The Annual National Conference of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) is the only multidisciplinary meeting for health professional educators who teach about alcohol and other drug problems. AMERSA's primary mission is to encourage the creation and delivery of educational programs in substance abuse for healthcare professionals and to develop a cadre of educators who are effective in facilitating the transfer of research to practice. AMERSA (1) emphasizes that substance use problems demand inter-professional and interdisciplinary response; (2) promotes collaboration among health professionals from diverse disciplines to bring about a degree of interaction and mutual learning that is unusual in professional organizations; (3) provides multidisciplinary leadership for healthcare professionals in the management of substance use disorders; (4) disseminates state-of-the-art research on substance use and education that employs high quality curricula, educational methodologies, and evaluation designs?an under- addressed topic in most organizations in the field; (5) mentors health professionals interested in becoming researchers, teachers, and clinicians; (6) promotes cultural competence among healthcare professionals in their work with individuals from underserved and high-risk populations affected by substance use problems; and (7) builds a national network of addiction experts who can help to inform research agendas, provide education representation at national forums, and advise local, national, and international organizations on substance use policy. The annual meeting gives physicians, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals the opportunity to increase their knowledge of scientific advances and new educational programs focused on substance abuse issues. This proposal builds on AMERSA's 40-year history of successful annual national conferences. The proposed 5-year project will strengthen the high quality and diversity of the national meetings, to be held 2017-2021, by (1) providing speaker fees and travel to attract plenary speakers who are preeminent in the areas of substance abuse research and education, and (2) providing travel award funding and continuing education credits to increase participation of persons from traditionally minority institutions and underrepresented disciplines.
AMERSA remains a strong collaborator in NIDA's technology transfer effort because its members include national and international leaders in substance abuse education and research, and our organization includes multiple disciplines charged with identifying and treating substance abuse. The conference provides a key opportunity for clinical researchers and educators to present and refine their research and to introduce young clinician scientists into the field, thus creating a critical pipeline of professionals. For the proposed conference grant period, we will use travel award funding to increase participation of persons from traditionally minority institutions and underrepresented disciplines. Given AMERSA's strong track record in excellent, evidence- based conference training, the potential of this application for strengthening interdisciplinary substance abuse education, training, and practice is substantial.
