T32 AA028259 funded by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
The Translational Alcohol Research Program (TARP) is a two-year program that spans the Yale Schools of Medicine and Public Health including the Departments of Environmental Health Sciences, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Social Behavioral Sciences and Emergency Medicine. TARP will afford post-doctoral trainees the opportunity to devote full-time effort during the initial phase of their careers to developing the skills and experience needed to become independent researchers in the field of translational research in Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD). A new generation of pharmacological, metabolomic, brain and whole-body imaging, mass spectrometry, cellular and molecular, hepatic and sterile inflammation approaches bring the potential to more effectively connect basic and clinical research and to apply a ‘systems’ approach to the study of AUD. The focus of the proposed training program is on understanding systemic processes involved in AUD, such as inflammation and toxicity, that affect multiple organ systems.
Applicants will be MD or PhD post-doctoral candidates trained in specialties that may include psychiatry, internal medicine, clinical psychology, pharmacology and toxicology, or neuroscience. Candidates will be selected by their potential for excellence in the field of translational research in AUD.
T32 Trainees are typically funded for two years and are required to commit at least 90 percent of their time to research.
New appointments typically being July 1 of each year. Applicants must be US citizens or hold a permanent U.S. Resident Visa (“Green Card”). Applicants must have their PhD or MD by July 1 for the start year to be considered for this training program.
How to Apply
Applicants should send materials including a CV, statement of research career goals, and 2 letters of reference to Dr. Vasilis Vasiliou or Dr. Kelly Cosgrove.Applicants do not need to have previous experience with alcohol research to apply. It is suggested that applicants identify several potential primary mentors in the statement of research goals (list of participating faculty below).
We welcome applications from PhD and MD level trainees in these or related fields:
Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences) and of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and of Environment; Director, Yale Superfund Research Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Cancer Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Co-Director, Environmental Health Sciences Track, Executive MPH
Research Interests
Ophthalmology
Glutathione
Gout
Genomics
Environmental Health
Mass Spectrometry
Alcoholism
Aldehyde Dehydrogenase
Diabetes Mellitus
Vasilis Vasiliou, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He received his BSc in Chemistry (1983) and PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology (1988) from the University of Ioannina, Greece. He then trained in gene-environment interactions, molecular toxicology and pharmacogenetics at the Department of Environmental Health in the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (1991-1995). In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy where he rose through the ranks to become Professor and Director of the Toxicology Graduate Program. Since 2008, he was also Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In July 2014, he joined the faculty of Yale University in his new position.
Professor Vasiliou has established an internationally-recognized research program that has been...
Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience and of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Co-Director of the T32 Translational Alcohol Research Program, Psychiatry and Public Health
Research Interests
Positron-Emission Tomography
Radiology
Psychiatry and Psychology
Diseases
Brain
Chemicals and Drugs
Alcohol Drinking
alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
Neuroimaging
Neurobiology
Nicotine
Opioid-Related Disorders
Dr. Cosgrove uses neuroreceptor imaging techniques such as PET to gain insights into the brains of people with substance use and other stress-related disorders. Trained as a clinical psychologist who worked with individuals managing alcohol and drug use disorders, Dr. Cosgrove transitioned to conducting research in order to inform the treatment of substance use disorders. Her laboratory develops and applies innovative brain imaging paradigms to track changes in critical neurochemicals over time, to identify treatment targets for psychiatric disorders, and to examine individual and sex and gender differences.
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Digestive Diseases)
Research Interests
Diseases
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Dr. Batisti is a gastroenterologist and transplant hepatologist. Her specific interests include care of the liver transplant patient, organ allocation, nutrition in transplant, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)
Research Interests
Digestive System Diseases
Disorders of Environmental Origin
Nervous System Diseases
Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
Dr. Chen has a broad background in environmental genetics and molecular toxicology, with specific training and expertise in redox biology, oxidative stress related diseases, and transgenic mouse models of redox dysregulation. Her research over the past ten years utilizes unique animal models and applies the system biology approach integrating multi-omics data and histopathology to understand the mechanistic roles of redox homeostasis in disease conditions related to environmental and dietary exposures.
How does redox-elicited modifications of the liver proteome tune cellular response to protect against alcohol-associated fatty liver disease?Does oxidative stress play a mutagenic role in emerging water contaminant 1,4-dioxane-induced liver cancerWhat is the functional crosstalk between antioxidants in the central nervous system as they relate to neuronal health and disease?What is...
Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Tobacco Treatment Service, Psychiatry
Research Interests
Vulnerable Populations
Technology
Tertiary Prevention
Tobacco Use
Tobacco Use Cessation
Secondary Prevention
Sleep
Sleep Hygiene
Sedentary Behavior
Health Risk Behaviors
Harm Reduction
Mobile Applications
Nicotine
Exercise
Alcohol Drinking
Alcoholism
I am an expert in tobacco and hazardous alcohol use, other modifiable lifestyle risk behaviors (i.e., deficient sleep, and physical inactivity), and digital health technology. My research focuses on: 1) better understanding and predicting these risks; 2) phenotyping risk variability within individuals; 3) developing novel lifestyle interventions that are tailored to these unique risk profiles; and 4) implementing lifestyle risk behavior/mental health screening and intervention in clinical settings. I utilize various technologies including biosensors, smartphones, telehealth, and electronic health record tools to monitor these behaviors, derive integrated biometric feedback, deliver interventions, and improve healthcare. In addition, I am interested in digitally-derived endpoints as alternative endpoints for clinical trials. In a separate and distinct line of research, I study the effects of different tobacco products...
Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and of Neuroscience; Director, Division of Human Genetics (Psychiatry)
Research Interests
Israel
China
Alcoholism
Anxiety Disorders
Affective Disorders, Psychotic
Genetics
Genetics, Population
Global Health
Psychiatry
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Thailand
Polymorphism, Genetic
Substance-Related Disorders
Joel Gelernter, MD, is Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics and Neurobiology; and Director, Division of Human Genetics (Psychiatry), at the Yale University School of Medicine. The research focus of his laboratory is genetics of psychiatric illness – phenotypes including cocaine, opioid, nicotine, cannabis, and alcohol dependence, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and panic and other anxiety disorders. He also studies a range of related phenotypes, including pharmacogenomics; and basic issues in population and complex trait genetics. The overall approach involves study of genetic polymorphism and sequence variation, on a molecular level and from the perspective of population genetics. Dr Gelernter’s laboratory published genomewide association studies (GWAS) for cocaine, cannabis, and opioid dependence, PTSD, alcohol dependence,...
Associate Professor Adjunct; Associate Director of Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Research Interests
Neuroimaging
Alcohol-Related Disorders
Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
Ansel obtained his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2014. His research program features core areas of translational characterization of novel PET radiotracers, developing new imaging paradigms to improve quantification of brain neurobiology, and human neuroimaging research studying mechanisms underlying diverse psychiatric conditions. Research efforts are complemented by didactic activities lecturing at Yale and individual mentoring of trainees. Current projects include characterizing novel PET radiotracers of immune-related targets in the brain; developing novel imaging paradigms to study acute alcohol effects on neuroimmune and glutamate systems; assessment of dopamine release from smoked cannabis; method development for analyzing multimodal imaging data from fMRI-PET or PET-PET datasets; and implementing...
Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine and Professor of Neuroscience and of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences; Chair, Comparative Medicine
Research Interests
Obesity
Neuroendocrinology
Physiology
Tamas Horvath is Professor and Chair of the Department of Comparative Medicine and Professor of Neurobiology and Ob/Gyn at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. He is also the Director for the Yale Program on Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism. He received a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) degree from the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Szeged in Hungary. His research has been focusing on neuronal circuitries that support physiological and pathological homeostatic conditions, including processes associated with reproduction, energy metabolism and neurodegeneration.
C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine (General Medicine) and Professor of Public Health (Health Policy)
Research Interests
Aging
Chronic Disease
Health Policy
HIV Infections
Internal Medicine
Medical Oncology
Veterans
Dr. Justice is a Clinical Epidemiologist who has developed multiple large national cohorts based on data from the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System Electronic Medical Record enhanced with National Death Index and CMS data, patient completed surveys, DNA and tissue repositories, and stored pathology samples. She has two decades of experience in the processes required to clean, validate, and standardize raw EMR data and in its analysis using standard statistical methods, machine learning techniques, and cross cohort validations. The oldest and best known of her projects is the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS). VACS is an ongoing, longitudinal study of >170,000 United States veterans with and without HIV infection continuously funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1996. She has developed and validated widely used indices including a prognostic index, the VACS...
Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Psychotherapy Development Center; Director, Technology-Based Interventions
Research Interests
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Endpoint Determination
Clinical Trials as Topic
Therapy, Computer-Assisted
Substance-Related Disorders
Psychiatry and Psychology
Brian D. Kiluk, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine is a licensed clinical psychologist conducting research in the field of substance use disorder treatment. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, completed postdoctoral training at Yale through a National Institute on Drug Abuse T32 Fellowship, and joined the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry in 2011. Dr. Kiluk's area of research includes an emphasis on three major topics: (1) the evaluation and enhancement of a web-based version of cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol and drug use disorders (CBT4CBT); (2) exploration of the mechanisms of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorders, and (3) the identification of clinically meaningful outcome indicators of clinical trials for illicit drug use disorders. He is Principal Investigator of multiple NIH-funded...
Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry, of Neuroscience, and of Psychology; Co-Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; Chair, Psychiatry; Physician-in-Chief of Psychiatry, Yale New Haven Hospital; Director: NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism; Director, Clinical Neuroscience Division, VA National Center for PTSD
Research Interests
Neuroimaging
Psychiatry
Neurobiology
Genetics
Drug Therapy
Alcoholism
Veterans
Schizophrenia
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Dr. Krystal is a leading expert on the neurobiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study the neurobiology and treatment of disorders including alcohol use disorder, depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia. He is best known for leading the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients. Within Yale, he chairs the Department of Psychiatry, serves as Chief of Psychiatry for the Yale-New Haven Health System, co-leads the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (CTSA), co-directs the NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcohol, and leads the Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD (VA). In addition to his roles at Yale, he serves as editor of Biological Psychiatry, Vice-President of the Scientific Council for the Brain and Behavior...
I am a Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience at Yale University School of Medicine. I graduated from National Taiwan University College of Medicine and California Institute of Technology and has been a faculty member at Yale since 2003. My earlier work employed non-human primate models to understand the neural bases of cognition. Current research in my laboratory continues to focus on systems neuroscience. By combining psychophysics, computational modeling and brain imaging we explore the circuit mechanisms of a multitude of cognitive constructs, including self control, affect regulation, and reward-related processes. The primary goals are to understand systems neural bases of these cognitive processes and how these neural processes contribute to the etiology of psychiatric and neurological illnesses, with a specific emphasis on addiction.
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Psychiatry; Director Metabolic Modeling and Director Psychiatric MRS, Magnetic Resonance Research Center; Director, Neuroimaging Sciences Training Program, Radiology & Biomedical Imaging and Psychiatry; Chair, Magnetic Resonance Research Center Protocol Review Committee, Radiology & Biomedical Imaging
Research Interests
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
Central Nervous System Diseases
Carbohydrates
Alcoholic Intoxication
Alcohol-Induced Disorders, Nervous System
Alcoholism
Amino Acids
Fatty Acids
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Mood Disorders
Mathematical Computing
Neuroimaging
Dr. Graeme F. Mason develops experimental models and methods for studies of brain metabolism using 1H and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Mass Spectrometry in conjunction with 13C isotopic labeling in vivo, in cell preparations, and other systems. His work began during his graduate studies at Yale where he used a rat model for the experimental determination of brain glucose transport kinetics, energetics, and neurotransmitter metabolism. Dr. Mason received further training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he guided the group's 13C-labeling studies of the human brain in vivo in the 4.1T whole-body MR system. Dr. Mason studies metabolism and neurotransmission in the brain in vivo, including effects of psychiatric, neurological, and metabolic conditions. Dr. Mason examines healthy subjects and patients to investigate relationships among GABA,...
Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Yale Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory; Clinical Director, Forensic Drug Diversion Clinic; Director, Yale Program for Sex Differences in Alcohol Use Disorder, Psychiatry
Research Interests
Alcohol-Related Disorders
Criminal Psychology
Psychiatry and Psychology
Tobacco Use Disorder
Substance-Related Disorders
Dr. Sherry McKee is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale Medical School, Director of the Yale Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, and Clinical Director of the Forensic Drug Diversion Clinic. Dr. McKee directs a translational program of research focused on treatment development for addictive disorders, with an emphasis on women and more recently criminal justice populations. Her work spans clinical trials, behavioral pharmacology, survey research, and epidemiological research to uncover mechanisms underlying poor outcomes and to translate these finding into improved interventions. Dr. McKee has directed large NIH-funded efforts (P50-ORWH/NIDA; P01-ORWH/NIAAA) focused on developing effective medications for addictive behaviors which are responsive to sex-differences. Dr. McKee currently leads the Yale-SCORE on Sex Differences in Alcohol Use Disorder (U54AA027989,...
Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases); Director of Yale Weight Loss Program; Director of Yale Fatty Liver Disease Program
Research Interests
Hepatitis
Fibrosis
Liver
Inflammation
Digestive System Diseases
Weight Reduction Programs
Weight Loss
Wajahat Mehal MD, DPhil, is Professor of Medicine in Digestive Diseases, and Director of the Yale Fatty Liver Disease Program and the Yale Metabolic Health and Weight Loss Program.
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests
Sensory Receptor Cells
Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography
Morris specializes in using kinetic modeling and image processing to extract physiological information from dynamic PET images. His current projects include: Modeling and texture analysis to image Non-small cell lung cancer with tyrosine kinase inhibitor tracers Novel kinetic modeling to image dyskinesias in Parkinson's Continued Optimization of Dopamine Movies to study Addiction and Behavior Applying principles in functional connectivity and machine learning to analyze dopamine movies Imaging new targets in Depression, AlcoholismUsing multimodal PET to understand the opioid system in alcoholism.Creating new parametric images to speed drug discovery Morris and his group continue to refine mathematical and statistical aspects of their techniques for making "dopamine movies" of the brain. With their dopamine movies, Morris and colleague Kelly Cosgrove and their team...
Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases) and Professor of Cell Biology; Co-Director, Yale Liver Center, Digestive Diseases; Director, Center for Cell and Molecular Imaging
Dr. Pearlson's medical school training was in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. Following this he completed a graduate degree in philosophy at Columbia University in New York and was successively a resident, postdoctoral fellow and faculty member at Johns Hopkins University Department of Psychiatry under Dr. Paul McHugh, where he was ultimately Professor of Psychiatry and founding director of the division of Psychiatry Neuroimaging.Dr. Pearlson is currently founding director of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, a 50-person organization consisting of 5 component labs. The Center specializes in the translational neuroscience of major mental illness, including dementias, mood disorders, substance abuse (cannabis, alcohol, cocaine), schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum and other conditions spanning childhood to old...
Professor of Psychiatry; Chief of Psychiatry, VA Connecticut Healthcare System
Research Interests
Alcoholism
Neurobiology
Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Veterans
Comorbidity
Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry)
Substance-Related Disorders
Psychiatry and Psychology
Dr. Petrakis is a Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University
School of Medicine and the Director of the Mental Health Service Line at
VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) since July 2010. Dr. Petrakis completed residency training at Yale School of Medicine and then a NIDA-funded addiction
psychiatry clinical/research fellowship. She joined the faculty in 1992. Prior to July 2010, she was the Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Program of the VACHS since 1996. Dr. Petrakis is also the Director of the Addiction Psychiatry Residency at Yale, an ACGME-accredited program and the PI of both an NIAAA-funded and a NIDA-funded training grant (T32).Her research interests are predominately two-fold: (1) finding appropriate
treatments for dually diagnosed individuals and (2) understanding the
neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcohol dependence. She has received...
Steven M. Southwick Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience; Director, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research; Director, Yale Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders; Director, Women and Addictive Disorders, Women's Health Research at Yale
Research Interests
Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders
Gambling
Child Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Neurobiology
Substance-Related Disorders
Dr. Potenza is a board-certified psychiatrist with sub-specialty training and certification in addiction psychiatry. He has trained at Yale University receiving a combined BS/MS with Honors in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics and a PhD in Cell Biology, the latter concurrent with the MD through the Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed internship, psychiatric residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship training at Yale. Currently, he is a Professor of Psychiatry, Child Study and Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine where he is Director of the Division on Addictions Research at Yale, the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, the Yale Research Program on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders, and the Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women's Health Research at Yale. He is also a Senior Scientist at the Connecticut Council on Problem...