K12 Mentors
Click to view each mentor’s biography, contact information, and current research.
Eden Evins, MD, MPH
Founding Director, MGH Center for Addiction Medicine; Cox Family Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine, Harvard Medical School
aeevins@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-4679
Dr. Evins is a clinically trained psychiatrist with consecutive funding since 1999 as PI on NIDA-funded projects to conduct studies of the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutic cessation aids in smokers with and without serious mental illness, and of the effect of nicotine on cognitive performance in those with and without schizophrenia. She has also conducted NIDA-funded studies of behavioral, physiologic, and fMRI-ascertained assessments of impulsivity, risk-taking, reactivity to drug-related cues and the relationships between cue reactivity, attentional bias, and relapse to drug use. A newer line of investigation explores the effect of cannabis on neural markers of reward and social influence, psychiatric symptoms, cognitive function, and addictive behaviors, and the impact of different maintenance treatments for opiate use disorder on relapse and cognitive functioning.
Dr. Evins is an international expert in co-occurring substance dependence and psychiatric illness, with landmark work in treatment of nicotine dependence among those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Dr. Evins brings invaluable expertise in conduct of clinical treatment trials in those with psychiatric (particularly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and substance use (particularly nicotine, cannabis and opiate use disorders) to the mentor team of the K12. She has conducted large, multi-center clinical studies in addition to and often integrated with laboratory-based and neuroimaging studies. She serves as the Cox Family Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Addiction Medicine, as the Founding Director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine, as Director of the MGH Addiction Research Program, and as MGH site director for the Harvard Addiction Fellowship Program that provides clinical specialty training to three addiction psychiatrists per year. In the course of this work, she has gained considerable administrative expertise in the critical issues of standardized assessment, project feasibility, regulatory aspects of clinical research, ethical conduct of clinical research, human subjects protection, and practical issues of staffing, recruitment, budgeting, and communication. She has a track record of completing studies and producing several peer-reviewed publications from each project. She has successfully mentored many junior investigators in patient-oriented addiction research who are now clinical and research leaders. Her goal is to assist junior investigators with a range of backgrounds and interests, including 1) investigators with a primary focus on patient-oriented addiction research, 2) investigators from other specialties (e.g., medicine, pharmacology, neuroscience, neuropsychology) who seek to integrate addiction research into their specific fields, and 3) investigators working in related fields who can benefit from her knowledge and experience.
Her primary goal in mentoring residents, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty is to foster their independent research. She has worked closely with Dr. Rigotti since 2001, and they have co-mentored trainees. She devotes significant professional time to the mentorship of the next generation of patient-oriented addiction researchers.
Current Grants
Career Development Program in Substance Use and Addiction Medicine
NIDA 1K12DA043490; 2017 – 22
The goal of this Mentored Award is to develop a multidisciplinary program at MGH that will support intensive, mentored training and career development of promising post-doctoral clinician-scientists who aim to establish independent research programs in patient-oriented addiction research.
Integrated Smoking Cessation Treatment for Smokers with Serious Mental Illnesses
PCORI 1504-30472; 2016 – 22
This is a large pragmatic trial with a cluster randomized design to determine whether academic detailing to primary care providers and health outreach worker support to patients and providers will improve smoking cessation rates in people with serious mental illness (SMI).
Mentoring in Addiction Treatment Research
NIDA 2K24DA030443; 2011 – 21
This K award will support mentoring activities in addiction treatment research with salary support for Dr. Evins and statistical support staff.
Nancy A. Rigotti, MD
Founding Director, Tobacco Research & Treatment Center; Associate Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
nrigotti@partners.org
617-724-3548
Dr. Rigotti is a general internist with research training and expertise in clinical epidemiology, clinical trials, outcomes research, implementation science, and tobacco control policy. She is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and MGH, Associate Chief of the MGH Division of General Internal Medicine, and former president of both the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research and the Society of General Internal Medicine. Her research goal for more than 30 years has been to reduce the toll of tobacco-related disease by identifying innovative tobacco cessation treatments, by promoting delivery of effective tobacco cessation treatment in the health care delivery system in the U.S. and globally, and by evaluating the impact of tobacco control public policies. Using randomized controlled trials and observational studies, she has demonstrated the effectiveness of tobacco treatment interventions offered to smokers in the context of hospitalization, outpatient primary care, prenatal care, and specialty practice (e.g., cardiology, oncology), as well as system-level population health outreach. She has recently extended this work to incorporate health care system interventions to other addictive drug use. Dr. Rigotti has conducted clinical trials of FDA-approved or investigational smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, including bupropion, varenicline, rimonabant, and a nicotine vaccine.
Dr. Rigotti served as a scientific editor for the 1989 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking. Her early epidemiologic studies demonstrated the dramatic rise in tobacco use by young adults in the 1990s, bringing attention to a previously ignored group. She conducted some of the first formal evaluations of smoke-free public policies and restrictions on youth access to tobacco. More recently, she has studied tobacco cessation interventions globally and investigated the impact of electronic cigarettes on smoking cessation. Dr. Rigotti founded and directs MGH’s multi-disciplinary Tobacco Research and Treatment Center. It combines an institutionally-funded MGH clinical service with an externally-funded research group that conducts projects to identify and implement effective tobacco cessation interventions in the health care delivery system. Her pioneering role and outstanding research was recognized in 2015 with the highest award for research given by the Society of General Internal Medicine, the John Eisenberg National Award for Career Achievement in Research. She is also an elected member of the American Association of Physicians. She served on the Institute of Medicine committee creating the 2015 report on agent-based modeling for tobacco control and the 2018 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s FDA-commissioned report on the health risks and benefits of electronic cigarettes. She has been continuously funded as PI for over 30 years on grants awarded by NIH and foundations. Dr. Rigotti has extensive mentoring experience previously supported by a K24; she has mentored over 30 trainees from internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, and psychiatry. Many of her trainees have secured career development awards and R01s and have progressed to leadership positions in academic medicine in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Rigotti also serves as Director of the MGH’s Office of Women’s Careers which supports academic career advancement for female faculty.
