Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch
Treatment Section
Mission Statement
The Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch conducts studies in human volunteers in order to understand, treat, and prevent drug abuse and dependence. Principal Investigators direct their own independent research projects though they frequently collaborate both within and beyond the branch. The investigators work together on cutting-edge human laboratory studies and outpatient clinical trials to investigate phenomena such as drug metabolism, the effects of drug deprivation on performance and subjective response, the modulation of the effects of illicit drugs by potential pharmacotherapies, concentrations of therapeutic and illicit drugs in treatment patients, and the precipitants and process of relapse.
The Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch includes:
• Treatment Section
• Clinical Pharmacology Section
• Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section
• Behavioral Psychopharmacology Unit
• Teen Tobacco Addiction Research Center
Future Directions
Future research plans include a laboratory study to evaluate the effects of medications on stress- and cue-induced craving, plus a clinical trial for relapse prevention in heroin users, with relapse prospectively monitored via Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Future plans also include developing the technology to collect EMA data in heroin users outside the context of treatment to examine the barriers encountered in seeking treatment and examine what happens when patients leave treatment and what factors are associated with successful abstinence, relapse to drug use, or transition to new treatment. Using sophisticated prospective methods to gather data previously available only through retrospective self-report, we will shed light on the validity of many assumptions about drug use and its precipitants and inform the development of new treatments.
Areas of Research
The research goals for the Treatment Section are threefold: 1) to develop and test drug treatments for polydrug abusers (especially cocaine and heroin abusers); 2) to improve monitoring of licit and illicit drug use; and 3) to identify individual characteristics and environmental factors that influence drug taking and response to treatment. An important component of every aspect of our work is translational research—applying findings from preclinical studies to clinical studies and across behavioral disorders. The primary resource for accomplishing these goals is the Archway outpatient treatment program, in which 80 outpatients can participate in treatment studies at any one time
Senior Scientific Staff
• Kenzie L. Preston, Ph.D., Branch Chief, Principal Investigator
• David Gorelick, M.D., Ph.D., Section Chief, Principal Investigator
• Stephen Heishman, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
• Marilyn Huestis, Ph.D., Section Chief, Principal Investigator
• Eric Moolchan, M.D., Principal Investigator (Tenure-track)
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Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch
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