International Substance Abuse Research Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This renewal application for an ongoing ICOHRTA program will continue to advance multidisciplinary training in substance abuse research in Poland, & expand its venue to 3 neighboring Eastern European countries. The program which focuses on clinical and prevention research will extend the successful development of research infrastructure, training, and collaboration between the University of Michigan (UM) Addiction Research Center and its Major Foreign Collaborator, the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (IPN) in Warsaw, established during the last 5 years. The IPN will also serve as the hub for links with other research centers in Poland, & with newly added sites in the Ukraine, Slovakia, & Latvia. Utilizing the full range of resources at the UM, this continuing 5-year program will increase the research sophistication of our Polish collaborators, and begin a parallel developmental process in nearby countries where scientific relationships already exist. The end product will include an enriched capacity for substance abuse research in this region, as well as strengthened collaborative relationships. A focused set of interlocking training experiences at different levels of intensity and career status will include the following: (a) five 1-year-long opportunities for early-career post-doctoral research fellows, including physicians, from the foreign sites to train at the UM with faculty mentors working in research areas of common interest, (b) On returning to their home countries, the Program will fund relevant pilot research protocols that the Fogarty Fellows developed while in the U.S. that parallel and extend ongoing substance abuse research at the UM. (c) An initiative is planned to make matching funds available from the government of Poland to support re-entry projects.and also reinforce host country buy-in, (d) Three intermediate-term methodology fellowships at the UM, 3 months long, for junior to mid-career researchers, will train the trainer so that a cadre of consultants in substance abuse research methodology becomes available at the foreign sites, (e) Four 2-month sojourns in the U.S. for mid-career to senior substance abuse researchers will foster new collaborations with existing Eastern European research teams, (f) A yearly 1-week long set of focused workshops, held in each of the collaborating countries on a rotating basis, & open to all levels of substance abuse scientists from graduate students to more advanced & senior researchers. Senior collaborators from the U.S. & foreign sites will also devote time during the workshop weeks to fine-tune their programs, identify new fellows, & build new collaborations, (g) Finally, two regional conferences are planned, one in Years 3 & 5, to showcase ongoing research activity and to foster the development of a regional scientific society & research network. Relevance: Substance abuse is a global health problem with most research and treatment initiatives localized to Western countries. This grant will train Eastern European colleagues to develop approaches to addiction that can better serve all countries.