Unliquidated Obligations: Research Training in Drug Abuse Behavior

This training program co-directed by Thomas Garrity and Carl Leukefeld proposes to support three pre- and three postdoctoral trainees with a training faculty of 21 drawn from seven different academic and research units of the University. The environment is rich with opportunities for biobehavioral research in facilities such as the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, the Center for Prevention Research, and the Residential Research Facility. Trainees will be housed in offices of the Department of Behavioral Science and the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research with 24-hour/day access to laboratories and computer facilities; some trainees will have additional work space in the project areas of their faculty supervisors. This program is designed to prepare trainees to assume research responsibilities in academic, and other scientific organizations concerned with drug abuse and the behavioral aspects of health and medical care. Postdoctoral fellows will either have a doctorate in a behavioral science discipline and will be preparing for a research role in the drug abuse field, or they will be health professionals who are seeking a behavioral science research orientation in drug abuse. Predoctoral trainees will concentrate in behavioral science aspects of drug abuse as part of their program for a doctorate in a biobehavioral science discipline. Basic elements of the program include (I) research training designed to provide experience in utilizing the basic building blocks of research laboratory methods, case study, experimental design, development and pretesting of instruments, data analysis) and independent research competence; (2) a multidisciplinary orientation which takes students beyond their basic discipline and provides exposure to key theoretical concepts and methodological issues of the related biobehavioral sciences along wish a biobehavioral conceptualization; (3) a program of enculturation and orientation to drug abuse, health and mental health settings; (4) opportunities to explore drug abuse topics from a medical behavioral perspective through courses offered by training faculty; and (5) opportunities for independent research around relevant questions in drug abuse behavior that can constitute significant learning experiences for postdoctoral fellows and a dissertation project for predoctoral trainees. The program for postdoctoral fellows will be individually geared to the Objectives of the fellows and will build on their previous knowledge and experience.