Dr. Balster is Director of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Luther A. Butler Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia campus in Richmond.  He is the Coordinator for VCU site for the Humphrey Fellowship Program in Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Policy.   From 2011 to 2012 he will be spending a year at the State Department in Washington DC as Jefferson Science Fellow working on global science policy issues and then returning to VCU in August 2012.  Dr. Balster is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), and the American Psychological Association.  He is a recent Past‑President of the CPDD and a former member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence (Dependence Liability Evaluation).  Previous appointments also include Chair of the Drug Abuse Clinical and Behavior Study Section at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Chair of the FDA Drug Abuse Advisory Committee, and Chair of the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association.  From 1998-2010 he was Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence and currently serves on the editorial boards of five journals. 

In 2000, Dr. Balster received the first annual Mentorship Award of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence for his lifetime achievements in training and nurturing young drug abuse scientists in his laboratories. Other awards include the VCU School of Medicine Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2003), the Excellence in Mentorship Award from the NIDA International Program (2006), the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science (2006), the Brady-Schuster Award from the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse of the American Psychological Association (2007) and the CPDD Nathan B. Eddy Award (2009).

The principal areas of Dr. Balster's research program are neurobehavioral pharmacology and substance abuse.  His primary interests are in phencyclidine, ketamine and inhalant abuse.  He has also worked in the areas of marijuana, opiate, tobacco and alcohol research. He also has extensive experience in drug abuse potential evaluation and in the drug approval process for psychiatric, neurologic and addiction treatment products. He has also worked in neurobehavioral toxicology.  Dr. Balster’s research program has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1976 and he has been the recipient of a NIDA MERIT Award.  Dr. Balster has published over 260 papers in scientific journals, edited two books and authored over 35 book chapters. He also has experience in the area of drug abuse policy and has testified before Congress and the Virginia General Assembly.  He served as the Public Policy Officer for the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and on the Steering Committee for a CPDD-sponsored Fall 2002 meeting on regulatory aspects of drug abuse potential assessment which involved US regulatory agencies and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry.  He recently Co-Chaired the Planning Committee for a 2008 national meeting on the use of risk management and post-marketing surveillance in limiting prescription drug abuse.

Dr. Balster's page

J. Randy Koch, Ph.D.
Executive director
Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies
P.O. Box 980310
Richmond, VA 23298
Phone: (804) 828-8633
Fax: (804) 828-7862
E-mail: jrkoch@vcu.edu

J. Randy Koch, Ph.D. is the executive director of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies (IDAS), the associate coordinator for the VCU Humphrey Fellowship Program and an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Koch earned his doctorate in community psychology at Michigan State University in 1985. Prior to joining VCU in 2003, he was the Director of Research and Evaluation for the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services, a position he held since 1989. Dr. Koch is a member of several national committees and work groups including, the Outcomes Roundtable for Children and Families, SAMHSA Task Force on Co-occurring Disorders Performance Measures, and the Forum on Performance Measures in Behavioral Healthcare and Related Service Systems, Dr. Koch has conducted research in university, state government and private-for-profit organizations. His research interests are primarily in addiction health services research, including adolescent substance abuse, the etiology and prevention of youth tobacco use, program performance and outcome measurement, and the dissemination of science-based interventions.

Alison B. Breland, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO Box 980310
Richmond, VA    23298
Phone:  (804) 628-2300
Fax:  (804) 828-7862
E-mail:  abbrelan@vcu.edu

Alison Breland, PhD is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies (IDAS) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Dr. Breland earned her doctorate in experimental psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005, where she conducted research on “potential reduced exposure products” (PREPs) for tobacco users. Prior to joining IDAS in 2007, Dr. Breland conducted research on research on alcoholism at the University of Virginia, and held teaching appointments at VCU and John Tyler Community College. Dr. Breland’s current research interests include adolescent tobacco use and cessation, and the use of evidence-based practices for substance abuse treatment in community settings.

Stephanie L. Hart, MBA, CRA
Business Manager, Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies

Stephanie L. Hart, M.B.A., is the business manager of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies. Hart earned her M.B.A. at Wake Forest University, Babcock School of Management in 2002. Prior to joining IDAS in 2003, Hart was a research assistant for the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Hart is a member of the International Who’s Who of Professionals, Society for Research Administrators, and the National Council of University Research Administrators.

Crystal A. Thomas
Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies
Box 980344
(804)828-7819
cathomas@vcu.edu

Crystal A. Thomas is the Assistant Coordinator of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA in 1995. Thomas has over 8 years of executive administrative experience. Six of those years were spent at the former VCU Adcenter, where she managed the domestic and international admissions process. Thomas also has a background and training in crisis counseling and intensive in-home counseling to at-risk youth and families.

Research Associate

s2lasaff@vcu.edu

Safford is a research associate at the Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked for VCU’s Community Health Research Initiative (CHRI) as a research associate and HIV program coordinator.  During her 10 years at CHRI, Safford coordinated community-based research in HIV prevention and care. Recently, she coordinated the Chesterfield site location of a National Institute on Drug Abuse clinical trial network protocol on rapid HIV testing. Safford is currently enrolled in the VCU School of Allied Health Professions’ doctoral program in health related sciences concentrating in rehabilitation counseling.  Her primary research interests include HIV, substance abuse and mental health.  She will be taking a leadership role for the VCU node of the NIDA-supported Clinical Trials Network and conducting other research and development with the Addiction and Women’s Health: Advancing Research and Evaluation (AWHARE) program.

• Pamela Knapp, Ph.D.
  Professor

• Michael Weaver, M.D.

• Marjolein de Wit, M.D.

• Malgorzata Dukat-Glennon, Ph.D.

• Richard Glennon, Ph.D.

• Richard Young, Ph.D.

• Guy A. Cabral, Ph.D.
• Francine M. Cabral, Ph.D.

• Linda Haddad, R.N., Ph.D.

• Mario Aceto, Ph.D.
• Patrick Beardsley, Ph.D.
• Jill Bettinger, Ph.D.
• Darlene Brunzell, Ph.D.
• M. Imad Damaj, PhD.
• Andrew G. Davies, Ph.D.
• William Dewey, Ph.D.
• Louis S. Harris, Ph.D.
• Kurt Hauser, Ph.D.
• Aron H. Lichtman, Ph.D.
• Michael F. Miles, M.D., Ph.D.
• S. Stevens Negus, Ph.D.
• Katherine Nicholson, D.V.M., Ph.D.
• Charles O'Keeffe, M.B.A.
• Susan Robinson, Ph.D.
• Elizabeth Eustis Turf, Ph.D.
• Dana E. Selley, Ph.D.
• Keith L. Shelton, Ph.D.
• Laura Sim-Selley, Ph.D.
• Sandra P. Welch, Ph.D.

• Patricia W. Slattum, Pharm.D., Ph.D.

• M. Scott Bowers, Ph.D.
• Danielle Dick, Ph.D.
• Paula K. Horvatich, Ph.D.
• Lori Keyser-Marcus, Ph.D.
• Janet S. Knisley, Ph.D.
• Michael J. Mason, Ph.D.
• Roy W. Pickens, Ph.D.

• Earl Dowdy, Ph.D.
• Thomas E. Eissenberg, Ph.D.
• Wendy Kliewer, Ph.D.
• Mary Loos, Ph.D.
• Aashir Nasim, Ph.D.
• Dace Svikis, Ph.D.

• May Kennedy, PhD

• Linda Hancock, Ph.D., F.N.P., R.N.-C.