The purpose of this conference is to convene the next NIAAA Center Directors meeting to be held at Yale University. This conference is designed to allow Center Directors and NIAAA to review critical aspects of Center operation, logistics and outline plans for the future. To this end, the conference will feature a half-day series of busines meetings to facilitate interaction between the NIAAA and the Center Directors and invited designees. In addition to the logisitical aspect of the conference, the purpose of the Directors Meeting is to facilitate scientific exchange and interaction centered on key problems and state-of-the-art developments in the field of alcohol research. In the past, the Directors Meeting conferences provided a common theme with broad appeal to facilitate presentation of multi-disciplinary research across national Centers. The proposed theme for the conference will center around the construct of vulnerability. Specifically, the focus will be placed on the followig integrative topics related to vulnerability across levels of inquiry: 1) Vulnerability due to Alterations in Learning Mechanisms; 2) Role of Stress and Cognitive Control in Vulnerability; 3) Vulnerability Alterations due to Altered Alcohol Response Patterns; 4) Social and Community Vulnerability Factors, Prevention and Treatment;We are confident the proposed program will provide a fertile platform for discussions and exchange with the aim of advancing knowledge about this disorder and its underlying neurobiology. The progam will generally parallel prior iterations of the NIAAA Directors Meeting. The audience is expected to include ~100 researchers from NIAAA Centers, invited designees as well as local Yale researchers. The proposed meeting dates are April 29-30th, 2013.
The proposed NIAAA Center Directors Conference will allow for a gathering of Center Directors and designated individuals to review logistical matters and convene around a scientific theme of broad appeal. The proposed conference will bring together leading investigators across Centers with multi- disciplinary perspectives on alcohol vulnerability. In doing so, the conference will foster collaborative focus and discussion centered on a vital theme in alcohol research.
