|
April 2025
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the latest edition of the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Newsletter—your source for the latest news, updates, and events in the field of addiction medicine. Stay informed, stay engaged, and join us in making a difference.
The Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Team
| | |
Sarah Kattakuzhy Selected as UMBrella Person of the Year – On the Rise
Congratulations to Sarah Kattakuzhy, MD, MPH, Associate Director of the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine! The UMB Roundtable on Empowerment in Leadership and Leveraging Aspirations (UMBrella) awarded Dr. Kattakuzhy the 2025 Person of the Year—On the Rise award.
The award recognizes a member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) community who has achieved career growth or overcome personal/professional challenges by utilizing mentorship, coaching, and/or professional development opportunities.
For more information about the UMBrella Awards, please visit: https://www.umaryland.edu/umbrella/umbrella-awards/.
| | |
Dr. Summer Thompson to Present on the Microbiota's Role in Alcohol Consumption at AIRIG 2025!"
Assistant Professor Summer Thompson, PhD, has been selected as a keynote presenter for the Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) Satellite Session at the 2025 Research Society on Alcohol Annual Meeting. The session will focus on Alcohol and Multi-Organ System Responses.
Dr. Thompson’s presentation is titled, “Dueling Roles for the Microbiota in alcohol consumption and Reward.”
| | New Articles & Publications | |
| |
"Neural basis for individual differences in the attention-enhancing effects of methylphenidate"
Dr. Peter Manza published an article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a prestigious, multidisciplinary journal that publishes research across various fields. Titled “Neural basis for individual differences in the attention-enhancing effects of methylphenidate”, it examines differences in how healthy adults respond to methylphenidate, a stimulant medication that boosts dopamine, using PET scans to estimate levels of brain dopamine receptors and fMRI scans to measure brain activity during an attention task.
Click the link below to see his findings on what correlates most strongly to improved brain function and task performance with methylphenidate.
Text Link
| | | |
| |
A Tale of Two Mental Health Crises
— Progress in managing depression has far outpaced management of opioid use disorder
Six decades ago, hope surged for both depression and opioid addiction treatments. Today, we notice a stark contrast: depression management has advanced significantly, while progress in opioid use disorder treatment has been more gradual. Director of the Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Kelly Dunn, PhD, MBA, explores this 'tale of two crises' in a recently published MedPage Today #opinion piece.
Why the gap? And how can we use the field of depression as a roadmap to address opioid use disorder? Dive into Dr. Dunn's perspective: https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/114635.
| | | | ✨ Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Annual Symposium ✨ | | |
Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Location: SMC Campus Center, 621 W. Lombard St.,
MD 21201
Keynote Speakers:
Gary Aston-Jones, PhD
Professor, Rutgers University
Anna Konova, PhD
Assistant Professor, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University
Additional speakers include:
-
Cecilia Bergeria, PhD, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
-
David Epstein, PhD, Translational Addiction Medicine Branch, Real-world Assessment, Prediction, and Treatment Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Jimmy Olusakin, PhD, Matthew Osborne Postdoctoral Fellows, Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
- Sophia Weber, PhD, Matthew Osborne Postdoctoral Fellows, Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Click here for more information
OR
Check out the event flyer to learn more about keynote and featured speakers
| | | | |
Grayken Center for Addiction Training & Technical Assistance
Zeroing in on Xylazine
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
SUD Care Continuum ECHO®: Treating Pregnant People with Opioid Use Disorder
Wednesday, April 2, 2025, 12:00 PM –1:15 PM
Continuing education credits available
| | | | |
Yale Program in Addiction Medicine Grand Rounds:
Speaker: Ashish Thakrar, MD, MSHP
Tuesday, April 8 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m
Addiction Medicine Rounds are CME accredited. Each session will be assigned 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM.
| | | | |
Department of Neurobiology Seminar Series
Title: Redefining the role of “reward” systems in the brain”
Presenter: Erin Calipari, PhD
Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research Associate Professor of Pharmacology,
Vanderbilt University.
Hosted by: Barbara Juarez, PhD
Date: April 15, 11 am
Hosick Hall, Bressler Research Building
Zoom link: https://umaryland.zoom.us/j/98570258800
Meeting ID: 985 7025 8800
Refreshments provided
| | | | |
The Jacob P. Waletzky Award
Submissions Open: Mar 24, 2025, 08:00 AM, EDT
Submissions Close: May 8, 2025, 05:00 PM, EDT
The Jacob P. Waletzky Award is given to an early career scientist (within 15 years of his/her PhD or MD degree) whose independent research has led to significant conceptual and empirical contributions to understanding drug addiction. Both basic and clinical researchers are eligible for the award. Recipients receive a $30,000 prize, complimentary registration, transportation (economy air or ground), and two nights hotel accommodations for the SfN annual meeting.
| | |
USCF Pain and Addiction Research Center
2025 PARC Neuromodulation Symposium
Saturday, April 26 | 8:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Sandler Neurosciences Center Mission Bay Campus, UCSF (And Via Zoom)
Join for talks such as:
“Disruptive Advance in Neuraxial Drug Delivery for Pain” and “Harnessing the power of the Vagus Nerve: A stimulating approach to the treatment of addiction”
Featured Speakers include:
Tony Yaksh, PhD
Professor Emeritus,
Department of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology, UCSD
Peter Staats, MD MBA
Chairman, Vagus Nerve Society,
Founder, Division of Pain Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
| |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
July 29 - August 5, 2025
Application Deadline: March 31, 2025
Location: Laboratory's Banbury Conference Center, Long Island.
A range of disciplines and topics will be represented, including:
- Noninvasive brain imaging to identify drug targets and adaptive processes
- Neuroadaptative processes at the molecular and cellular level
- Neural networks and their modulation
- Relevance of genotype to susceptibility and drug response
- Tolerance and adaptation at the cellular level
- Approaches to exploiting the daunting volume generated by neuroinformatics
Please visit the Neuroscience of Addiction course website for further information and to apply.
| | | | |
