THIS ISSUE’S AUTHORS
ALAN J. BUDNEY, PH.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His research on treatments for adult and adolescent marijuana dependence and marijuana withdrawal syndrome has established the time course, pharmaco-specificity, and clinical significance of marijuana withdrawal. His treatment development research has focused on the use of innovative incentive programs to enhance abstinence outcomes during and after treatment for marijuana abuse.
MICHAEL DENNIS, PH.D., is the director of the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Coordinating Center and a senior research psychologist at Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington, Illinois. His research interests include adolescent and adult substance abuse treatment, and long-term recovery management and methodology. He is the principal investigator of the Early Reintervention experiments, coordinating center principal investigator of the Cannabis Youth Treatment experiments, coprincipal investigator of the Pathways to Recovery study, coinvestigator of the Assertive Counting Care experiments, chair of the Society for Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment, and chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for NIDA’s Division of Epidemiology Services and Prevention Research.
DEBORAH S. HASIN, PH.D., is a professor of clinical public health and psychiatry at Columbia University and a research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She has investigated substance abuse disorders, the comorbidity of drug dependence and other psychiatric disorders, and gene–environment interaction. She is the lead developer of the Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders and a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s workgroup on substance use disorders for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition.
MARK HATZENBUEHLER, M.S., M.PHIL., is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Yale University. His research program seeks to understand how stigma contributes to mental health disparities, as well as disproportionate treatment utilization among members of stigmatized groups, including racial and ethnic minorities; the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered population; and overweight and obese individuals.
ROGER ROFFMAN, D.S.W., is a professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, where he also directs the Innovative Programs Research Group. His research focuses on the design and evaluation of interventions in the fields of drug dependence, prevention of HIV infection, and intimate partner violence. Along with Robert S. Stephens, he edited Cannabis Dependence: Its Nature, Consequences, and Treatment, published in 2006 by Cambridge University Press. In addition to interventions designed for those seeking treatment, Dr. Roffman’s recent research has focused on a brief “taking stock” motivational enhancement therapy tailored for individuals concerned about their behavior, but not yet committed to change.
SHARON SAMET, M.S.W., M.PHIL., is a research scientist in the Department of Research Assessment and Training of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her research and professional interests include the co-occurrence of substance use disorders with psychiatric disorders, diagnostic measurement, and clinical social work. She is one of the developers of the Psychiatric Research Interview for Substance and Mental Disorders and a doctoral student at the Columbia University School of Social Work.
CHRISTY K SCOTT, PH.D., is the regional director of Chestnut Health System’s Chicago research office, director of the Illinois Health Survey Laboratory and developer of the longitudinal followup model that has been used across multiple studies. Her research interests include recovery management, women’s treatment, homelessness, co-occurring psychiatric problems, criminal justice, HIV risk, and methodology. She is the principal investigator of the Pathways to Recovery study, principal investigator of the Recovery Management Checkups for Women Offenders experiment, and coprincipal investigator of the Early Reintervention and Cannabis Youth Treatment experiments. She serves on NIDA’s Health Services Research Review Group.
ROBERT S. STEPHENS, PH.D., is a professor of psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He studies cognitive-behavioral and motivational enhancement approaches to the treatment of marijuana dependence and related problems. Recent work includes evaluations of check-up approaches as a means to reach marijuana users and attempts to improve outcomes in treatment trials by extending the duration and dose of treatment for users who do not respond initially or who relapse early.
DIANA SYLVESTRE, M.D., is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; a specialist in addiction medicine; and the executive director and founder of the Organization to Achieve Solutions in Substance Abuse (O.A.S.I.S.). She conducts research on hepatitis C treatment in addicted patients. She is the chair of the California Hepatitis Alliance and serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the American Liver Foundation and the Hepatitis Advisory Council of the Hepatitis Foundation International.
DENISE WALKER, PH.D., is a research assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington and clinical director of the Innovative Programs Research Group. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of substance abuse treatments and motivational interviewing interventions for adult and adolescent marijuana abuse, domestic violence, gambling, and other problem behaviors.
RACHEL WAXMAN, B.A., is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at St. John’s University. She has worked as an assistant research scientist in the Department of Research Assessment and Training of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her research and professional interests include childhood predictors of psychopathology and related outcomes, comorbidity between Axis I and II disorders, and clinical assessment and treatment of children and adolescents.
