Grantee Honors

Bryon Adinoff, M.D., CTN Texas Node PI, was recognized with the Kenneth Z. Altshuler Medical Leadership Award at the Vision of Hope luncheon by Turtle Creek Manor on February 3, 2006. Turtle Creek Manor is a Dallas residential treatment program for patients with dual diagnosis.

Dr. Jennifer Beer, Assistant Professor, at the University of California, Davis was appointed as one of 5 Harrington Faculty Fellows for the 2006-2007 academic year at the University of Texas at Austin. The primary purpose of the Harrington Faculty Fellowship is to pursue research, and the Fellows have no teaching obligations. Each Fellow is provided with funding to support a symposium during the period of his or her stay. Dr. Beer plans to organize a symposium on Social Neuroscience in Spring 2007.

Dr. Christopher deCharms' research team won first place for their presentation at the SMRM Workshop on Real Time MRI in Santa Monica, CA in February. The presented work described the rtfMRI pain control experiments: Real Time fMRI: Novel Methods for Controlling Brain Activation Through Training with Application to Pain Control.

Linn Goldberg, M.D., principal investigator of ATLAS, and Diane Elliot, M.D., principal investigator of ATHENA, received the Sports Illustrated Champion award at the National Press Club Washington, D.C. on February 9, 2006. Goldberg and Elliot, professors of medicine (health promotion and sports medicine) in the OHSU School of Medicine, co-developed both programs. ATLAS, initiated in 1993 through a five-year NIDA grant, is the nation's first and only program proven to reduce the desire for and use of anabolic steroids, sports supplements, alcohol and other illicit drugs among male adolescent athletes. ATHENA, initiated in 1999 with another grant from NIDA, is the first and only program proven to reduce disordered eating, body-shaping drug use and other health-harming behaviors among female high school athletes.

Dr. Raul Gonzalez of the University of Illinois, Chicago and Dr. C. Neill Epperson of Yale University received Early Career Travel Awards for attendance at the upcoming American Psychological Association in New Orleans, LA, August 10-12, 2006. Dr. Gonzalez will present a poster at the APA about his research on neurocognitive damage in HIV+ drug abusers. Dr. Epperson will present a poster at the APA about her research on sex, GABA and nicotine.

Howard Kaplan, Ph.D., Texas A& M University, will be presented the Leo G. Reeder award by the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociology Association in August 2006. The award honors the impact he has made on the field of medical sociology, and recognizes his leadership and effective advocacy for the significance of sociological research in addressing mental health and substance problems.

NIDA grantee Suniya Luthar, Ph.D., has been selected as one of the eight new members of the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development, and will serve until Spring 2009.

Bill Miller, CTN Southwest Node PI, recently received two honorary awards: the John P. McGovern Award for excellence in substance abuse education and research, from the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA), and the Wheelock and Irene Whitney Award from the Johnson Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Two publications by NIDA-funded researchers were recognized as being in the Top 10 Research Publications in HIV Care in 2005, compiled by the HIV Journal View in January 2006. They are: A. David Paltiel, et al., "Expanded screening for HIV in the United States—an analysis of cost-effectiveness." The New England Journal of Medicine, February 10, 2005, and Gillian D. Sanders, et al., "Cost-effectiveness of screening for HIV in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy." The New England Journal of Medicine, February 10, 2005.

Dr. Stephen J. Wilson, University of Pittsburgh (Julie Fiez, Mentor), Dr. Raul Gonzalez, University of Chicago, (Eileen Martin, Mentor), Mikisha Doop, B.A., Vanderbilt University, (Sohee Park, Mentor), and Francesca Filbey, PhD., University of Colorado (Kent Huchinson, Mentor) were selected to attend the NIDA Trainee Conference in Bethesda, MD, April 17-18, 2006.