Current Grants
Comparative Effectiveness of Post-Discharge Strategies for Hospitalized Smokers
2R01 HL111821-07; 2017 – 22
This is a three-site randomized controlled trial comparing two interventions to sustain tobacco cessation treatment after hospital discharge.
Career Development Program in Substance Use and Addiction Medicine
NIDA 1K12DA043490; 2017 – 22
The goal of this Mentored Award is to develop a multidisciplinary program at MGH that will support intensive mentored training and career development of promising post-doctoral clinician-scientists who aim to establish independent research programs in patient-oriented addiction research.
Assessing the Integration of Tobacco Cessation Treatment Into Lung Cancer Screening
1R01CA218123-01A1; 2018 – 23
The goal of this study is to develop, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention into lung cancer screening sites in a large integrated health care delivery system.
Margarita Alegria, MD
Chief of the Disparities Research Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
malegria@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-4987
Dr. Alegria is dedicated to understanding and improving health services, and eliminating health and health care disparities for diverse racial and ethnic and/or immigrant populations through state of the art research methods and innovative statistical approaches. She leads a dynamic team of clinicians, policy analysts, health economists, and statisticians who address questions regarding health service delivery, health policy, and public health for multicultural populations using epidemiology, systems and organizational theory, economics and financing, and qualitative and quantitative methods. She is a member of the National Academies (formerly the Institute on Medicine) and leads major projects, including a National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded intervention aiming to prevent physical and mental disability among racial/ethnic minority elders, a William T. Grant Foundation (WTGF)-funded project that seeks to understand the experience of majority and minority status through Photovoice, and a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded project examining the effects of neighborhood context, culture, and minority status on depression and anxiety.
Current Grants
Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders
NIA/NIMH R01 AG046149; 2020 – 25
The rapid expansion of the aging population is outstripping the development of mental health and disability prevention services necessary to respond to their needs. This project evaluates whether partnerships between academic researchers, minority elders, and the community-based organizations which serve them can expand community resources and capabilities to effectively provide mental health services and reduce the risk of disability in minority elders in need.
Building Infrastructure for Community Capacity in Accelerating Integrated Care
R01 MH117247; 2019 – 24
This proposed collaborative R01 seeks to establish community-ACO (accountable care organizations)- academic partnerships to expand capacity for mental health care in Massachusetts and North Carolina. The investigators propose to test an innovative model that includes training community health workers to provide an integrated, evidence-based intervention in community settings linked to ACOs, and to determine the long-term sustainability of the intervention within ACO networks.
Latino Youths Coping with Discrimination: A Multi-Level Investigation in Micro- and Macro-Time
R01 MD014737; 2020 – 25
The overall objective of this study is to investigate mediators and moderators at multiple ecological (individual, family/peer and school/neighborhood levels) and time-scale (micro- and macro-time) levels in the link between discrimination-related stressors and mental health among 340 Mexican-origin youth.
Travis Baggett, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant Physician in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Director of Research, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
tbaggett@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-9314
As a faculty physician-investigator in the MGH Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM), Dr. Baggett maintains an active portfolio of community-based research focusing on the health and health care needs of people experiencing homelessness, with particular attention to the burden, consequences, and management of tobacco use and other substance use disorders in this population. He is the PI of two ongoing, externally-funded, full-scale behavioral intervention trials at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), each listed below. He is the recipient of several institutional awards in recognition of his innovative scientific contributions, including a recent five-year intramural award in support of a new line of work focusing on innovative strategies to improve outcomes among people experiencing homelessness with opioid use disorder. As MGH Site Director of the HMS T32 Fellowship in General Medicine and Primary Care, he has developed a track record of mentoring fellows and junior faculty who are interested in improving the health of vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations. He currently mentors two K12 awardees – Dr. Benjamin Bearnot and Dr. Danielle Fine.
Current Grants
Financial Incentives for Homeless Smokers: A Community-Based RCT
NIH – National Cancer Institute R01CA235617; 2019 – 24
The major goal of this project is to examine the effect of financial incentives for smoking abstinence among homeless-experienced smokers in Boston.
Lung Cancer Screening Navigation for Homeless People: A Pragmatic Trial
American Cancer Society RSG-17-157-01-CPPB; 2018 – 22
The major goal of this award is to conduct a pragmatic trial of lung cancer screening navigation for homeless-experienced people at high risk for lung cancer.
Using Innovative Strategies to Improve Outcomes among People Experiencing Homelessness with Opioid Use Disorder
Research Scholar Award (MGH Research Institute); 2021 – 26
The major goal of this award is to conduct a community-based program of research to improve treatment retention and patient-centered recovery outcomes among homeless-experienced individuals with opioid use disorder.
Ingrid V. Bassett, MD, MPH
Infectious Disease Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
ibassett@mgh.harvard.edu
617-726-0637
Dr. Bassett has been working in South Africa since 2004 and has developed strong collaborations and infrastructure in Durban and Cape Town for performing clinical research related to HIV and tuberculosis (TB). She has established multiple clinical cohorts in South Africa requiring long-term follow-up, including a cohort of patients enrolled prior to HIV testing to evaluate linkage to HIV care. She was among the first to document high acceptability and uptake of HIV testing but poor rates of linkage to CD4 count testing and ART initiation and played a central role in quantifying early steps in the HIV care cascade in sub-Saharan Africa. She completed the Sizanani trial, a randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a health system navigator in improving linkage to HIV care and TB treatment completion at four clinical sites in Durban (R01 MH090326). Dr. Bassett has been working in Umlazi Township since 2011, when she began to collaborate with AIDS Healthcare Foundation/iThembalabantu Clinic to evaluate mobile, community-based HIV testing. She is currently assessing the impact of South Africa’s Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution program (R01 MH114997) in Umlazi using the RE-AIM framework. Dr. Bassett also works as an Infectious Disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Bassett has mentored > 15 predoctoral and postdoctoral investigators, including several K awardees performing implementation science research. Dr. Bassett is the recipient of the 2015 HIV Medicine Association Research Award and the 2013 Harvard Medical School Young Mentor Award.
