Office: President-Elect

Candidate Statement: I am honored to be considered for President of Division 28. I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Kentucky, and I study preclinical models of substance use. I have been involved with the division since I was in graduate school, having been the recipient of both the Outstanding Dissertation and the Young Psychopharmacologist awards. I have been an active member of the executive committee in the role of Member-At-Large and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience. In this capacity, I worked with other executive committee members to increase transparency of the award review process and have had the opportunity to provide feedback on other issues important to the Division 28 membership as well as work with junior and senior investigators on the leadership team. I am excited for the leadership opportunity of being President to grow our initiatives of advocacy for substance use research and enhance diversity of research by growing preclinical representation as well as inclusion of early career investigators within the membership of Division 28. I am also grateful that our division allows opportunities for early career investigators to be in leadership roles and would continue to grow these opportunities to allow trainees to gain valuable leadership experience and showcase their research to the Division 28 community. I appreciate your consideration and look forward to the opportunity to serve as President.

Office: Member-at-Large

Candidate Statement: I am a Professor and Director of the Program of Excellence in Addictions Research (PEAR) at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Within PEAR, I am the Lead Principal Investigator of the Analytics and Psychopharmacology Laboratory (APPL). This funding has come from NIH (11 different institutes/centers) and 16 other agencies. I lead several therapeutic development focused projects (e.g., Phase I/II trials using putative pharmacotherapies, contingency management, and technology in collaboration with industry) focused on treatments for alcohol, opioid, stimulant, and tobacco use disorders. Substance use and psychopharmacology are areas I have worked in for 15 years, which is the same timeframe since being NIH-funded and completing my doctoral degree. I am dedicated to the understanding and treatment of addictions and mental health concerns wherein psychopharmacology plays a pivotal role. I am dedicated to making this critical area of research and practice highly visible and heard amongst national stakeholders and policy makers. The post-pandemic era has unfortunately ushered in a time when access to mental health treatment is perhaps more critical than ever; amongst adolescents, this trend is more concerning still. This also means that research in this space is in high demand as a more diverse patient population is seeking treatment. Such diversity must be met with equally diverse heterogenous treatment options. This requires science and practice from pre-clinical to policy and health economics. I ask for your vote as a Member-at-Large and am committed to representing Division 28 well within APA and beyond.

Office: Member-at-Large

Candidate Statement: Thank you for considering me in the role of Member-at-Large for Division 28 of APA. I am a Professor of Psychology, a Dean's Fellow for Research and Graduate Affairs in the College of Science and Mathematics, and the Director of the Health and Behavioral Integrated Treatments (HABIT) research lab at Rowan University. Over the past two decades, I have been conducting research related to developing behavioral interventions for substance use disorders, with a focus on smoking cessation and opioid use disorder. My research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and Rowan University. I was recently named a Fellow for Division 28 and have served in leadership positions within the organization as well. I served as President of Division 25 for the past two years (currently past-President), as well as Program Chair for two years before that. Divisions 25 and 28 have several overlapping members and interests, so this experience is likely to be a benefit if I am elected in the role of Member-at-Large. I look forward to serving in this new role for Division 28.