This resubmitted proposal has been revised according to Reviewer recommendations. It requests a 5-year K23 Career Development Award for Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska to develop research expertise in the empirical assessment of new therapies for alcohol dependence and prepare her to be a tenured clinician-scientist in alcohol research. BACKGROUND: Alcohol dependence is a common disorder with high patient and societal burden. Therapy outcomes are often not satisfactory and relapse is common. Meditation, an innovative behavioral therapy, is effective for many medical and mental health conditions. Preliminary evidence supports its use for addictive disorders. No rigorous study has evaluated its efficacy in alcohol dependence. QUALIFICATIONS: Dr. Zgierska is a Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician;she obtained a PhD in sleep physiology, has participated in clinical research in addictive disorders, and conducted and published the results of a promising pilot study evaluating meditation in alcohol dependence. She is completing an NIAAA research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine (UW DFM). ENVIRONMENT: The UW Medical School and DFM are committed to Dr. Zgierska's progress. The UW, with its access to experts in alcohol and behavioral therapies, basic science, randomized clinical trial (RCT) methodology and biostatistics, is an ideal environment for the proposed work. It is associated with collaborating addiction treatment centers from which to recruit subjects. TRAINING: Through expert mentoring, coursework and experiential learning, Dr. Zgierska will build on her existing clinical and research base, and advance her skills in the clinical research and alcohol fields. RESEARCH: During the Award period, Dr. Zgierska will conduct an RCT evaluating the efficacy and possible mechanisms of action of meditation as a therapy for relapse prevention in alcohol dependence. SIGNIFICANCE: If received, this award will facilitate 1) Dr. Zgierska's training to become an independent clinician-scientist, and 2) the assessment of meditation, a promising innovative behavioral therapy for alcohol dependence.
The proposed research will evaluate meditation, an innovative behavioral intervention, as a therapy for alcohol dependence, a common, debilitating and expensive condition, for which existing treatment outcomes are often not satisfactory. This research may benefit the community and society-at-large, as well as the individual study subjects if meditation proves an effective therapy for alcohol dependence.
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