Current Grants
What Happens After Diagnosis: Characterizing Long-Term HIV Care Trajectories and Mortality in South Africa
NIMH R01 MH108427; 2016 – 21
The purpose of this project is to study long-term patterns of HIV care engagement and mortality, and the social, behavioral, and geographic factors that influence them. This work will inform physicians, policymakers, and governments on how to design interventions to maximize the long-term effectiveness of HIV treatment programs.
South Africa’s New Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution Program: Assessing the Clinic, Patient, and Community Impact
NIH R01MH114997; 2018 – 23
This project will comprehensively evaluate the impact of South Africa’s new Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) program at all 10 public sector clinics in Umlazi by: 1) prospectively assessing patient uptake of CCMDD and patient factors associated with favorable early clinical outcomes for CCMDD enrollees and comparing outcomes with non-enrollees, 2) evaluating facilitators of and barriers to adoption of CCMDD by patients, clinic staff, and administrators using qualitative methods, and 3) evaluating virologic suppression over time across all 10 public sector clinics in Umlazi using programmatic electronic health record data.
Joan A. Camprodon-Gimenez, MD, PhD
Chief, Division of Neuropsychiatry; Director, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinical Service; Director, Laboratory for Neuropsychiatry & Neuromodulation, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
jcamprodon@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-5600
Dr. Camprodon is the Chief of the Division of Neuropsychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Clinically, he is the founding director of the MGH Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinical Service, a member of the Psychiatric Neurosurgery Committee and an attending physician in the departments of Psychiatry (Neuropsychiatry) and Neurology (Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology). He is board-certified in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry.
Scientifically, he directs the Laboratory for Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation. His research uses multimodal combinations of neuroimaging and brain stimulation to investigate neural circuitry and plasticity in a translational manner. His laboratory works with a wide range of noninvasive and invasive neuromodulation techniques including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and deep brain stimulation (DBS), among others. He also uses functional and structural MRI, electroencephalogram (EEG), and innovative simultaneous combinations of TMS and tDCS with neuroimaging. Dr. Camprodon is interested in understanding basic circuit properties of human neural networks and how maladaptive plastic changes lead to neuropsychiatric disorders. Critical efforts are geared towards applying the paradigms and methods of basic systems neuroscience to develop high-impact clinical tools, identify targets for therapeutic action, and design individualized image-guided neuromodulation treatments.
Current Grants
A Transdiagnostic Assessment of Electroconvulsive Therapy Modulation of Anhedonia and Reward Circuitry: Targets, Biomarkers and Predictors of Response
NIH R01 MH112737-01; 2017 – 22
This study will use Human Connectome Project neuroimaging protocols combined with dimensional behavioral measures to understand how ECT modulates reward brain circuits and dimensions in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression.
Modulating Inhibitory Control Networks in Gambling Disorder with Theta Burst Stimulation
NIH R21 DA042271-01; 2017 – 19
In this project we will implement multimodal structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI methods of analysis in a population of pathological gamblers undergoing neuromodulation for motor inhibition control in order to further our understanding of this area of inquiry.
A Dose-Response Study of the Cognitive and Physiological Effects of tDCS to the DLPFC in SUD: Understanding the Role of Absolute Intensity, Induced Electric Field and Duration of Stimulation
Solinsky Foundation; 2019 – 21
Maurizio Fava, MD
Associate Dean for Clinical & Translational Research; Director, Division of Clinical Research of the MGH Research Institute; Executive Vice Chair for Research, MGH Department of Psychiatry; Executive Director, Clinical Trials Network & Institute (CTNI); Slater Family Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
mfava@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-2513
Dr. Fava is an innovative clinical and translational researcher and a beloved mentor with a strong record of fostering career development and training at the individual and now the institutional level at MGH and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fava serves as co-PI, with Dr. Greenfield, of the MGH-McLean R25 Training Program, ‘Fostering Research Mentorship and Training During Psychiatry,’ a critically important mechanism by which promising psychiatry residents conduct mentored research during their residency. Since 2016, he has also served as co-PI of a PCORI grant “Switching vs Augmentation in Treatment-Resistant Depression” (19 sites Budget: $14,021,920; DCC-University of Texas Southwestern). With an h index > 140 and over 85,000 citations, Dr. Fava is extremely productive; he has trained and mentored over 50 clinical and translational research scientists and has been the mentor/sponsor of over 30 successful NARSAD, APA, and K Award fellowship applications. His trainees have gone on to have productive independent academic research careers.
Current Grants
Neurobiological Underpinnings of Placebo Response in Depression
NIMH R01 MH102279; 2015 – 21
This project combines an innovative trial design, manipulation of expectations, and neuroimaging techniques to investigate the contribution of dopaminergic mesolimbic pathways to placebo responses in major depressive disorder (MDD).
EPPIC-Net Pain Research – Application for Clinical Trial and Related Activities
NIH OT2NS122680; 2021 – 21
EPPIC-Net serves as the cornerstone of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Partnership, providing a robust and readily accessible infrastructure for carrying out in-depth phenotyping and biomarker studies in patients with specific pain conditions, and the rapid design and performance of high-quality Phase 2 clinical trials to test promising novel therapeutics for pain from partners in academia or industry.
Fostering Research Mentorship and Training during Psychiatry Residency
NIH-NIMH R25MH094612; 2011 – 22
The major goal of this program is to provide support and infrastructure to establish a well-integrated research education program—the MGH/McLean Psychiatry Research Concentration Program—in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/McLean Hospital Adult Psychiatry Residency Program, which aims to attract and train residents to become future psychiatrist-scientists in basic, translational, and patient-oriented research, while increasing research literacy among all psychiatry residents.
Kenneth Freedberg, MD, MSc
Director of the Medical Practice Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital; Director of the Program in HIV Epidemiology and Outcomes Research at Harvard University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)
kfreedberg@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-8597
Dr. Freedberg focuses on evaluating clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness of care in the U.S. and globally. He has developed widely-used computer models of disease to incorporate epidemiologic, clinical, and cost data. The focus has been on HIV, TB, and other infectious as well as non-infectious chronic diseases. He has used these models to determine the cost and cost-effectiveness of different strategies for HIV care in the US as well as in countries in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia. This research has informed clinical guidelines for HIV and other diseases. For the past 20 years, Dr. Freedberg has served as Program Director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-sponsored T32 Program in AIDS Clinical Research Training. He has served as a mentor to over 22 post-doctoral trainees and four pre-doctoral trainees. Sixteen of these trainees have received federal funding, including K01, K23, K24, K25, R01, and R37 awards. He received the Clifford A. Barger Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School for his commitment to mentoring young investigators.
