Drug Abuse Treatment Development and Research Mentoring

描述（由申请人提供）：本次K24竞争性更新的目标是允许候选人Edward Nunes博士继续将近全部时间投入到他的药物滥用治疗研究计划中，并指导有抱负的临床研究人员。Nunes博士的首要目标是开发和测试新的治疗干预措施，这些干预措施有可能显着改善药物使用障碍的结果，将其从疗效提升到有效性，并帮助培训和培养下一代成瘾治疗领域的临床研究人员。他的策略是寻找新的创新，并通过临床试验来开发它们，组建具有相关专业知识的团队，并始终包括一个或多个年轻的研究人员，他正在帮助他们发展职业生涯。 新资助期的研究计划将侧重于：1）测试可卡因依赖药物，重点是对行为治疗无效的亚组; 2）改善注射纳洛酮治疗的有效性和差异治疗 阿片类药物依赖; 3）测试基于网络的交互式行为疗法在社区治疗方案中治疗物质使用障碍的有效性;以及4）进一步开发和测试一种在动机访谈中培训社区临床医生的方法。Nunes博士将担任两个R 01的PI，NIDA资助的国家药物滥用临床试验网络的一个节点的PI，以及一个中心项目的共同研究者-赞助商，与初级和中级职业同事一起担任其他几个R 01的共同I，以及两个K23奖项的主要导师。职业发展计划将扩大Nunes博士在统计方法和研究设计领域的知识，并通过与其他研究人员在脑成像作为治疗开发工具和基于技术的治疗等领域的协同合作。Nunes博士的指导计划侧重于临床研究人员，特别是博士后的医生和临床心理学家。 和初级教员。这个群体对该领域很重要，但吸引他们一直是一个挑战。 并保留在研究生涯中。 这项研究和指导计划具有重要的公共卫生意义。药物使用障碍是一个主要的公共卫生问题，仍然难以治疗，已经开发出有效的新治疗方法，但每种主要药物使用障碍的失败率和复发率仍然很高，需要创新的新治疗方法。即使是有效的治疗方法也往往无法在社区实践中采用，需要进行有效性研究来弥补这一差距。同样令人关注的是，缺乏训练有素的对成瘾研究感兴趣的医生调查人员。通过Nunes博士的活动，人们希望通过他的研究和合作以及他对下一代临床研究人员的培训，改善对物质使用障碍的治疗。 公共卫生相关性：这项以患者为导向的K24提案的目标是开发和测试针对物质使用障碍的创新性新疗法，并将其推进到社区护理中。这些目标解决了一个关键的公共卫生需求，并将通过申请人的以患者为导向的研究和他的学员，初级教师和其他学员的导师计划线实现，使他们获得必要的研究技能，以追求独立的临床研究进一步推进成瘾治疗领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this K24 competing renewal is to allow the Candidate, Dr. Edward Nunes, to continue to devote near full time effort to his program of research on drug abuse treatment and mentorship of aspiring clinician-investigators. Dr. Nunes' overarching goals are to develop and test new treatment interventions that have the potential to significantly improve the outcome of drug use disorders, advancing them across the spectrum from efficacy to effectiveness, and to help train and foster the next generation of clinician-researchers in the field of addictions treatment. His strategy is to seek out new innovations and develop them through clinical trials, putting together teams with the relevant expertise, and always including one or more young investigators whose career he is helping develop. The Research Plan for the new funding period will focus on: 1) Testing medications for cocaine dependence, focusing on the subgroup that fails to rapidly respond to behavioral therapy; 2) Improving the effectiveness and differential therapeutics of injection naltrexone for the treatment of opioid dependence; 3) Testing the effectiveness of an interactive web-based behavioral therapy for the treatment of substance use disorders in community-based treatment programs; and 4) Further developing and testing a method for training community-based clinicians in Motivational Interviewing. During the course of the award, Dr. Nunes will serve as PI on two R01s, PI of a Node in the NIDA-funded National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, and Co-Investigator-Sponsor of a Center project, Co-I on several other R01s with junior and mid-career colleagues, and primary Mentor on two K23 awards. The Career Development Plan will expand Dr. Nunes' knowledge in the areas of statistical methods and study design, and through synergistic collaborations with other investigators in areas such as brain imaging as a tool for treatment development, and technology-based treatments. Dr. Nunes' mentoring plan focuses on clinician-investigators, particularly physicians and clinical psychologists at the post-doctoral and junior faculty level. This group is important to the field, but has been a challenge to attract and retain in research careers. This research and mentoring plan has important public health significance. Substance use disorders are a major public health problem, and remain difficult to treat. Effective new treatments have been developed, but rates of failure and relapse with each of the major substance use disorders remains high, and innovative new treatment approaches are needed. Even effective treatments often fail to be adopted in community-based practice, and effectiveness research is needed to bridge this gap. Also of great public health concern is a dearth of adequately trained physician-investigators interested in careers in addictions research. Through Dr. Nunes' activities, it is hoped that the treatment of substance use disorders will improve through his research and collaborations, and his training of the next generation of clinician-investigators. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goals of this patient-oriented K24 proposal are to develop and test innovative new treatments for substance use disorders, and advance them into community-based care. These goals address a critical public health need and will be attained through the applicant's programmatic line of patient-oriented research and his mentorship of trainees, junior faculty, and other mentees, such that they obtain the necessary research skills to pursue independent clinical research toward further advancing the field of addiction treatment.