RIA: Seminar Series

All seminar presentations are made at 10 a.m. on Fridays.

February 17, 2012	Modified Risk Tobacco Products: Harm Reduction, Research, and Regulation Richard O’Connor, Ph.D, Assistant Member in the Department of Health Behavior, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute Dr. O’Connor’s research focuses on the interaction between tobacco products and consumers -- from how cigarettes are designed and how those designs affect smokers’ perceptions and use of the product, to how best to inform policymakers crafting tobacco product regulations. Dr. O’Connor’s ongoing work includes developing and applying filter-based methods for assessing cigarette smoke exposure, characterizing physical properties and design features of international tobacco products, assessing smokers’ interest in alternative nicotine delivery systems (e.g., snus, medicinal nicotine), and smokers’ reactions to novel tobacco products. Dr. O’Connor is Principal Investigator on an NCI grant examining the ‘fire-safe’ cigarette issue, in particular whether laws regulating ignition propensity affect fire incidence, impact smoking behaviors or exposures, or alter product design. He is also a co-investigator on the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, which is an international collaboration of tobacco control researchers whose mission is to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioral effects of national-level tobacco control policies throughout the world. Additionally, he is also a co-investigator on the RPCI Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, heading a sub-project to evaluate the impact of tobacco product regulations on product design and performance, as well as smoking behavior.
April 13, 2012	Jennifer Maggs, Ph.D., Professor, College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University Dr. Maggs’ research interests center around risk behaviors during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Dr. Maggs’ lab group is actively engaged in two NIH-funded projects-- The University Life Study and the British Cohort Studies. These studies use different developmental designs to examine the etiology, correlates, and consequences of substance use and sexual behavior during this age period. The University Life Study examines links between motivations, daily activities, college experiences, and risk behaviors (including alcohol use, sexual behavior, other substance use, and gambling) among university students. This NIAAA-funded longitudinal and measurement burst design study is designed to examine developmental changes and situational fluctuations in links between risk behaviors across contexts. The British Cohort Studies uses developmental epidemiological data from three national longitudinal British cohort studies – the National Child Development Study, British Cohort Study, and Millennium Cohort Study. Dr. Maggs and her colleagues are examining the prevalence, predictors, and consequences of alcohol use across the life span. Dr. Maggs collaborates with partners at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, London, and the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
April 27, 2012	Fernando Valenzuela, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico Dr. Valenzuela completed his M.D. with honors at the Colombian School of Medicine and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California Riverside. He was then a Postdoctoral Fellow and an Instructor in the Department of Pharmacology and Alcohol Research Center at the University of Colorado HSC in Denver. He joined the UNM School of Medicine where he currently is a Professor in the Department of Neurosciences. He is the Director of the NIH-Alcohol Neurobiology T32 Training Grant. Dr. Valenzuela is also the Director of Preclinical Studies in the New Mexico P20 Alcohol Research Center and currently Director of the M.D./Ph.D. Program at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Dr. Valenzuela’s main research interests are the actions of alcohol on synaptic transmission and plasticity during development. A specific area of research in Dr. Valenzuela’s lab is the mechanism of action of neurosteroids and the role of these agents in fetal alcohol syndrome. His lab has recently demonstrated a novel presynaptic effect of neurosteroids that implicates these agents as important regulators of neuronal development. Dr. Valenzuela’s research also explores the effects of ethanol on oscillatory activity in the immature brain and the effects of alcohol on the function of neuronal circuits in the mature brain.
May 4, 2012	Agonist Replacement Therapy for Cocaine Dependence: A Translational Analysis Craig Rush, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine Dr. Rush is currently the principal investigator on four R01 applications from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). These projects examine prevention of cocaine relapse, stimulant abuse pharmacotherapy, agonist replacement therapy for cocaine dependence, and GABAA modulation as a target for developing medications for methamphetamine abuse. In addition, Dr. Rush is a co-investigator on six other NIH-funded projects. During 2010, Dr. Rush assumed the role of director of a T32 awarded to the University of Kentucky (Research Training in Drug Abuse Behavior). Dr. Rush’s research interests are primarily focused on identifying putative pharmacotherapies for the management of stimulant dependence. Dr. Rush uses the principles of pharmacology and behavioral analysis to determine the effects of commonly abused stimulants alone and following pretreatment with the putative pharmacotherapy.