Current Grants
Optimizing HIV Care in Less Developed Countries
NIAID R01 AI058736; 2003 – 23
This study assesses the clinical impact, cost, and cost effectiveness of alternative strategies for HIV management in South Africa, India, Côte d’Ivoire, and Brazil.
Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing HIV Complications
NIAID R01 AI042006; 1998 – 2025
The purpose of the proposed research is to build on the Cost-effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications (CEPAC) model with results that continue to inform national and international clinical guidelines. We propose to capitalize on the unique strengths of mathematical modeling to inform efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the US.
Program for AIDS Clinical Research Training
NIAID/T32 AI007433; 1992 – 22
The goal of this project is to provide training in quantitative research methodologies with a focus on HIV clinical research to predoctoral PhD students and physicians at formative stages in their careers.
Jodi Gilman, PhD
Director of Neuroscience, Center for Addiction Medicine; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
jgilman1@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-7293
Dr. Gilman is a highly productive neuroscientist, and her research uses multi-modal imaging, behavioral and cognitive testing to understand the biological, psychological, and clinical aspects of addiction. Specifically, she uses brain imaging and cognitive and behavioral methods to understand different stages of substance use, from initiation to maintenance to recovery. Dr. Gilman is one of the leading experts on the effects of marijuana on the brain and on cognition in young adults, and has been PI on a several NIDA-funded grants, including a K01 to study the neuroscience of peer influences and marijuana use in college students, a K02 to use big data to understand the brain changes in addiction in a large longitudinal dataset, and three R01s to study medicinal properties of cannabinoids. She has expertise in neuroimaging of both pharmacological reward and incentive/affect reward, resulting in a detailed understanding of the neural circuitry underlying reward and motivation, especially in adolescents and young adults. Dr. Gilman has successfully mentored pre-doctoral students who are now pursuing PhDs in neuroscience in excellent laboratories around the country.
Current Grants
Medical Marijuana, Neurocognition, and Subsequent Substance Use
NIDA R01DA042043-01; 2017 – 22
This project examines whether and how medical marijuana (MM) use is associated with the development of cannabis use disorder, changes in neurocognition, or altered brain activation among previously light or non- users, by (1) characterizing the impact of MM on progression to addiction (2) assessing, via daily dosing diaries, the effect of MM use patterns on use of other medications and perception of underlying disease symptomatology, (3) characterizing the impact of MM on neurocognitive performance, and (4) examining the impact of MM on brain function in the prefrontal cortex.
Evaluation of Cannabidiol for Reduction of Brain Neuroinflammation
R01DA053316; 2021 – 26
The goal of this project is to assess whether CBD reduces pain-related and negative affect-related neuroinflammation in chronic low back pain patients. In this project, the investigators will use PET/MRI imaging to image glial activation in patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP), and investigate whether CBD, compared to placebo, reduces pain- and depression-related neuroinflammation in cLBP. This will be the first study to test potential effects of CBD on neuroinflammation and striatal physiology in pain patients, and could help reconcile the conflicting findings regarding the efficacy of cannabinoids in pain conditions.
Using Neuroimaging Markers to Understand Risk Factors and Consequences of Cannabis on Brain Structure and Function
1K02DA052684-01A1; 2021 – 26
The goal of this K02 award is to provide protected time for the PI to develop her research program and receive training in developmental neuroscience and in statistical methodology. The scientific focus of this application is a research project, using the publicly available Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset of 11,877 children scanned longitudinally, to understand how trajectories of change in impulsivity associate with brain-based abnormalities and SUD risk.
Medical Marijuana, Pain, and Opioid Use in Patients with Chronic Non-Cancer Pain
1R01DA051540-01A1; 2021 – 25
Controversy exists over the risk to benefit ratio of medical marijuana for adults with chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) on chronic opioid therapy (COT). The primary goal of this proposal is to assess whether medical marijuana, when added to a behavioral prescription opioid taper support program, improves pain and reduces opioid dose in adults on COT for CNCP more so than the behavioral intervention alone. This information is critical to better inform patients and clinicians about the extent to which medical marijuana use may be beneficial or harmful to this patient population.
John F. Kelly, PhD
Elizabeth R. Spallin Associate Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Founder and Director, Recovery Research Institute (RRI) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Program Director, Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) at MGH; Associate Director, MGH Center for Addiction Medicine
jkelly11@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-1980
Dr. Kelly is a former President of the American Psychological Association (APA) Society of Addiction Psychology, and is a Fellow of the APA and a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies such as the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as to foreign governments and national non-federal treatment institutions such as the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and Caron Foundation.
His clinical and research work has focused on addiction treatment and the recovery process, mechanisms of behavior change, and in reducing stigma and discrimination among individuals suffering from addiction. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and chapters in the field of addiction science and is currently an associate editor for several academic journals in the addiction field. His work has been supported by R01 and R21 awards from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and he received a K24 award from NIAAA to support mentorship of junior investigators in patient-oriented addiction research.
Current Grants
Advancing the Science on Recovery Community Centers to Support Persons Treated with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
NIH R24DA051988; 2020 – 25
This project seeks to build a research infrastructure that enhances the study of recovery community centers with a focus on their utility for persons who were or who are being maintained on medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
Investigating Impulsivity and Social Network Changes as Novel Mechanisms of Behavior Change for Alcoholics Anonymous’ (AA) Positive Effects
NIH R01AA025849; 2018 – 23
AA is now well-established in its capacity to help individuals recover from alcohol use disorder (AUD), but there are substantial gaps in understanding the mechanisms by which it does so. Recent studies suggest two novel domains of mechanisms: 1) decreases in impulsivity; and 2) increases in salutary social networks. However, these mechanisms have been investigated in only a small number of studies and the extant studies employed low resolution measurement and suboptimal study designs. The proposed study will address these limitations to systematically investigate impulsivity and social network composition as novel mechanisms of behavior change (MOBCs) for AA’s positive effects on AUD recovery.
