Dr. Feldstein Ewing is applying for a Mid-Career Investigator Award (K24) to support her development of innovative, translational (clinical + imaging) research in adolescent alcohol treatment. The K24 would protect time to facilitate her mentorship of emerging investigators. Her career development and training aims are tightly and synergistically linked to advance planned research aims. Dr. Feldstein Ewing's 5-10 year research plan is to develop more efficacious treatment for adolescents who struggle with addiction. Dr. Feldstein Ewing believes that advances from this area are most likely to stem from integrative approaches that directly query the developing brain, and aims to tailor articulated interventions that are responsive to that very specific period of neural development. Translational research in adolescent addiction is very labor intensive. K24 research funding is requisite to provide Dr. Feldstein Ewing with protected time from the call of clinical and administrative duties, which in this type of hospital/medical care setting are often highly time intensive, but unfortunately do not advance research, training, or mentorship. Thus, protected time available within this mechanism would facilitate precisely the type of protected coverage requisite for freeing up the investigator to learn more about existing interventions in the field of adolescent psychopathology, adolescent learning and memory, and advanced quantitative methods that can be used to maximize existing data that the candidate already has, to propel the field forward in terms of developing novel interventions for high-need adolescents struggling with addiction. This protection would also facilitate protected time for Dr. Feldstein Ewing to engage and involve mentees at every stage of this process. As with many other academic medical training centers, without this K24, this type of protected research/training time will not otherwise be available to Dr. Feldstein Ewing. This coverage is crucial for advancing innovations in adolescent treatment, at a critical juncture where the resources and opportunity are available for this work to be done. This is a high area of interest and need for NIAAA; this K24 award would launch a new field of scientists to start true progress in this domain of adolescent alcohol and addiction research, and its intervention.

Public Health Relevance

Dr. Feldstein Ewing has a strong track record of grantsmanship within NIAAA. This Mid-Career Investigator Award (K24) proposal would offer the requisite protected time to support Dr. Feldstein Ewing's exploration into under-investigated aspects of adolescent treatment response in the field of alcohol addiction, along with needed protected coverage to mentor the next generation of patient-oriented treatment researchers in this important arena.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
Project #
7K24AA026876-03
Application #
10222915
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAA1)
Program Officer
Kwako, Laura Elizabeth
Project Start
2020-09-01
Project End
2023-08-31
Budget Start
2020-09-01
Budget End
2021-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2020
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Rhode Island
Department
Psychology
Type
Sch Allied Health Professions
DUNS #
144017188
City
Kingston
State
RI
Country
United States
Zip Code
02881