Mission and Goals

The mission of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies is to advance multidisciplinary research and training on alcohol, tobacco and other drug problems. The Institute’s research and training agenda spans the continuum from basic, laboratory research to community-based treatment effectiveness studies and policy analyses. To carry out this mission, the Institute has established the following seven goals:

• To facilitate collaborative research and training efforts among faculty from different disciplines (including collaborations across academic departments and schools) in addressing problems of substance abuse.
• To develop opportunities for international research and training that support the Institute’s mission.
• To facilitate the application of new knowledge to the development of effective prevention, treatment and policy interventions, through the promotion of  translational research, evidence-based practices, and research on effective methods of dissemination of effective treatment and prevention programs.
• To maintain an outstanding faculty of addictions researchers and educators by assisting in the retention of current faculty and the recruitment of new faculty.
• To create new opportunities for individual faculty development, including mentoring for junior faculty.
• To support the research and training activities of Institute faculty by providing effective business services.
• To establish linkages with community-based organizations that improve public access to scientific advances in the addictions field and provide opportunities for research and training to Institute faculty and their trainees.

Overview 

The Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies was established at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1993 to promote excellence in research and education on substance abuse. Currently, the Institute is comprised of over 50 faculty members from fourteen different departments within the university, thus enabling a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the complex problems associated with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

With the efforts of VCU faculty and the help of other institutions focusing on alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse, IDAS has become a thriving research enterprise for VCU students and faculty, a national leader in addictions research and training and a valuable resource to the commonwealth of Virginia.

Research

The substance abuse research conducted by IDAS faculty spans the disciplines of medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, as well as clinical and services research on community-based treatment and prevention. A major focus of our research is on the biological basis for the actions of drugs of abuse on the brain; significant contributions have been made to the study of cocaine, opiates, marijuana, alcohol, hallucinogens, tobacco, inhalants and PCP. This research has been particularly valuable in providing the scientific basis for developing new drug abuse treatments. Other important areas of substance abuse research include the study of behavioral and genetic factors related to drug addiction, the evaluation of abuse liability of new medications, and the development and evaluation of new prevention and treatment models. IDAS faculty also have made major contributions to the study of tobacco use and dependence in youth.

This multidisciplinary focus has enabled VCU to become one of the leading universities in the world in attracting research support for studies of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. In 2006, IDAS faculty members generated nearly $23 million in external funding from numerous federal, state and private sources. These sources included the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation and several pharmaceutical companies.

Training

In collaboration with various academic departments, IDAS has been a leader in developing several innovative educational initiatives. For example, beginning in 2006 with funding from the U.S. State Department and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, IDAS became one of 15 host universities for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program. This program brings mid-career professionals to the United States for 10 months of advanced leadership and technical training in their chosen field. In addition, with the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health and Psychology, the Institute is developing an international web-based master’s degree program in addictions to begin enrolling students in the fall of 2008. IDAS continues to explore other innovative methods to provide professional development opportunities for VCU faculty and community-based professionals and to train the next generation of addiction scientists and educators.   

Faculty

In addition to the large amount of sponsored research conducted by IDAS faculty members, they are widely recognized for their scholarly contributions to the field of substance abuse.

The Director of IDAS, Dr. Robert Balster, serves as Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, and, during a typical year, faculty members publish over 200 books and scientific journal articles on drug and alcohol abuse. Four faculty members are past presidents of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), the longest standing organization in the United States addressing problems of drug abuse and dependence. Individual faculty members also have received numerous awards, including three recipients of the Nathan B. Eddy Award for lifetime scientific achievement, an award for mentoring young addictions scientists, the Joseph Cochin Award for early career contributions, and the Michael Morrison Award for service to the profession, all from CPDD.

Affiliations

The Institute is affiliated with several large research and knowledge-application efforts of national prominence. These include a research center grant and a pre- and postdoctoral training grant from NIDA. IDAS also has joined with faculty at Johns Hopkins University to be one of the first collaborating centers of NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network. This network of community-based treatment programs linked to regional universities conducts research on the effectiveness and feasibility of new science-based treatments for addictions. The Institute also serves as home to faculty in the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Research Scholars Program. VCU hosts the Virginia Health Practitioners Intervention Program for assessment, treatment planning, referral and monitoring of impaired health practitioners in the commonwealth. Finally, IDAS administers the Virginia Youth Tobacco Project, a statewide research effort addressing the causes and prevention of youth tobacco use, and, it actively collaborates with the Mid-Atlantic Addictions Technology Transfer Center, also located at VCU.

IDAS has strong ties to other institutes and centers at VCU, including the Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, the Institute for Women’s Health and the Massey Cancer Center. Key academic affiliations are with the Division of Addiction Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and the departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Psychology. These affiliations have helped IDAS in recruiting top scientists to VCU.