UNM
awarded $10 million for drug abuse treatment research
By Steve
Carr
UNM has
been named as one of 17 nationwide sites linked in a Clinical
Trials Network to improve community-based treatment of drug
abuse and dependence. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
recently announced the new five-year award.
With start-up
funding of $1.7 million, and an estimated $10 million over a
five-year period, this is one of the largest addiction research
grants in the states history, said Dr. William Miller,
program director and distinguished professor of psychology and
psychiatry.
The grant
funds a partnership between the Clinical Research Branch of
UNMs Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions
(CASAA) and seven community treatment programs in Albuquerque,
Española, Gallup and Santa Fe. Together, they form
the Southwest Node of the network. The other
two newly-funded nodes are based at Harvard University and the
University of California, San Francisco.
This
is exactly the kind of new initiative envisioned in UNMs
Strategic Plan, said UNM Provost Brian L. Foster. It
is interdisciplinary, and involves our partnering with community
programs around the state to improve the health of New Mexicans.
This
is an exciting opportunity for New Mexico, Miller said.
We will be testing state-of-the-art treatment methods
right in the front-line clinics where ultimately they have to
be applied.
A central
purpose of the Clinical Trials Network is to implement science-based
treatments in ongoing treatment systems.
Two
things make this program unique. The opportunity to do high
quality research in real world clinical settings and to
disseminate state-of-the-art treatments to well-trained
clinicians.
Dr.
Michael Bogunschutz
The New Mexico
treatment programs partnering in this new collaboration include
Ayudantes (Española and Santa Fe), Counseling and Psychotherapy
Institute (Albuquerque), The Life Link (Santa Fe), the Nanizhoozhi
Center, Inc. (Gallup), and Turquoise Lodge (Albuquerque). Also
participating are two public treatment programs operated by the
UNM Health Sciences Center.
A
unique aspect of this program is that it is a two-way collaboration,
said Carol Luna-Anderson, executive director of The Life Link.
It not only brings the best science into our communities,
but the treatment programs themselves have direct input into
what research is needed and done at a national level.
The governing
board of the Network is comprised of research scientists and
treatment program directors, in equal proportions. Luna-Anderson
and Miller will serve on the national committee.
Co-director
of the Southwest Node is Dr. Michael Bogenschutz, associate
professor and vice chair for Addiction Services in the Department
of Psychiatry at UNMs School of Medicine. Bogenschutz
and the department bring expertise in research and use of medications
in detoxification and substance use disorder treatment.
Two
things make this program unique, Bogunschutz said. The
opportunity to do high quality research in real world clinical
settings and to disseminate state-of-the-art treatments to well-trained
clinicians.
The Clinical
Trials Network, in its third year of operation, is already using
treatment methods developed and tested at CASAA, including motivational
interviewing, a counseling method introduced by Miller in 1983
to strengthen peoples commitment to change, and community
reinforcement approach, brought to CASAA in 1985 by Dr. Robert
Meyers, clinical coordinator for the node.