Dr. Gilman is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School (HMS) Department of Psychiatry and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Martinos Biomedical Imaging Center. The proposed K01 will provide her with advanced training and mentored research experience that will prepare her to establish an independent line of research examining the neuroscience of social decision-making in the context of substance abuse. Her goal is to direct a laboratory that uses multi-modal imaging and behavioral and psychological testing to understand the biological, psychological, and clinical aspects of drug abuse. Specifically, she is interested in using brain imaging to understand the role of social influence in different stages of drug use, to characterize individual differences in susceptibility to social influence, and to test if susceptibility to social influence is a risk facor for the development of substance use disorders. Advanced training with an exceptional mentoring team in a rich environment will enable her to advance to the next stage as an independent scientist. During the award period, Dr. Gilman will achieve the following aims: 1) Develop expertise in how social influence/group dynamics affect reward and decision-making processes, 2) Enhance understanding of the neurobiology/pharmacology of drug use, and integrate research into a clinical setting, 3) Increase her potential for independence by enhancing statistical training, developing advanced computer skills, and developing expertise in working with multi-modal data sets, and (4) Undertake specialized training in the responsible conduct of research. In the K01 period, Dr. Gilman will conduct an innovative project, Neurobehavioral Characterization of Social Influence in Drug Addiction, in which she will use a newly- developed social influence task to characterize behavior and neural correlates of social influence in early drug use. This K award will complement her existing strengths in neuroimaging, reward circuitry, and neuropharmacology, with training in social influence, neurobiology and clinical aspects of drug use, as well as in computer, statistical, and multimodal imaging skills, and will prepare her for an independent position as a productive addiction scientist.
Substance abuse among young adults is a critical public health issue facing the United States, and social influence is a well-known contributing factor to the initiation and maintenance of addiction. This proposal will provide training for a promising addiction neuroscientist who will conduct a well-planned and thorough study that investigates the biology underlying susceptibility to social influence among young adults using marijuana. Understanding behavior and biology of social influence may enable clinicians to develop individualized treatments for substance-dependent patients.
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