Expanding the Science on Recovery Mutual Aid for Alcohol Use Disorder: An Investigation of SMART Recovery
NIH R01AA026288; 2018 – 23
This study will evaluate the real-world clinical and public health utility of SMART Recovery, a secular cognitive-behavioral mutual-help organization providing peer support in 1,200 face-to-face meetings in the US.
Douglas Levy, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
dlevy3@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-3595
Dr. Levy studies how policies in public health, healthcare finance, and health services can improve primary and higher order prevention to improve population health. The principal applications of this overall research agenda are the study of policies to reduce the harms of tobacco use and the design and implementation of policies to improve food choice. In tobacco research, he has assessed public policies to reduce secondhand smoke including smoking bans in multiunit public housing. He also has a secondary research interest in using cost-effectiveness methods to help prioritize resource use and understand competing incentives to adopt alternative policies. His goal is to find effective and efficient strategies to address the leading preventable causes of death. Dr. Levy is the PI and/or Co-I of several smoking policy-related grants including a NHLBI-funded project, and an NHLBI R01 led by Dr. Rigotti.
Current Grants
Health Outcomes and Health Care Spending among Residents of Smoke-Free Public Housing
NHLBI 2R01 HL112212; 2017 – 22
The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of smoke-free rules in public housing on residents’ tobacco treatment use, adverse health events, and health care spending.
Bertha K. Madras, PhD
Psychobiologist, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, McLean Hospital; Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School;
Founding Chair of the Division on Neurochemistry, Harvard Medical School
bertha_madras@hms.harvard.edu
617-855-2406
Dr. Madras led a multidisciplinary, collaborative team of experts in medicinal chemistry and drug design, molecular and cell biology, behavioral biology, and brain imaging to investigate psychoactive and therapeutic drug mechanisms in nonhuman primates and humans, focusing on dopamine signaling systems and medication development, cloning of multiple drug targets, and genotype/phenotype associations. The goal was to clarify immediate and downstream targets of psychoactive drugs and develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to alleviate the burden of neuropsychiatric disorders. She holds 19 US and 27 international patents. She served as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position confirmed unanimously by the US Senate. She now serves on the White House Opiate Task Force.
In government service, she focuses on public health challenges of addictive disorders, especially those related to marijuana and opioid use. She has organized three White House medical education conferences and convened government groups to educate healthcare providers on the need to identify and intervene with at risk patients and to raise awareness of the trajectory and consequences of current opioid prescribing practices. At the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), she initiated policy and grant initiatives, including Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), and made state medical licensing boards and medical associations aware of the need to educate physicians on the consequences of vastly increased opioid prescriptions. Her complex portfolio included oversight of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) drug policy, where she supported rapid publication of their research into roadside testing of multiple drugs/metabolites and a research program to determine the relationship between blood and saliva drug levels and prevalence of accidents. She now leads a preclinical research program focused on contrasting responses of the adolescent and adult brain to drugs of abuse (e.g., THC and psychostimulants) and serves as a consultant on marijuana and other drugs for the U.S. Department of Justice, the CDC (SBIRT), the Vatican, and the World Health Organization (WHO). She authored a definitive report on the medicinal uses of cannabis (Dec. 2015) and co-authored the 2016 report on the health and social effects of marijuana for the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence.
Current Grants
Long Term THC Elicits Distinct Changes in Adolescent Brain Dopamine Signaling
1R01DA042178; 2017 – 22
Aim 1 will quantify age- and sex-dependent expression of D1-D2 heteromer and whether modulation of heteromer activity is reflected in rewarding or aversive behaviors. Aim 2 will measure THC’s effects on D1-D2 heteromer expression, on behaviors, and on plausible downstream mediators of behaviors as a function of age and sex, and whether modulation of D1-D2 heteromer activity affects THC-induced behaviors. Aim 3 will manipulate D1-D2 heteromer expressing neurons in NAc and consequences to THC-induced behaviors. Aim 4 will determine if THC alters DCC expression in the adolescent primate prefrontal cortex and dopamine prefrontal cortex circuitry. These novel biological substrates of THC will yield insights into heightened THC (or marijuana) reward in adolescents, or increased anxiety in females, and a possible mechanism by which adolescent marijuana use can elevate the risk for psychosis and cognitive impairment. Conceivably, novel targets for medication development may emerge from these newly identified biological substrates.
Psychoactive Drug Effects in Adolescent and Adult Brain
Harvard Medical School Research Support 400993 and 401022; 2014 – 22
Conall O’Cleirigh, PhD
Director of Behavioral Medicine and Associate Director of the Global Division’s T32 Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
cocleirigh@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-0385
Dr. O’Cleirigh’s principal research interest is in adapting cognitive behavioral techniques for psychiatric and substance use disorders, with an emphasis on HIV prevention and treatment, supported by grants from NIDA, NIMH, NICHD, and NIAID. In the past eleven years he has mentored 38 pre- and post-doctoral fellows, six of whom he continues to mentor as post-doctoral fellows, and eight of whom are now faculty members at Harvard Medical School or hold Assistant Professor Faculty positions in psychology departments or research medical centers throughout the country.
Current Grants
Effectiveness of an Integrated Treatment to Address Smoking Cessation and Anxiety/Depression in People Living with HIV
NIH/NIDA R01DA047933; 2019 – 23
This proposal is to test the efficacy/effectiveness of a nine-session cognitive-behavioral-based intervention to help smoking cessation in people living with HIV by targeting anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Nurse-Delivered CBT for Depression-Adherence in HIV Primary Care in South Africa
NIMH R01MH103770; 2015 – 21
This project is an effectiveness trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for ART adherence and depression, to be delivered by nurse interventionists in Cape Town, South Africa, to patients living with HIV and depression who have failed first-line treatment.
The TENDAI Study: An Effectiveness/Efficacy Trial to Evaluate a Task Shifting Intervention to Treat Depression and HIV Medication Nonadherence in Low Resource Settings in Rural Zimbabwe
NIH/NIMH R01MH114709; 2018 – 23
This project is a multisite RCT trial examining the effectiveness/efficacy of a stepped care intervention to treat depression and engagement in HIV care in rural clinics in Zimbabwe.
