Meetings/Conferences

On June 9-10, 1995, NIDA sponsored the 1995 Conference on AIDS and Drug Abuse, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. From NIDA's perspective, it was a stimulating and productive conference with 18 plenary speakers, 38 oral presentations, 55 posters, and 196 paid registrants.

As part of the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence held in June,
scientists at NIDA's Division of Intramural Research (DIR) organized a highly successful scientific symposium and a dinner in celebration of the Addiction Research Center's 60th Anniversary.

A 1995 FASEB Summer Research Conference entitled "Drugs of Abuse - Psychostimulants: Issues Related to Craving, Dependence, and Treatment" was held at Copper Mountain, Colorado on July 23-28, 1995. Partly funded by NIDA, Bowman-Gray School of Medicine, and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the meeting consisted of discussions by basic researchers as well as clinicians and their state-of-the-art research was presented. The clinicians discussed their frustrations with the less-than-expected positive outcomes of their trials and called for more animal models. The basic research community countered with a need to know more about the treatment failures. Dr. Roger Brown, Chief of the Behavioral Neurobiology Research Branch of the Division of Basic Research, chaired a session on status and future directions ("Where Are We and Where Do We Need To Go?"). Overall, the meeting was very productive and a great deal of enthusiasm was generated by the discussants. A major conclusion was that routes/sources of communication between the clinical community and the basic research community must be improved.

On August 3 & 4, 1995, a NIDA sponsored a workshop entitled "Crack Cocaine-Associated Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Complications and Underlying Physiological Mechanisms" was held at the NIH campus with Dr. Pushpa V. Thadani serving as Science Chair. The purpose of this workshop was to review and discuss the current findings, to foster cross-fertilization of ideas, develop collaborations and identify needs and opportunities for future research. There were fourteen invited participants/speakers and about 20 outside attendees.

Craving Round Table - On June 22, 1995 NIDA's Behavioral Science and Treatment Working Groups co-sponsored a roundtable discussion on the topic of craving. Prominent researchers and clinicians discussed the etiology and phenomenological aspects of craving, as well as relationships among drug, alcohol and food cravings. Other topics included the utility of craving measures in treatment of drug abusers, and new advances in craving instrument development.

Speaker Series - Dr. Arthur Stone, a behavioral medicine researcher at the State University of New York at Stony Brook kicked off the behavioral science speakers series with a presentation entitled "Advantages of Daily and Momentary Study Designs; Examples from Behavioral Medicine Research".

Dr. Paul Rozin, a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, spent two days at NIDA advising staff about issues relating to craving and ingestive behavior. He also presented a lecture entitled "Food Abuse: Thinking About Food Risk and Health".

Speaker Series - Dr. David C. S. Roberts, Professor of Psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, spoke to NIDA personnel in the Parklawn building in May on "Pharmacologic Manipulations of Cocaine Self-Administration in the Rat". The following day, he visited the Addiction Research Center in Baltimore and spoke on "Animal Models of Cocaine SelfAdministration". Dr. Roberts is funded by NIDA under a contract to explore mechanisms of cocaine self-administration in rats.

The Resiliency and Risk Workgroup sponsored a scientific meeting entitled "The Application of Resiliency and Risk Research to the Development of Preventive Interventions." This day long roundtable discussion explored how the further application of available research based data can advance prevention effectiveness beyond current levels. The meeting took place on September 11, 1995 in Bethesda and was chaired by NIDA Director, Dr. Alan Leshner.

>Conference on Managed Care - NIDA, in collaboration with NIAAA and CSAT, cosponsored a national conference entitled "Looking to the Future: Research on Managed Care for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment," that was held August 17-18 in Bethesda, Maryland. Attending the conference were researchers, State officials, providers, and representatives from the managed care industry. The purpose of the conference was to develop a preliminary research agenda on managed care for alcohol and drug abuse treatment. A report summarizing the results is being produced. Mr. Tom Vischi of the Services Research Branch chaired the planning committee for the meeting.

