Journal
for Minority Medical Students(JMMS):
What are your most current grants with NIAAA?
Dr. Ehlers:
I currently have three grants with NIAAA. The first one involves my
position as co-director of the Scripps Alcohol Research Center. It’s
a verylarge grant that involves both animal and clinical studies to
try to understand psychosocial and biological factors that may influence
drinking patterns in Hispanics. Previously on that grant, I had put
together a study to evaluate the same factors in African Americans and
there have been several publications from that particular study. Separate
from the Center grant, I have another large grant to study Native American
Mission Indians who live in San Diego and Riverside Counties in California.
The focus here is on biologic factors that could influence drinking
patterns and the development of alcoholism in the tribes evaluated,
with a big genetic component. I also still have a grant to study animal
models of alcoholism.
JMMS:
How long have you been involved with your research with alcohol and
Native Americans?
Dr. Ehlers:
That study has been in existence for about 15 years, and one of the
things we have worked to dispel is the myth of Native Americans and
“firewater.” The firewater myth posits that Indians have
a weakness for alcohol and that if they drink even small amounts, they
become uncontrolled and aren’t able to handle drinking and subsequently
develop alcohol addiction. What we were able to show conclusively is
that this is absolutely not true and that if anything, Indians have
a resistance to the effects of alcohol so that they can drink actually
quite astronomical amounts of alcohol and not feel as intoxicated. What
we’ve been able to show is that people who are at higher risk
for developing alcoholism seem to have an inherent tolerance or a low
level of response to alcohol. They need a lot more alcohol to feel intoxicated
and so they’re more at risk for becoming a heavy drinker because
of that and heavy drinking is basically the route for developing alcoholism.
JMMS:
How much of your time is spent in the lab versus out in the community
working with different populations?
Dr. Ehlers:
I’m out on the reservations or dealing with community-based issues
one day a week; the rest of the week I’m in the lab.
JMMS:
How does the research differ between the ethnic groups that you’ve
studied?
Dr. Ehlers:
We do very similar kinds of investigations so that we can actually make
some comparisons between groups and try to see what might be unique
issues that would be important for targeting specialized intervention
or prevention programs.
JMMS:
Are you currently applying for any more grants with NIAAA?
Dr. Ehlers:
I’ve applied for an international grant through NIAAA to study
Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians in the island at Trinidad at
the University of the West Indies. The population of the island of Trinidad
is about half from India and half from Africa, so there are distinct
ethnic groups with differences in their rates of alcoholism and we’re
trying to understand what the factors are that are responsible for that.
JMMS:
What got you interested specifically in studying not only alcoholism,
but specifically alcoholism and effects of alcohol in ethnic populations?
Dr. Ehlers:We
knew fairly early on that alcoholism differed between different ethnic
groups. At least 50% of alcoholism is psychosocial and we needed to
look at the biological factors and how they meld with the cultures to
produce the ultimate level of disease. I felt that doing clinical studies
would help us get at what might underlie some of these differences.
I also thought that research into the genetics and “teasing out”
different psychosocial factors would give us a more complete picture
of these differences. But not many people had been willing or able to
go into these communities and do cross-ethnic studies. It takes a lot
of work. For example, in the Indian communities, I not only do my research,
I also work with them as a liaison on all sorts of things like writing
grants, Native American graves, Protection and Repatriation Act, and
language retention. It's all very important in terms of maintaining
a relationship with them and to having them feel like the study is part
of their community and that they own part of it, too. For most researchers,
it’s easier just to open your doors and ask a person to show up,
which means you’ll wind up with mostly Caucasians, and mostly
Caucasian women too.
JMMS:
Do you have researchers or students working with you who are members
of the ethnic and racial groups you are studying?
Dr. Ehlers:
Yes, I often have students working in my lab in the summers who are
on minority supplement grants. Currently, I have a young man namedAnthony
Sweeney who has been working with me for about three years. He’s
an African American undergraduate who will probably be going to medical
school this fall. Prior to that, I had two Hispanic minority supplements:
Patricia Robledo, who is currently working in Spain at the University
of Barcelona, and Sarah Orozco, who’s in Boston working in the
Harvard system. Also, I’ve had six minority high school students
come through my lab and every single one of them has either graduated
from college or is currently in college.
JMMS:
How important has the NIAAA’s support been to your research?
Dr. Ehlers:
It is vital. If they didn’t support me, it would be impossible
for me to be doing the work I’m doing. They fund 90% of the nation’s
alcohol-related research. I’m proud to be involved with the work
that is being supported by the NIAAA.
