplasticity and Psychiatry" and included presentations by Drs. Nora Volkow, Steve Hyman and Eric Kandel.

Dr. Wilson Compton presented to the external affairs committee of the Clinical Trials Network on Services Research and the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies, March 24, 2003, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Drs. Wilson Compton, Elizabeth Robertson and Bill Bukoski, all of DESPR, organized and attended a planning meeting with the Department of Education's Institute for Education Sciences on "Advancing Supply and Demand for Rigorous, Relevant Research on Education, Drug Abuse, and Social Issues", Washington, DC, April 17, 2003.

Drs. Jack Stein and Wilson Compton, both of DESPR, worked with NIMH and NIAAA to develop and implement a technical assistance workshop for SAMHSA grantees who wished to learn more about submitting grants to NIH. This workshop took place on April 24, 2003 in Rockville, MD.

Drs. Wilson Compton and Shakeh Kaftarian were invited by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to attend the final grantee meeting of the Fighting Back Grant Program in Chicago, IL on March 2-4, 2003. At the meeting reports were presented on the final national evaluation of Fighting Back and lessons learned from the program.

On February 12, 2003, Drs. Elizabeth Robertson, DESPR, and Suman Rao, OSPC, presented a workshop at the annual meeting of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. The title of the presentation was "NIDA's 2003 Prevention Principles: Using Research to Address Community Needs."

Dr. Eve Reider, DESPR, participated in the "Fact-Finding Forum on Student Drug Testing: A Review of Legal, Scientific, and Implementation Issues." The U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute on Drug Abuse convened this one-day meeting on February 19, 2003 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Eve Reider participated in "Creating Communities that Monitor the Well-Being of America's Children and Adolescents," a meeting that was convened by the Society for Prevention Research and held February 27-28th, 2003 at the Hilton Eugene in Eugene, OR.

Dr. Susan Martin, DESPR, represented NIDA at a Workshop on Health Literacy sponsored by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 2, 2003 at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Jack Stein, Chief, Services Research Branch, DESPR, recently served on the executive committee for Beyond the Clinic Walls: Expanding Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services Research Outside the Specialty Care System, which was held in Washington D.C., March 10-12, 2003. He moderated two plenary sessions: Welfare to Work and Missing Work: The Potential of Workplace Platforms for Alcohol, Drug, and Psychiatric Intervention and Prevention.

Dr. Jack Stein facilitated a 1.5 day meeting with representatives from NIDA's Clinical Trials Network (CTN) Dissemination Subcommittee and CSAT's Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTCs) to determine a process for transferring research findings into drug treatment programs.

William Cartwright, Ph.D., Services Research Branch, DESPR, served on the executive committee for Beyond the Clinic Walls: Expanding Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services Research Outside the Specialty Care System, which was held in Washington D.C., March 10-12, 2003. He moderated a panel on "Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services in the Justice System" and organized a plenary session on "Welfare to Work."

Redonna Chandler, Ph.D., Services Research Branch, DESPR, participated in a panel presentation on technology transfer issues for drug abusing offenders in the criminal justice system at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting in Boston, MA, March 2003.

Jerry P. Flanzer, Ph.D., Services Research Branch, DESPR gave a presentation entitled "Directions for Services for HIV, Drug Use, and Aging", at a conference on Illicit Drug Use and HIV Risk Among Older Adults: Implications for Intervention and Prevention, sponsored by the Columbia University School of Social Work, Interchurch Center, in New York, March 2003.

Dr. Jerry Flanzer also spoke about the science-community partnership aspects of ongoing research at the inauguration of a health services study concerning the implementation of Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse Alternative to Incarceration Act, at UCLA, March 2003.

Beverly Pringle, Ph.D., Services Research Branch, DESPR, recently served on the executive committee for Beyond the Clinic Walls: Expanding Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services Research Outside the Specialty Care System, which was held in Washington D.C., March 10-12, 2003. She moderated a panel on "School Based Services for Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Problems".

Drs. Laurence Stanford and Joseph Frascella, both of DTR&D, gave a presentation entitled Some Strategies for Successful Grant Writing and Review Considerations at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY on March 8, 2003.

Dr. Joseph Frascella participated in the 10th Annual Undergraduate and Graduate Research Symposium held on the Morgan State University campus in Baltimore, MD on April 17, 2003.

Dr. Herb Weingartner, DNBR, was a keynote speaker at the Leadership forum of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Meeting, March 26-28, 2003, Philadelphia PA.

Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington, NIDA's Women & Gender Research Coordinator, served as NIDA representative on the steering committee for the NCI-led meeting, "Women, Tobacco, & Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century," held February 3-5, 2003 in Houston, Texas. She also co-organized and co-chaired (with Gary Swan, and Ovide Pomerleau) the agenda-planning breakout group, "Addiction -- Addressing the Biology and Behavior of Addiction" which included Drs. Karen Ahijevych, Jan Blalock, Rosemarie Booze, Bill Corrigall, Dorothy Hatsukami, David Kalman, Denise Kandel, Taline Khroyan, Francis Leslie, Wendy Lynch, Pam Madden, Sherry Mills, Scott Rogers, and Teri Franklin.

Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington served on the advisory board for the report, "The Formative Years: Pathways to Substance Abuse Among Girls and Young Women Ages 8-22", prepared by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and released at a press conference at the National Press Club, Washington, February 5, 2003.

Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington gave a talk entitled "Sex Differences in Nicotine Dependence," at The American University, April 7, 2003, as a guest lecturer in the course, "Psychology of Women."

Dr. Jean Lud Cadet, IRP, gave a talk in the Department of Neurology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on March 26, 2003 entitled, "Cellular and Molecular Bases of Methamphetamine-induced Neuronal Apoptosis: Evidence from Gene Expression Studies."

On February 3, 2003 Mr. Noble Jones, CAMCODA, made a presentation to the staff and doctoral students of the Morgan State University Drug Abuse Research Program (DARP) in Baltimore, MD. The title of the presentation was "Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Researchers in Conducting Field Research With Injection Drug Users."

Dr. Peter Hartsock, CAMCODA, participated in the first meeting of a national smallpox advisory group established by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop held in Washington, D.C., February 27, 2003. Dr. Hartsock presented on NIDA/CAMCODA's large-scale AIDS modeling program whose methodology development has applied to other emerging and reemerging infectious diseases such as smallpox which pose possible biowarfare as well as public health threats.

Dr. Ivan Montoya, DTR&D, chaired two symposia at the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence Conference held in Washington, D.C. on April 13-16, 2003. One was entitled "Treatment of Opioid-Dependent Adolescents" and the other "Treatment Needs of Pregnant Women Receiving Methadone Treatment."