Moving Alcoholism Treatment Behavioral Therapies from the Lab to the Community

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Alcohol Research Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine is seeking resources for the recruitment of a clinical / translational investigator with experience in alcohol research. Through resources to be provided by the ARRA Recovery Act Limited Competition: Biomedical Research Core Centers to Enhance Research Resources (P30) [RFA-OD-09-005] grant application to the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, we are seeking to recruit a fulltime, tenure track, entry level assistant professor to complement and enhance the Center's ongoing research activities in the area of behavioral therapies related to the treatment of alcohol use and related disorders. The focus will be on recruiting someone who brings newer and novel behavioral approaches to the study of alcoholism treatment and whose research findings can be easily and quickly extended to community clinicians and agency treatment service providers. The UConn Alcohol Research Center has a strong history of junior faculty development and provides an outstanding nurturing environment for developing clinical investigators. We expect that the new faculty member, in collaboration with existing Alcohol Research Center investigators and investigators from other branches of the university with related interests, will move quickly to develop their own interdisciplinary independent research program. We are seeking funds to provide salary support and start-up costs for this new faculty member during their first two years of employment. In order to have time to begin to develop their research program, this individual will have 100% protected time during their first two years of employment and 75% protected time during their second two years. The School of Medicine has agreed to provide institutional support for the newly recruited tenure-track individual, including office and research space and any necessary salary support through years 3&4. If funded this application would create three [investigator; 2 research assistants] new jobs. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE; The work to be conducted by this newly hired faculty member will directly address one of the most serious public health problems in the US, alcohol-related illness and injury. Behavioral therapies have been shown to be effective in controlled laboratory studies with both heavy drinkers and persons with alcohol dependence by improving compliance with treatment and therefore treatment outcomes. Importantly, the next step is to demonstrate the translational value of these treatments by moving this work into community treatment agencies and the offices of community service providers. These relatively low cost interventions can help reduce mortality, morbidity and injury among chronic heavy drinkers resulting in significant health care savings.