WHAT:
Experts from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania will outline the growing body of research that points to genetics as a cause of drug abuse and addiction. They will look at how genetic research can be used to help target medications for people who are trying to quit smoking and how that research can be applied in treatment settings. In addition, they will discuss the role genes play in determining who responds better to treatments for nicotine addiction.
27 professional scientific organizations are co-sponsors of this event.
WHO:
Nora D. Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will provide an overview of the institute's genetic research portfolio as it relates to addiction and drug abuse. Alexandra E. Shields, PhD, director of the Harvard/MGH Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities at the Institute for Health Policy and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will discuss the challenges of applying emerging pharmacogenetic approaches to smoking cessation treatment to clinical practice. Caryn Lerman, PhD, Mary W. Calkins professor and director of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss the emerging research on the role of genetic influences in smoking cessation and in developing successful treatments for nicotine addiction.
WHERE:
Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-339
WHEN:
Tuesday, April 8, Noon - 2:00 p.m. (box lunches will be available)
BACKGROUND:
Research has shown that genes account for approximately half of an individual's vulnerability to addiction, with environment and psychological development also playing a part in increasing the risk for drug abuse and addiction. Scientific advances in genetics could assist experts in their efforts to better tailor prevention and treatment strategies.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is blending modern imaging, genetics and social science tools in large population-based studies to tease apart the complex contributions of environmental and genetic risk factors through the life stages of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. NIDA is supporting research to define and measure aspects of the social environment to understand how genes may mitigate or amplify social influences known to powerfully affect individual choices and behaviors related to substance abuse.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 148,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.