Effectiveness of a Smoking Cessation Algorithm Integrated Into HIV Primary Care
NIH/NIDA R01MHDA044112; 2018 – 23
This proposal is to test an algorithm developed to aid providers in selecting pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in persons living with HIV (PLWH) smokers engaged in HIV care.
Elyse Park, PhD, MPH
Director of Behavioral Research, Tobacco Research and Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Director of Survivorship Research and Psychosocial Services for the Mass General Cancer Center Survivorship Program; Director of Behavioral Research, MGH Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology), Harvard Medical School/Mongan Institute for Health Policy Center
epark@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-6836
Dr. Park’s research focuses on improving and integrating behavioral health treatment among cancer populations and populations at risk for cancer, especially tobacco users. She develops motivational and mind-body interventions for smoking cessation and chronic stress. She has an extensive portfolio of research integrating tobacco cessation interventions into clinical settings, including prenatal care, lung screening, and her current R01 on smoking cessation integrated into cancer care. She is also an expert in qualitative research design and directs the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research Unit at the MGH Division of Clinical Research. She is active nationally in many expert panels on tobacco cessation in cancer care including the Steering Committee for Smoking Cessation Initiatives at NCI Cancer Centers, the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Tobacco Taskforce, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Guidelines for Smoking Cessation.
Current Grants
Assessing the Integration of Tobacco Cessation Treatment Into Lung Cancer Screening
NIH R01CA218123; 2018 – 23
This project will address the integration of a virtual tobacco cessation treatment into lung cancer screening in a large integrated health care delivery system by integrating into its LDCT-LCS sites a novel, personalized, evidence-based smoking cessation intervention in English and Spanish.
Implementing a Virtual Tobacco Treatment in Community Oncology Practices
NIH R01CA214427; 2018 – 23
The goal of this study is to conduct an effectiveness-implementation trial to assess virtual delivery of an evidence-based tobacco treatment intervention in cancer community sites.
Understanding and Improving Health Insurance Coverage Experience of Childhood Cancer Survivors
American Cancer Society; 2019 – 22
The goal of this grant is to conduct the first study to identify and address barriers to accessing affordable quality coverage and health care for childhood cancer survivors.
Krishna Reddy, MD, SM
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Attending Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
kpreddy@mgh.harvard.edu
617-726-1993
Dr. Reddy’s research focuses on the intersection of tobacco use, HIV, and tuberculosis (TB). He applies methods of mathematical modeling, clinical epidemiology, and cost-effectiveness analysis to address policy-relevant questions. His overarching goals are the design, development, and application of evidence- and model-based approaches to clinical decision-making and public health policy around tobacco, HIV, and TB.
Dr. Reddy is a faculty investigator in the Medical Practice Evaluation Center research group and the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, both at MGH. His US-focused research involves mathematical modeling of tobacco- and nicotine-related behaviors, clinical and economic outcomes, and cessation interventions. Supported by a K01 award from NIH, he developed a novel mathematical model (Simulation of Tobacco and Nicotine Outcomes and Policy [STOP]) to study clinical and economic outcomes of tobacco use and cessation among diverse populations. Dr. Reddy’s international-focused research involves modeling of TB care strategies and the intersection of tobacco control, HIV, and TB. He received an R01 award to use modeling approaches to evaluate clinical and economic outcomes of tobacco use and cessation, HIV, and TB in South Africa.
Dr. Reddy’s research brings together collaborators with expertise in policy-relevant simulation modeling and in tobacco and nicotine epidemiology and control. He has previously mentored predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows in simulation modeling research, resulting in two peer-reviewed publications.
Randi Schuster, PhD
Director of Neuropsychology and Principal Investigator, Center for Addiction Medicine; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
rschuster@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-6673
Dr. Schuster is a licensed, child-trained neuropsychologist. She uses a multi-disciplinary approach to define the biological and environmental determinants of adolescent nicotine, cannabis, and alcohol use and mechanisms underlying development of problem substance use. She has aimed to understand cognitive predecessors of adolescent cannabis and tobacco use, effects of cannabis and tobacco use on cognitive performance, and how these and other factors, such as genetics and environment, impact treatment engagement, treatment response, and functional outcomes. She has completed studies in adolescents and young adults with and without psychiatric illness using EMA, behavioral, physiologic, and neuroimaging approaches to define acute and residual effects of cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol on cognition, mood, and drug withdrawal. Her training in community-based research is reflected in her extensive ties with public schools and colleges in Greater Boston. She has surveyed over 10,000 students in school-based settings about their substance use behaviors. She is currently funded by a NIDA K23 grant to define the time course and degree of neurocognitive recovery during one month of cannabis abstinence in non-treatment seeking high school students who use cannabis at least weekly. She has enrolled nearly 300 adolescents in this six week, nine-visit protocol in which participants are randomly assigned to contingency management that incentivizes cannabis abstinence or a monitoring control with no abstinence requirement. To date, her team has conducted nearly 2,700 study visits for this project, with a retention rate of 85%.
Current Grants
Cognitive Recovery with Cannabis Abstinence Among High-School Aged Adolescents
NIDA 1K23DA042946-03; 2017 – 22
This study will combine behavioral, cognitive, and genetic measures with a prospective design of change in attention and executive function during 30 days of cannabis abstinence. Dr. Evins is the Primary Mentor.
Effect of Six-Months of Cannabis Abstinence on Cognition, Academic, and Neural Outcomes in Adolescents
Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award; 2019 – 21
This pilot study will employ a two-arm, within-subject, parallel group design to examine the effects of six months of cannabis abstinence on cognitive, academic, and neural functioning in high school students.
Interrupting Developmental Pathways to Schizophrenia: Protecting Youth at Risk for Cannabis Use and Psychosis
MGH Neuroscience and MGH Research Institute Scientific Projects to Accelerate Research and Collaboration (SPARC); 2019 – 21
This study will examine whether emotion dysregulation represents a transdiagnostic, modifiable, developmental target linking cannabis use in early adolescence to later psychosis.
