Research Training Program in Substance Use Prevention

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. The Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Substance Use Prevention at Yale University, entering its 20th year, is aligned with NIDA’s Prevention Research Branch (PRB); The Program’s focus areas are organized by place-based settings where research is anchored to systems and populations central to prevention, namely: 1) Community, 2) Education, 3) Healthcare, 4) Justice, 5) Social Services, and 6) Digital Delivery/Social Media. Additionally, this training program is organized along the continuum of prevention research from identifying mechanisms to prevent substance use and addiction, to developing, testing and disseminating interventions that address addiction and related problems. The host site for the program will continue to be the Division of Prevention and Community Research in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, along with two primary partner sites in Psychiatry: the Division of Addictions and the Yale Stress Center. In addition, the program will continue to draw on faculty in three other Yale sites: the Yale School of Public Health, the Yale Child Study Center and Women's Health Research at Yale. Faculty have a strong track record of scholarship in substance use prevention, longstanding collaborations as researchers and mentors, and exemplary track records of funding for substance use prevention research. Our request for renewal funding is based on the continuing demand for advanced training in rigorous, interdisciplinary, place-based translational research focused on substance use prevention. This application builds on the success of our current training program. The program trains six postdoctoral fellows across two years: 1) to understand drug use and addiction and related behaviors within an ecological framework that emphasizes relevant developmental, family, social, cultural, and neurobiological contexts; 2) to enhance knowledge in pre-intervention, implementation, and dissemination research; 3) to learn state-of-the-art data analytic methods that incorporate rigorous field and laboratory research methods, including mixed method designs; 4) to gain experience in interdisciplinary research through collaborations with scientists working in interdisciplinary teams across departments, centers, and programs; and 5) to increase knowledge about the translation of research into real-world settings in order to impact prevention practice and policy, and ultimately, public health. These program objectives are reinforced in relationships with two scientific mentors, didactic seminars, and individually-tailored experiences based on each fellow’s IDP. Training aligns with NIDA Priority Scientific Areas and Goals. Over the past 19 years, the program has enrolled 58 fellows, who have gone on to careers as prevention scientists. More than three-quarters are faculty in academic settings, and others are employed as prevention scientists in interdisciplinary research organizations.