DEPR, DCSR and DBR collaborated to present a symposium at the 1995 American Psychological Association Convention in New York. The symposium, entitled "Research Perspectives and New Funding Priorities at NIDA" presented background and program information about three of NIDA's newest research programs exploring the nature and origin of drug abuse. The three presentations by NIDA staff were: Resiliency and Risk for Drug Abuse: Implications of a Developmental Systemic Approach (Meyer Glantz), Neurobiological Etiology of Drug Abuse (Harold Gordon), and, Basic Behavioral Sciences Research at NIDA: New Directions (Jay Turkkan).

On May 5, the Community Research Branch, DEPR sponsored a seven-part series of workshops in Tysons Corner, VA. The workshops focused on methodologies to measure and analyze behavioral change in HIV and drug abuse prevention research, including such topics as network and path analysis, power analysis, ethnography, dimensional scaling, and the reliability and validity of self-reported data.

On June 19, the Community Research Branch, DEPR sponsored a seminar by Philippe Bourgois, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology at San Francisco State University and Charles Pearson, Ph.D., an ethnographer with the San Francisco Urban Institute, on "An Anthropological Contribution to Understanding HIV Risk Behaviors in a Network of Homeless Heroin Injectors." The seminar presented recent findings from a study of drug use practices among a group of homeless IDUs living under freeways in San Francisco in 1995.

In collaboration with the NIH Office of AIDS Research and Northern Arizona University, the Community Research Branch, DEPR sponsored the third science symposium: "Current Status and Future Prospects of HIV Prevention Research," August 16-18 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The symposium addressed the efficacy of HIV prevention: What works? For whom? Under what circumstances? At what cost? The symposium featured the HIV prevention research portfolios of co-sponsoring NIH institutes and agencies (e.g., NIMH, NIAID, NICHD, NIAAA, and CDC) in a number of plenary sessions as well as funded researchers who presented findings from their HIV prevention research.

37th International Congress on Alcohol and Drug Dependence - NIDA staff participated in the 37th International Congress on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (August 20-25), at the University of California San Diego. Drs. Bennett Fletcher and Frank Tims conducted a workshop on preliminary findings (overview, intake sample characteristics, co-morbidity and dependence patterns, and service delivery) from the DATOS, NIDA's national program of treatment outcome research. Drs. Bennett Fletcher and Frank Tims co-chaired a symposium on "Systematic Innovation in Drug Abuse Treatment" (August 18-19). The symposium reviewed findings from SRB's portfolio of 15 research demonstration projects to improve service delivery in treatment. Papers from this meeting are to published in a special edition of the Journal of Drug Issues.

June 4-6 NIDA staff participated in the Annual Meeting of the Association for Health Services Research. Dr. Frank Tims and Mr. Tom Vischi, Services Research Branch, DCSR, conducted a session on NIDA's Health Services Research Priorities. Dr. Robert Battjes, Deputy Director, DCSR, chaired a panel entitled "The Impact of Public Policy and Market Forces on the Drug Abuse Services System," with presentations by four NIDA-supported researchers, Drs. Thomas D'Aunno, Deborah Garnick, James Sorensen, and Constance Weisner.

Dr. Peter Delany participated in the Association of State Correctional Administrators meeting June 1, on research initiatives and incentives in prisons systems.

Dr. Peter Delany helped to develop and participated in the first Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research Technical Assistance Workshop supported by NIDA (July 13-14). Other NIDA participants included Drs. Khursheed Asghar, Rebecca Ashery, Susan Coyle, Mario De La Rosa, and Jag Khalsa.

Dr. Bennett Fletcher participated in the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and the following posters:
Flynn, P.M., B.W. Fletcher, J.W. Luckey, and S.G. Craddock. (June, 1995). Cocaine Treatment Outcomes from a National Multisite Study: Multivariate Explanatory Models of Outcomes. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, June 11-15, 1995, Scottsdale, AZ.

Luckey, J.W., G.H. Dunteman, B.W. Fletcher, S.G. Craddock, and P.M. Flynn. (June, 1995). Assessing the Accuracy of Self-Reported Cocaine Use: Methodological Issues with Underreporting of Use. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, June 11-15, 1995, Scottsdale, AZ.

