The Yale-Drug use, Addiction and HIV Research Scholar program (DAHRS) began in 2013 with the aim of training a group of diverse young faculty from multiple medical specialties to meet the critical need to develop a pool of highly trained clinician scholars to conduct biomedical, behavioral and clinical research related to drug use, addiction, and HIV prevention and treatment in general medical settings. Patients with substance use disorders often receive medical care in general medical settings such as primary care clinics and emergency departments; HIV, adolescent and women's health and other specialty clinics; presenting with a complex array of acute consequences and complications (e.g. intoxication, overdose, withdrawal, and trauma) of substance use and chronic conditions such as pain, HIV disease, hepatitis, pulmonary and cardiac disease. Patients are increasingly presenting to these settings for the prevention and treatment of addiction itself. The Yale-DAHRS program provides a comprehensive three year post-doctorate, interdisciplinary Mentored Career Development Program that incorporates a robust didactic research curriculum leading to a Masters in Health Science degree, mentored research and training in topics related to Addiction Medicine to: [Aim 1] Develop clinician scientists with the knowledge, skills, and ability to become independent investigators, generating findings of practical value with significant impact to improve health in patients with and at risk for drug use, addiction, and HIV; [Aim 2] Develop future leaders by providing Scholars with leadership skills and creating individualized programs to ensure success in leading multidisciplinary research teams in studying drug use, addiction and HIV, and implementation and integration of research findings into general medical settings; and [Aim 3] Enhance the diversity of drug use, addiction, and HIV researchers. Supporting the careers of women and under-represented minority faculty enhances the diversity of investigators and research topics, broadens perspectives in setting research priorities, increases clinical trial participation, and expands knowledge. To date, our program has demonstrated success capitalizing on the synergies of established training and clinical programs at Yale and our community partners, and the experiences offered by our seasoned, diverse group of interdisciplinary core faculty, mentors and advisory committee. We have enrolled five Scholars (four women) from the fields of internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and pulmonary medicine. All three graduates accepted academic research positions. One has received independent NIDA R01 funding and is co-investigator on two NIH funded grants; one received PI pilot funding from two institutional NIH grants and is awaiting an R21 NIH review; the third is a co-investigator on NIDA and CDC grants and is awaiting review on two grants. All have published in high impact journals and textbooks and are emerging leaders in their clinical specialties. This first time renewal supports four Scholars, benefiting from the iterative changes we have made to improve the program, adding to the next generation of investigators.
Addiction is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and patients with or at risk for substance use disorders typically receive care in general medical settings such as emergency departments and primary care, HIV, adolescent and women's health clinics. Patients often present with a complex array of acute and chronic complications of addiction (e.g. Overdose, HIV infection) and other high risk conditions such as chronic pain, thus these settings offer a critical opportunity to prevent and treat addiction. This proposal seeks to train early career investigators with backgrounds in general medical disciplines such as internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, emergency medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology in order to enhance the prevention, identification, and treatment of addiction in general medical settings.
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