Development of Best Practice Guidelines for School-Based Interventions for Substance Use
Massachusetts Department of Public Health; 2020 – 24
In collaboration with The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, this project aims to establish best practice, evidence-based guidelines for the continuum of school-based substance use interventions, including alternatives to discipline for substance use infractions and protocols for timely, indicated treatment referral for students negatively impacted by vaping, alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, or other drugs.
Characterizing Proximal Risk for Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation with Acute Cannabis Use and Withdrawal
MGH Executive Committee on Research; 2021 – 22
This study seeks to disentangle relationships between acute cannabis use and withdrawal on proximal depression and suicide risk and recovery by incorporating time-varying patterns of substance use, mood and suicidal ideation, and guide the development of scalable, individualized, accessible, and affordable interventions aimed to reduce depression and suicide risk among adolescents.
Jordan W. Smoller, MD, MS, ScD
Associate Chief for Research, Department of Psychiatry; Director of Psychiatric Genetics and of the Psychiatric and Neurodevelopment Genetics Unit and the Precision Medicine Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine; Director of the Omics Unit of the Division of Clinical Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
jsmoller@partners.org
617-724-0835
Dr. Smoller leads a research program focused on understanding the genetic and environmental determinants of psychiatric disorders through large-scale genomic/biomarker studies of neuropsychiatric phenotypes, including the international Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). A strong interest is the biologic/genetic basis for high rates of comorbidity between psychiatric and addictive disorders such as schizophrenia and tobacco dependence. He has extensive experience with the design and conduct of psychiatric genetic studies, including behavioral and neuroimaging intermediate phenotype studies, as well as gene-environment interaction analyses.
Current Grants
Understanding the Connections among Genes, Environment, Family Processes, and Mental Health
NIMH R01 MH110872; 2017 – 21
This project will collect biosamples as well as measures of social and family environment and psychopathology in a long-term community and family panel study in Nepal. The goal is to examine genetic and environmental predictors of risk and resilience for psychiatric disorders and family outcomes.
Improved Multifactorial Prediction of Suicidal Behavior Through Integration of Multiple Datasets
R01 MH117599; 2018 – 22
The goal of this project is to improve existing EHR-based suicide risk prediction models by integrating additional sources of information including sociodemographic data, to create multifactorial predictive models of suicidal behavior risk
PsycheMERGE: Leveraging Electronic Health Records and Genomics for Mental Health Research
R01 MH118233; 2019 – 22
This study aims to leverage resources from the eMERGE Network to phenotypically and genomically validate and harmonize psychiatric phenotypes across multiple disorders, build clinically useful risk surveillance models for mood disorders, and examine whether risk profiles are associated with clinically-relevant health outcomes.
Development and Validation of an Electronic Health Record Prediction Tool for First Episode Psychosis
R01 MH116042; 2019 – 22
The goal of this project is to leverage the scale and scope of electronic health records to develop and validate an automated risk prediction tool for the detection of first-episode psychosis. The project will also engage key clinical stakeholders in the process of developing a prototype clinician-facing EHR-based screening tool and will release it as an open source SMART app.
The New England Precision Medicine Consortium of the All of Us Research Program
0T2 0D026553; 2018 – 24
The collaborative All of Us Research Program includes Partners HealthCare System and its hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with Boston Medical Center. The goal of this project is to enroll and engage a diverse cohort of 93,000 health system participant-partners who will contribute data and biospecimens to the All of Us Research Program to advance the future of precision medicine.
eMERGE Phase IV Clinical Center at Partners HealthCare
U01 HG008685; 2020 – 25
The team will work on implementation of phenotype algorithms for eMERGE IV, develop new algorithms using EHR data extraction, natural language processing, and machine learning, implement cross-network phenotypes, and provide linkage between genotypes and phenotypes. The team will perform data extraction from the EHR into the Biobank Portal and from there into the OMOP common
data model and transfer of data to the Coordinating Center, as well as AnVIL.
Anne N. Thorndike, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
athorndike@mgh.harvard.edu
617-724-4608
Dr. Thorndike’s research focuses on individual and population-level behavioral interventions to prevent cardiometabolic disease. Her early research, mentored by Dr. Rigotti, focused on testing smoking cessation interventions in clinical settings. Her focus has expanded to include obesity prevention through interventions to promote exercise and nutrition in worksite and community settings. She has tested interventions in worksite cafeteria and community grocery environments to promote healthy food choices using behavioral economics strategies, such as choice architecture, social norms, and financial incentives. Acknowledging that changing health behaviors requires a multi-level approach, her work focuses on environmental and population-level strategies to change diet, exercise, and smoking behaviors that are major contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Dr. Thorndike has been mentored by Dr. Rigotti since her general medicine fellowship.
Current Grants
Impact of Medicaid Funding for Health-Related Social Needs on Dietary Quality and Health
NIH/NIDDK R01 DK124145-01; 2019 – 24
The objectives of this proposal are to evaluate the impact of a new state Medicaid program to provide funding for food and housing services on the dietary quality, stress, health, and healthcare utilization of adult patients and to assess the implementation of the program in a large health care organization.
Roger D. Weiss, MD
Chief of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, McLean Hospital;
Professor of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
rweiss@mclean.harvard.edu
617-855-2242
Dr. Weiss is an international expert in co-occurring substance use disorder and psychiatric illness, with landmark work in treatment of substance dependence among those with bipolar disorder and treatment of prescription opiate use disorder. Dr. Weiss brings invaluable expertise in conduct of clinical treatment trials in those with psychiatric (particularly bipolar) and substance use disorders (particularly alcohol and opiate use disorders) to the mentor team of the K12. He serves as director of the Partners HealthCare Clinical Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program, with Dr. Evins as the MGH Site Director of the fellowship training program. The fellowship, which trains three addiction psychiatrists per year, will be a source of highly promising K12 Scholar candidates. Dr. Weiss serves as a PI of the New England Consortium Node of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network, in which Dr. Rigotti is a co-investigator, and will be able to provide superb mentored clinical research opportunities in this capacity. Dr. Weiss has research collaborations with Drs. Lukas, Janes, and Kelly on the Program faculty.