Wechsberg, W.M., S.G. Craddock, B.W. Fletcher, R.M. Etheridge, and R.L. Hubbard. (June, 1995). AIDS-Risk Behaviors of Clients Enrolled in Drug Abuse Treatment: Findings from the NIDA Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS). Poster presented at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, June 11-15, 1995, Scottsdale, AZ.

Dr. Bennett Fletcher participated in the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (August 14-17), and presented an "Overview of NIDA's Role in Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Research from 1974 to Present".

Dr. Bennett Fletcher represented NIDA at the annual meeting of the National Treatment Consortium meeting in St. Louis, and presented a paper on the linkage between drug abuse treatment research and practice.

Dr. Frank Tims and Mr. Tom Vischi were speakers in the NIDA Research Agenda session at the Association for Health Services Research annual meeting in Chicago June 4-7.

Dr. Peter Delany coordinated a NIDA/NIJ Drug Court Initiative planning session.

Dr. Peter Delany participated in NIJ's Addiction Medicine planning session.

Dr. David Johnson, DBR, presented a paper entitled "Olanzepine Decreases, while Clozapine Increases, the Reinforcing Effects of Self-Administered Cocaine in Rats" at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ on June 11, 1995.

On June 8 Drs. Robert Battjes and Bennett Fletcher, DCSR, participated in a planning meeting, sponsored by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, focused on developing their demonstration program priorities.

On July 19 Dr. Robert Battjes, Deputy Director, DCSR, served on the Panel on Effectiveness and Outcomes, one of four panels developing a health services research plan for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

On June 27 Ms. Robin Kawazoe and Drs. Robert Battjes and Frank Tims met with the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's National Advisory Council to discuss NIDA-CSAT joint health services research initiatives and to obtain input regarding formulation of NIDA's health services research priorities.

At the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May 1995, NIDA staff (Drs. Condon, Czechowicz and Frascella) held a poster session on Research Funding and Research Training Opportunities at NIDA at the new Young investigator's session.
Coryl Jones ERB/DEPR participated in the Abandoned Infants Conference sponsored by the Children Bureau of the DHHS Administration for Children, Youth, and Families held May 31 through June 3.

On July 25th, Ro Nemeth-Coslett, PRB/DEPR represented NIDA at the Speech Communication Association's Summer Conference on Communication and Health. She and Dr. R. Lewis Donohew, PI, University of Kentucky, participated in a Dialogue Session with NIH Grantees and Program Officials.

Nicholas Kozel organized and participated in the Kentucky State Epidemiology Work Group meeting in Lexington on March 22 and, with Peter Hartsock, organized and participated in the Alaskan State Epidemiology Work Group meeting in Anchorage on July 13-14. The major purpose of the State Work Group is to develop and implement a community-based research network within States which provides ongoing surveillance of drug abuse patterns and trends and related activities and consequences. These meetings were co-funded by NIDA and the Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Dorota Majewska, MDD chaired the CPDD symposium, "Neurotoxicity and Neuropathology Associated with Cocaine/Psychostimulant Abuse". Publication in NIDA Monographs will follow.

Dr. Dorota Majewska, MDD was an invited speaker at a June meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences conference "Dehydroepiandrosterone and Aging", held in Washington, D.C. Dr. Majewska presented on the "Neuronal Actions of Dehydroepiandrosterone"; a following publication is in press.

Dr. Nancy Pilotte, MDD, Pharmacology and Toxicology Branch gave a presentation on how "Cocaine Withdrawal Affects Dopaminergic Neurons" on August 21 at Rockefeller University. Dr. Pilotte presented at the invitation of Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek.

Dr. Frank Vocci, Deputy Director, MDD attended the Department of Veterans Affairs' Opioid Substitution Therapy Conference where he delivered a presentation on the development of LAAM and buprenorphine.

In June, Dr. Timothy P. Condon, Acting Deputy Director, OSPC addressed the Research Training Directors at the 57th Annual College on Problems of Drug Dependence Scientific Meeting, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He discussed the status of NIDA's 42 training programs; and announced the creation of a research training newsletter to enhance information exchange.