PANEL RESPONDENTS
JACK D. BLAINE, M.D., serves as a senior medical consultant for NIDA’s National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network and has a general adult psychiatry private practice. He is board-certified in psychiatry with a subspecialty certification in addiction psychiatry. He has served in numerous clinical and research capacities at the University of California, Los Angeles; the National Institute of Mental Health; NIDA; and the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on the clinical effects of marijuana, as well as on behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy for drug dependence.
ALLAN J. COHEN, M.A., M.F.T., is the director of research and training for Bay Area Addiction, Research, and Treatment, Inc., which operates a network of 14 community treatment programs for opioid dependence and other substance use disorders. He serves on the National Steering, Executive, and Publications Committees of NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network. He has been the coprincipal investigator on numerous research grants involving both pharmacological and behavioral treatment interventions.
ROBERT F. FORMAN, PH.D., is a clinical scientist for Alkermes, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops medicines for addiction and other diseases. As a clinician and administrator, he has opened and managed more than 20 addiction treatment programs. As a researcher, he has studied clinician attitudes toward addiction and its treatment, quality improvement interventions in addiction treatment, and technology transfer, and he has served as the principal investigator or coinvestigator on several major clinical trials. Dr. Forman is the author of two Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Improvement Protocols and several addiction treatment software applications.
RACHEL GONZALES, PH.D., has experience in research and evaluation of substance use disorders in both adolescent and adult populations. Currently, she serves as the project director on the state-funded California Outcome Measurement System for the University of California, Los Angeles, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. She has served as the codirector and codeveloper for an anti-tobacco program for adolescents.
DANA MACKIN, M.A., is a substance abuse and domestic violence counselor at ChangePoint, Inc., in Portland, Oregon. She currently works with early interventions, driving under the influence diversion programs, and intensive outpatient clients. Her interests include the intersection of addiction and violence, particularly with regard to methamphetamine dependence. Her research focuses on counselors’ perceptions of the therapeutic alliances formed with dangerous clients.
CHRISTOPHER MARTIN, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. As a staff psychiatrist and team leader with the Compass Program for Young Adults at the Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas, he treats patients with complex disorders of mood, anxiety, and personality that often co-occur with substance-related disorders. He is also interested in the interface of art and psychiatry.
JILL K. McGAVIN, PH.D., is the program director of substance dependence and vocational rehabilitation at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Services provided include detoxification, psychiatric care, opioid replacement treatment, psychological assessments, social work, addiction/relapse prevention education and support groups, and case management. Dr. McGavin is also an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Baylor College of Medicine.
DAVID C. PERLMAN, M.D., is the associate chief of infectious diseases and investigator in the Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the director of the Infectious Diseases Core at the NIDA-funded Center for Drug Use and HIV Research at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., in New York. His research interests focus on clinical, epidemiological, and health service aspects of tuberculosis, hepatitis, and other infections among drug users and HIV-infected persons. He also practices in the field of general infectious diseases.
DACE SVIKIS, PH.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychology, director of Promoting Healthy Pregnancies in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, and deputy director of the Institute for Women’s Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. She served as the director of the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is currently the principal investigator on a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve patient compliance with prenatal care and serves as the principal investigator on a project to examine different strategies for preventing HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases in pregnant drug-abusing women.
WILLIAM M. “MEL” TAYLOR, M.S.W., is president and chief executive officer of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs in Houston, Texas. The Council has received numerous best practice awards, most recently the Gold Award for outstanding community programs from the American Psychiatric Association. The Council touches the lives of more than 200,000 individuals each year through brief interventions, motivational counseling, and school-based prevention, and adult intensive outpatient treatment. Mr. Taylor also serves on numerous state and national committees on behavioral health.
CLAUDETTE WALLACE, M.A., has worked as a counselor, supervisor, program developer, interventionist, and consultant. In 1985, she developed a 12-month, day-treatment program for women and children. She worked for Springbrook (now Hazelden Springbrook) as a supervisor of outpatient services, supervisor of residential co-ed treatment services, and evaluation specialist working with licensing boards all over the United States. In addition, she provided services for offenders in Oregon State corrections facilities. She is currently on staff at ChangePoint, Inc., where she is a researcher on methamphetamine addiction and a counselor.