Christopher AhnAllen, Ph.D. CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award Mentor: Jennifer W. Tidey, Ph.D.

1. Christopher AhnAllen, Ph.D.CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Jennifer W. Tidey, Ph.D. Dr. AhnAllen's research examines cigarette smoking patterns in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. His current project investigates the impact of high-dose nicotine and sensorimotor replacement on cognitive functioning in these smokers. Other interests include cue reactivity, EMA and caffeine use.

2. Will Aklin, Ph.D.CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Robert K. Brooner, Ph.D., Kenneth Silverman, Ph.D. Dr. Aklin’s research considers laboratory measures to better understand the interaction between biologically-based psychological constructs (risk taking, impulsivity) and social context variables (inner-city environmental factors) in relation to substance abuse. He evaluates operant-based treatments to promote drug abstinence, employment, and medication compliance.

3. Anika Alvanzo, M.D., M.S.CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Dace Svikis, Ph.D. Dr. Alvanzo’s research focuses on the association between psychological trauma and substance use. In particular, she is interested in how co-occurring history of physical and / or sexual violence and substance misuse impact sex risk and other health behaviors in women.

4. Judson Brewer, M.D., Ph.D.CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Marc N. Potenza, Ph.D., M.D. Dr. Brewer’s work focuses on measuring cognitive control as a way to predict treatment outcomes and to delineate mechanisms of behavioral treatments for addictions. He also studies mindfulness training with respect to its effects on cognitive control processes and as treatment for addictions.

5. Julia Buckner, MSCPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Kathleen Carroll, Ph.D. Ms. Buckner’s research focuses on understanding the transactional relationships between specific substance use and anxiety disorders by investigating: temporal relations between addiction and anxiety, mechanisms underlying these relations, and development and evaluation of empirically-informed treatments and preventions for these disorders.

6. Kevin Gray, M.D. CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Himanshu Upadhyaya, Ph.D. Dr. Gray is one of five recipients of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / NIDA Physician Scientist in Substance Abuse K12 Award. His research focus is on craving, cue reactivity, and medication treatment development in cannabis dependent adolescents.

7. Doug Hyan Han, M.D., Ph.D.CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentors: Perry Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., MBA Dr. Han’s research focuses on the etiology and treatment of internet video game addiction for child and adolescent populations, including excessive internet users.  In addition, his research interests include the craving for non-chemical addiction such as binge eating and gambling.

8. Bryan Hartzler, Ph.D CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentors: Donald Calsyn, Ph.D. Dr. Hartzler’s research focuses on clinical application, fidelity measurement, and practitioner training/implementation of empirically-supported behavioral approaches for substance users. Most of his early career work relates to applications of patient-centered therapeutic approaches, most notably motivational interviewing.

9. Jennifer Havens, Ph.D, MPH CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Carl Leukefeld, DSW Dr. Havens currently holds an R01 from NIDA titled “Social Networks and HIV Risk among Rural Drug Users”. Her research explores the medical consequences of injection drug use in rural areas, including HIV and HCV.

10. Iliyan Ivanof, MD CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Jeffrey Newcorn, MD Dr. Ivanov is the PI on an AACAP/NIDA K-12 Career Development Award titled Brain Activation in Preadolescents at Low vs. High Risk for Subsequent Substance Abuse. His main research interests are in the area of identifying childhood biological markers for addiction vulnerability using fMRI neuroimaging to evaluate neuronal networks related to reward and executive control in young children before exposure to drugs of abuse.

11. Ryan K. Lanier, Ph.D. CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentors: George Bigelow, Ph.D., Eric Strain, MD, Miriam Z. Mintzer, Ph.D. Dr. Lanier’s research interests include evaluating new pharmacotherapies for opioid dependence, investigating the cognitive, behavioral, and physiological effects of opioid pharmacotherapy maintenance, and assessing the abuse liability of new medications for pain treatment.

12. Alison Looby, MA CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D. Ms. Looby’s research examines neurocognitive deficits in cannabis users.  Specifically, she is interested in mediating factors influencing performance, such as incentives and stereotype threat.  In tandem, her research examines the role that expectancy effects play in predicting prescription stimulant misuse.

13. Michael Mancino, MD CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Alison Oliveto Beaudoin, Ph.D. Dr. Mancino’s research examines patient factors such as sex, genetic polymorphisms, psychiatric comorbidity, and neurophysiological markers that may impact treatment response. End goal is to identify potential treatment agents for psychostimulant dependence.

14. Michael Odenwald, Ph.D., Dipl PsychCPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Thomas Elbert, Ph.D. Dr. Odenwald’s research focus on drug abuse and PTSD in post-conflict regions and among refugees in western countries. He is also interested in neurobiological mechanisms of cross-sensitization in humans. He currently works in a clinical research setting at the University of Konstanz, Germany.

15. Rajkumar Sevak, Ph.D CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Craig R. Rush, Ph.D. Dr. Sevak’s research examines the behavioral and pharmacological determinants of the stimulant abuse, using drug discrimination and drug self-administration procedures in humans. His current research is focused on identifying putative pharmacotherapies for the management of stimulant dependence.

16. Jesse Suh, Psy.D. CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: Anna Rose Childress, Ph.D., Charles O’Brien, MD, Ph.D., Ronald Ehrman, Ph.D. Dr. Suh’s research demonstrates a functional frontal-limbic disconnection when exposed to "unseen" aversive stimuli in cocaine patients- a potential source of affective dysregulation and relapse vulnerability. His ongoing work involves novel brain-behavioral probes of affect dysregulation in substance abusers with comorbid conditions.

17. Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentors: Alan Budney, Ph.D., Maxine Stitzer, Ph.D. Dr. Vandrey’s research interests include assessing the consequences of heavy cannabis or tobacco cessation and investigating medications which assist cessation. Integrally, Ryan is pursing novel ways to apply behavioral modification techniques (CM) to the treatment of drug abuse problems.

18. Sunmee Wee, Ph.D CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentor: George F. Koob, Ph.D. Dr. Wee’s research focuses on identifying the neurocircuitry and neuropharmacological mechanisms underlying behavioral changes that occur during the development of psychostimulant dependence using a rodent model of drug self-administration with extended access.

19. Thomas E. Wooters, MS CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel AwardMentors: Michael Bardo, Ph.D. Mr. Wooters uses behavioral (e.g., drug self-administration) and neurochemical (e.g., in vivo voltammetry) animal models to study the neurobehavioral pharmacology of illicit and therapeutic stimulant drugs. He is also interested in the development of selective inhibitors of α-CTX MII-sensitive α6* nicotinic receptors involved in nicotine-evoked dopamine release as potential smoking cessation medications.