Dr. Timothy P. Condon was a NIDA representative for the Federal Funding Poster Session held at the American Psychiatric Association's 148th Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida, May 1995. Dr. Condon discussed research and research training opportunities at NIDA for psychiatrists.

Dr. Timothy P. Condon gave a presentation highlighting NIDA's neuroscience research program and training opportunities in neuroscience to the Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs on April 24, 1995 in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Cathrine Sasek participated in a national science and mathematics education forum sponsored by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy entitled "Making It Happen: First in the World in Science and Mathematics Education." The purpose of the forum was to advise President Clinton on ways to improve our Nation's science and mathematics education efforts.

Richard H. Needle presented a paper entitled "Ethnographic Observational Study of MultiPerson Use of Drug Injection Equipment in Injection Drug Use Networks" at the International Social Network Conference in London, England, July 6-19, 1995.

Susan Coyle presented a paper entitled "An HIV Intervention for Street Youth: Increasing Knowledge about Risky Behaviors" at the Symposium on HIV Prevention Research at Flagstaff, Arizona.

Elizabeth Lambert, presented a poster entitled "Prevalence Estimation and Hard-to-Reach Populations: Implications for Prevention Programs" at the Symposium on HIV Prevention Research at Flagstaff, Arizona.

Mona Brown, NIDA Press Officer organized a session and made a presentation at the annual meeting of the CPDD on "Working with the Media." The session was well received by participants who were very interested in having positive relations with the media.

Dr. George Uhl and Dr. David Gorelick presented Grand Rounds at the NIH Clinical Center on "Cocaine Addiction: Pathophysiology and Treatment" (July 5, 1995)

Dr. Xiang Liu presented "Regional Cerebral Volume and Asymmetries in Polydrug Abusers: A Volumetric Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study" at the 57th Annual Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence scientific meeting, Jun. 10 - 15, 1995, Scottsdale, AZ.

Dr. Steven J. Grant presented "Stimulation of Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism by Cocaine Related Cues" at the 57th Annual Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence scientific meeting, Jun. 10-15, 1995, Scottsdale, AZ.

Dr. Robert L. Phillips presented "Modeling the Concentration of Fluoro-deoxyglucose in Plasma to Calculate Cerebral Metabolic Rates for Glucose by the Positron Emission Tomography Method" at the 42nd Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting, Jun. 11 -15, 1995, Minneapolis, MN.

Dr. Victor Villemagne presented "Cocaine Craving: A PET FDG Study" at the 42nd Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting, Jun. 11 -15, 1995, Minneapolis, MN.

Dr. Robert L. Phillips presented "Modeling the Concentration of FDG in Arterial Plasma to Calculate Cerebral Glucose Metabolism by Single- and Multi-Scan Methods" at XVIIth International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, BRAIN 95, Jul. 2 - 6, 1995, Cologne, GE.

Dr. Edythe D. London presented a lecture entitled "Brain Imaging: Acute Responses to Stimulants and Persistent Differences in Drug Abusers Compared with Controls" at the First Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Summer Conference on Drug Abuse, Jul. 23 - 28, 1995, Copper Mountain, CO.

Dr. Edythe D. London presented a lecture entitled "New Approaches to Understanding Drug Abuse" at the International Workshop on Drug Abuse Treatment Technology, Sponsored by: The Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Aug. 15 -16, 1995, Baltimore, MD.

Jonathan L. Katz presented an invited address entitled: "Pharmacological Mechanisms Involved in Some Behavioral Effects of Cocaine" at the First Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Summer Conference on Drug Abuse: Psychostimulants: Issues Related to Craving, Dependence and Treatment. Copper Mountain, Colorado.

Sari Izenwasser received a travel award from the International Narcotics Conference to attend the annual meeting held in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Sari Izenwasser was invited to present a seminar entitled: "Neurochemical Mechanisms of Tolerance and Sensitization to Cocaine" at the George Washington University School of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology.