Mentoring in Patient-Oriented Addiction Research

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The primary goals of this K24 competitive renewal application are to enable Dr. John Kelly to: 1) conduct career development activities to enhance and extend his patient-oriented addiction research (POAR); and, 2) provide intensive and high-quality mentorship to early-career investigators in POAR. A K24 renewal will give Dr. Kelly protected time to devote to career development to increase the impact of his clinical alcohol and other drug (AOD) research and to intensive mentoring of junior clinical researchers, that would otherwise be spent on clinical and administrative duties. Dr. Kelly, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Recovery Research Institute, Program Director of the MGH Addiction Recovery Management Service, and Associate Director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, has conducted POAR since 2001, with studies that identify and investigate successful pathways to recovery from AOD disorders, the impact of addiction terminology on stigma and treatment access, and the mechanisms of behavior change of AOD treatment and recovery support services. Dr. Kelly has accomplished the major goals of his initial K24 award. He has mentored more than 35 junior investigators, many of whom have secured F and K awards, and authored 79 publications, including 27 with a mentee as first author. He has conducted a series of studies that are informing how we treat adolescents and young adults with AOD disorders, and the clinical and public health utility of peer recovery support services to enhance long-term remission. He has expanded his policy work on addiction terminology to inform national debates to reframe how AOD disorders are addressed and decrease stigma and discrimination. Dr. Kelly's research plan for this renewal application includes continued work as a PI on NIH-funded treatment research and to serve as co-investigator on studies with mentees as PI. Furthermore, he plans to work on submitted proposals to: 1) identify the biopsychosocial markers of long-term relapse to AUD following initial remission; 2) conduct a Phase III clinical trial expand testing of a novel integrated psychosocial intervention for adolescent AOD disorders; and, 3) investigate socially-influenced brain changes in recovery from AUD. Dr. Kelly's mentoring plan includes training his mentees in: 1) clinical aspects of AOD disorders; 2) designing and implementing AOD disorder research studies; 3) preparing scientific papers and presentations; 4) writing grant applications; and, 5) the responsible conduct of research. He will accomplish this through a combination of individual and group meetings, collaborative mentoring, role modeling, and integration with the MGH Division of Clinical Research and Office of Career Development. Dr. Kelly's career development plan involves increasing his expertise in social neuroscience, focusing specifically on the role of social and environmental factors in the neuroscience of behavior change and AOD disorder recovery. These activities will enhance both Dr. Kelly's research and mentoring capacity. The public health significance of this application is related to the need to identify biopsychosocial models of alcohol use disorder remission and recovery, and the need to train the next generation of investigators to develop the skills they require to effectively conduct POAR with this patient population.