Current Grants
The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network
NIDA 1U10 DA015831; 2020– 25
The purpose of this grant is to conduct drug abuse research studies in medical settings and community treatment programs.
Timothy E. Wilens, MD
Co-Director, Center for Addiction Medicine; Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
twilens@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-3481
As a child/adolescent, adult, and addiction psychiatrist, Dr. Wilens has a longstanding research interest and experience in the prevention, developmental manifestation, course, treatment, and neurobiology of substance use disorders as it relates to child and adult psychopathology such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, sleep/restless leg syndrome, severe mood dysregulation/bipolar disorder/depression, conduct disorder and psychiatric/cognitive comorbidity such as nonverbal learning disabilities. He also has longstanding interests in the treatment outcomes of these disorders alone and in comorbid states both short and long term. Dr. Wilens is further interested in examining at both a micro- and macro- level, the prevention of the onset of substance use and its manifestations such as opioid use disorders and overdose; as well as its treatment. He has also been involved in developing and testing embedded care models of SUD and other behavioral health treatment in primary and specialty care behavioral, pediatrics, and general primary care practices to help prevent, identify, and treat opioid and other substance use disorders.
Current Grants
Does Treating Young Persons’ Psychopathology Prevent the Onset of Opioid and other SUDs?
NIDA HEAL UG3 DA050252-01; 2019 – 20
NIDA HEAL UH3 DA050252; 2020 – 24
The main aims are UG3: 1) Using a PROMs platform, valid and reliable instrumentation can be implemented; UH3: 2) Treatment of psychopathology in young people will reduce a) the onset of subsequent opioid use, misuse, and OUD; b) the onset of subsequent non-opioid substance use, misuse, and SUD; and c) the onset of subsequent nicotine use, misuse, and use disorder; 3) Treatment of juvenile psychopathology in patients with existing SUD will reduce a) the subsequent development of opioid use and OUD and b) the subsequent worsening of SUD; and 4) Mediators (e.g. reduced psychiatric symptoms, perceived distress) will be identified that help explain the effect of treatment, and moderators (e.g. demographics, clinical, and social network variables) will also be identified that help explain differences in treatment response between patients.
Study of Effects of Treating OUD in Pregnant Women
NIDA CTN 0080 3UG1DA015831-18S5; 2019 – 23
The objective of this study is to examine the effects of treating opioid use disorders (OUD) in pregnant women with extended release (XR) buprenorphine (BUP) compared to sublingual BUP on mother and infant outcomes. It is hypothesized the BUP-XR compared to BUP will not have greater illicit opioid use during pregnancy, 2) will have lower neonatal withdrawal symptoms, and 3) will not have greater post- partum maternal illicit opioid use.
Incorporating the NIDA CTN Common Data Elements (CDEs) into the Electronic Health Record (HER-Epic) in Large Primary Care Practices (PCPs)
NIDA CTN 0062 5U10DA015831; 2015 – 20
This is a phased implementation feasibility and proof-of-concept study to assess incorporating the NIDA CTN common data elements (CDEs) into the electronic health record (HER-Epic) in large primary care practices (PCPs). The main aims are 1) To program the NIDA CTN CDEs, the NIDA/ASAM electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM), and a lean decision support module into Epic, 2) To study the process of implementation of screening and referral using Epic-driven CDEs and clinical decision support (CDS) in primary care clinics / practices, including defining potential barriers and facilitators to their adoption, and 3) To evaluate the impact of implementation on: patient, provider, and system level outcomes.
Studies Funded by the Demarest Lloyd Jr. Foundation
2018 – 23
1. Development of protocol for treating SUD in young people with Nonverbal Learning Disability/Autism Spectrum Disorder
2. Development of guidelines for treating ADHD in children, adolescents, and young adults with Nonverbal Learning Disability/Autism Spectrum Disorder.
3-5. Treatment of Nonverbal Learning Disability/Autism Spectrum Disorder (3 studies: RCT of Buspirone for Anxiety in Driving Simulation; RCT of Omega 3/N-acetylcysteine for mood dysregulation; RCT of Memantine for Cognitive and Social Inflexibility)
The main aims of these investigations are to develop guidelines or protocols and/or complete randomized controlled trials of children, adolescents, and young adults with Nonverbal Learning Disability and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Multimodal Neuroimaging in Adolescents and Young Adults with Bipolar Disorder and Substance Use Disorders
Anonymously Funded; 2014 – 20
The main aims of this study, conducted with McLean Hospital neuroimaging (S. Gruber PhD), are to use functional neuroimaging, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS), and phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (31P-MRSI) to examine associations between neurochemical/circuitry abnormalities in specific brain regions, and mood and substance use disorders among young people with and without bipolar disorder.
Jonathan P. Winickoff, MD, MPH
Director of Pediatric Research, Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, Massachusetts General Hospital; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
jwinickoff@mgh.harvard.edu
781-487-4340
Dr. Winickoff’s research focuses on interventions to promote tobacco cessation among family members of children seen in pediatric practice and reduce children’s tobacco smoke exposure. He is the scientific developer of the CEASE intervention, designed to address tobacco control in families by changing clinical pediatric practice. He also studies the impact of tobacco control policies such as raising the tobacco sales age to 21 and adopting smoke-free policies for multiunit housing. He can offer mentorship for scholars working at the individual, institutional, and policy levels on tobacco interventions in pediatric practice and tobacco control policy evaluation. Dr. Winickoff currently mentors two pre-doctoral and two post-doctoral trainees. Dr. Rigotti was his primary research mentor in training and continues to collaborate with him.
Current Grants
Electronic Pediatric Office Systems to Support Treatment for Parental Tobacco Use
National Cancer Institute (NCI) R01 CA245145-01; 2020 – 24
The major goal of this project is to implement and test an electronic pediatric office system with or without the addition of a community health navigator to increase rates of smoking cessation among parents and households of children seen in primary care practice.
Assessment of Biomarkers in Children to Help Parents Quit Tobacco
NIH/NCI 1 R01 CA248742-0; 2020 – 25
The major goals of this project are to determine if adding routine cotinine measurement in children using blood already collected for lead and hemoglobin testing can institutionalize management of tobacco smoke exposure in a comparable fashion.