Mid-Career Award in Patient-Oriented Drug Abuse Research

描述（由申请人提供）：药物滥用和成瘾是毁灭性的慢性疾病，给我国带来了重大的医疗、财政、法律和社会负担。跨学科合作与技术进步相结合，为提高成瘾治疗的有效性和持久性以及减少成瘾的脆弱性带来了前所未有的机会。持续的进展对于改进现有的循证治疗和开发新的治疗方法至关重要。因此，吸引和培训临床研究人员是至关重要的，以便确保有各种各样的高技能科学家来解决这些紧迫的卫生保健需求。Aimee McRae-Clark博士是一位富有成效的中期职业研究者，她在药物开发和成瘾性别差异领域的创新工作一直保持着NIH的资助。此外，她在吸引和成功指导医学、研究生和博士后学生以及专注于物质使用障碍的临床研究的初级教师方面有着良好的记录。这项面向患者研究的职业中期研究者奖的目的是为受保护的时间提供支持，以便麦克雷-克拉克博士能够制定一个更正式、更密集的指导临床研究培训和职业发展活动计划，以促进药物滥用和成瘾领域的初级学者。还将特别强调增加代表性不足的少数民族参与开展面向病人的研究。此外，她将在现有研究项目的基础上，结合新的熟练程度和研究方向，包括先进的生物统计方法和探索内源性大麻素系统在应激反应中的作用。这个奖项将使她能够增加她能够投入指导的时间，巩固她的培训活动，并将她的研究活动带到新的和令人兴奋的方向。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Drug abuse and addiction are devastating and chronic conditions that place a significant medical, financial, legal and social burden on our country. Interdisciplinary collaboration combined with technical advances has resulted in unprecedented opportunities to enhance addiction treatment efficacy and durability, and reduce vulnerability to addiction. Continued progress is vital to improving existing evidenced-based treatments and developing new treatments. It is therefore critical to attract and train clinical researchers in order to ensure that a diverse pool of highly skilled scientists will be available t address these urgent health care needs. Dr. Aimee McRae-Clark is a productive mid-career investigator who has maintained consistent NIH funding for her innovative work in the area of medications development and gender differences in addictions. In addition, she has a strong track-record of attracting and successfully mentoring medical, graduate and post-doctoral students as well as junior faculty in clinical research focused on substance use disorders. The objective of this Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research is to provide support for protected time so that Dr. McRae-Clark can develop a more formal, intensive program of mentored clinical research training and career development activities to promote junior scholars in the area of drug abuse and addiction. Particular emphasis will also be placed on increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities conducting patient-oriented research. In addition, she will build on her existing program of research by incorporating new proficiencies and research directions, including advanced biostatistical methods and exploration of the role the endogenous cannabinoid system plays in stress response. This award will enable her to increase the time she is able to devote to mentorship, to consolidate her training activities, and take her research activities in new and exciting directions.