My research focuses on how genetic and environmental influences contribute to the development of patterns of substance use and related behaviors, such as child behavioral and emotional challenges, and how we can use that information to inform prevention and intervention. My work integrates developmental and clinical psychology, behavior genetics/twin studies, and statistical genetics/gene identification. I am particularly interested in impulsivity and behavioral/emotional regulation.

The Brain Health Institute (BHI) and Rutgers Addiction Research Center (RARC) are recruiting a tenured or tenure track faculty member at the Assistant/Associate/Professor level to expand our research portfolio in the basic/translational science of substance use disorders, broadly defined to include preclinical or human subjects-based research programs. The specific area of research is open, and can include but is not limited to animal behavior, animal or human psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, biomarker development, and/or interventions development/therapeutics.

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Dr. Jackson’s research largely centers on the etiology and course of substance use among adolescents and young adults. She is currently funded by NIAAA and NIDA to examine individual- and contextual-level risk factors for substance use initiation and progression to increasingly severe use, including in vulnerable populations and youth with mental health comorbidities. Her work also involves understanding the sources of messaging surrounding cannabis and people’s motives for using cannabis and the context of their use. She has conducted work on the remission of substance use disorders in college students and across young adulthood, and employs fine-grained approaches to study co-use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.

For the last 20 years, I have used my formal training in clinical research methods to coordinate and conduct randomized controlled trials and cohort studies in the Emergency Department (ED) setting. I am an expert in the design, implementation and evaluation of novel interventions in the ED. I have over 20 years of experience as a Principal Investigator (PI) on NIH, CDC and Foundation funded research studies. My current area of focus is on improving the care and treatment of Emergency Department patients with opioid use disorder. I have been a part of the core investigatory team on two of the largest national trails examining ED initiation of buprenorphine for patients with untreated OUD.

The Brain Health Institute (BHI) and Rutgers Addiction Research Center (RARC) are recruiting a tenured or tenure track faculty member at the Assistant/Associate/Professor level to expand our research program in public policy implications of addiction.

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Dr. Bauer’s research interests include understanding and addressing health disparities that burden Black/African American and other minoritized populations, particularly using community-based participatory research strategies. Her work focuses on three main outcomes: (1) Improving health and well-being for people in diverse and minoritized communities, particularly in the mental health conditions that impact them most (e.g., trauma, substance use), (2) Understanding and addressing social determinants of health that contribute to, or maintain, those disparities, and (3) Improving available treatments for mental health conditions, so that all people have access to treatment that recognizes and values their identities and experiences.

The Bocarsly lab studies the molecules, cells and circuits that underlie food intake, and the contributions to the development of disease states such as compulsive overeating, stress-induced eating, obesity and anorexia. They are further interested in how these same brain pathways are at play in instances of drug abuse, and the underlying neural similarities between drug abuse and compulsive over eating. This research is achieved by combining anatomical mapping approaches with transgenic models and sophisticated, high-precision monitoring of food intake behaviors.

My research focuses on adolescent and young adult substance use: assessment and diagnosis, clinical course, prevention and early intervention. Current projects evaluate the use of mobile technology for substance use assessment and intervention. Another line of research examines social determinants of health and racial/ethnic disparities in substance use risk across multiple levels of analysis (e.g., individual, interpersonal, neighborhood) in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, a large longitudinal national sample of youth to inform prevention efforts and advance health equity.

My research focuses on developing and evaluating novel interventions for substance use and other health behaviors. I am currently conducting research on a mindfulness-based intervention for opioid use and chronic pain among people in methadone treatment, peer recovery support for opioid overdose survivors in the emergency department, and an intervention to link people impacted by opioid use to employment. I also oversee a program to educate the public on the opioid overdose and distribute naloxone to professionals and community members across the state. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the state of New Jersey, and Arnold Ventures have funded my research.

I am an applied social psychologist who has developed distinct but related lines of research in two areas of applied social health psychology: (1) addictive behaviors and health, and (2) romantic relationships and substance use. Through both my early clinical work and ongoing research I has come to understand that when faced with potentially threatening personal information (e.g., about one’s behavior or personal relationship) people often respond defensively and do not recognize the need to change their behavior. Thus, my work aims to leverage social psychological theories as tools for changing personal attitudes, reducing defensiveness, and enhancing the receptivity and duration of prevention and intervention efforts.

Dr. Paul Manowitz is interested in the biochemistry and genetics of mental illness. One of his main interests is the identification of a gene involved in susceptibility to alcohol use disorder. His research has identified an abnormal protein, an enzyme (arylsulfatase A) which occurs much more frequently in individuals with alcohol use disorder. Tissue culture experiments have shown that this protein is much less stable metabolically than the normal protein. Molecular biological studies have determined the site of the nucleic acid change which produces the abnormal protein.

My research is focused on the etiology of problem gambling across gambling subtypes and the prevalence of and incidence of gambling disorder and other comorbid addictions. My work also includes designing effective screening tools and treatments to address problem gambling, as well as conducting analyses of big-data from online gambling and sports wagering environments to identifying trends with implications for harm reduction and responsible gambling. Finally, a key component of my work is to drive public policy innovations by translating knowledge from my empirical and theoretical findings to enhance the lives of those suffering from addictions and their families.

Currently, there are no effective therapies for cocaine addiction, which directly affects over two million people in the United States alone. This reality is the driving force for our research program. The major hurdle for abstaining from abuse of cocaine is intense drug craving, which can be triggered months and even years following the cessation of drug use. The most widely accepted model of craving in animals involves self-administration followed by extinction and the subsequent reinstatement of drug seeking. Using this animal model, our research team pursues a strategy to identify novel neurobiological adaptations produced by cocaine and then uses this information to formulate potential cocaine addiction therapies.