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Christopher AhnAllen, Ph.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Jennifer W. Tidey, Ph.D.
Dr. AhnAllen's research
examines cigarette smoking
patterns in persons diagnosed
with schizophrenia. His
current project investigates
the impact of high-dose
nicotine and sensorimotor
replacement on cognitive
functioning in these smokers.
Other interests include cue
reactivity, EMA and caffeine
use.
Will Aklin, Ph.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Robert K. Brooner, Ph.D.,
Kenneth Silverman, Ph.D.
Dr. Aklin’s research considers
laboratory measures to better
understand the interaction
between biologically-based
psychological constructs (risk
taking, impulsivity) and social
context variables (inner-city
environmental factors) in
relation to substance abuse. He
evaluates operant-based
treatments to promote drug
abstinence, employment, and
medication compliance.
Anika Alvanzo, M.D., M.S.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Dace Svikis, Ph.D.
Dr. Alvanzo’s research
focuses on the association
between psychological
trauma and substance use.
In particular, she is
interested in how cooccurring history of
physical and / or sexual
violence and substance
misuse impact sex risk and
other health behaviors in
women.
Judson Brewer, M.D., Ph.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Marc N. Potenza, Ph.D., M.D.
Dr. Brewer’s work focuses
on measuring cognitive
control as a way to predict
treatment outcomes and to
delineate mechanisms of
behavioral treatments for
addictions. He also studies
mindfulness training with
respect to its effects on
cognitive control processes
and as treatment for
addictions.
Julia Buckner, MS
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Kathleen Carroll, Ph.D.
Ms. Buckner’s research focuses
on understanding the
transactional relationships
between specific substance use
and anxiety disorders by
investigating: temporal relations
between addiction and anxiety,
mechanisms underlying these
relations, and development and
evaluation of empiricallyinformed treatments and
preventions for these disorders.
Kevin Gray, M.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Himanshu Upadhyaya, Ph.D.
Dr. Gray is one of five
recipients of the American
Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry /
NIDA Physician Scientist in
Substance Abuse K12
Award. His research focus
is on craving, cue
reactivity, and medication
treatment development in
cannabis dependent
adolescents.
Doug Hyan Han, M.D., Ph.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentors: Perry Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., MBA
Dr. Han’s research focuses
on the etiology and
treatment of internet video
game addiction for child and
adolescent populations,
including excessive internet
users. In addition, his
research interests include
the craving for non-chemical
addiction such as binge
eating and gambling.
Bryan Hartzler, Ph.D
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentors: Donald Calsyn, Ph.D.
Dr. Hartzler’s research focuses
on clinical application, fidelity
measurement, and practitioner
training/implementation of
empirically-supported
behavioral approaches for
substance users. Most of his
early career work relates to
applications of patient-centered
therapeutic approaches, most
notably motivational
interviewing.
Jennifer Havens, Ph.D, MPH
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Carl Leukefeld, DSW
Dr. Havens currently
holds an R01 from NIDA
titled “Social Networks
and HIV Risk among
Rural Drug Users”.
Her research explores
the medical
consequences of
injection drug use in
rural areas, including
HIV and HCV.
Iliyan Ivanof, MD
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Jeffrey Newcorn, MD
Dr. Ivanov is the PI on an
AACAP/NIDA K-12 Career
Development Award titled Brain
Activation in Preadolescents at Low
vs. High Risk for Subsequent
Substance Abuse. His main
research interests are in the area of
identifying childhood biological
markers for addiction vulnerability
using fMRI neuroimaging to evaluate
neuronal networks related to reward
and executive control in young
children before exposure to drugs
of abuse.
Ryan K. Lanier, Ph.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentors: George Bigelow, Ph.D., Eric Strain, MD,
Miriam Z. Mintzer, Ph.D.
Dr. Lanier’s research
interests include evaluating
new pharmacotherapies for
opioid dependence,
investigating the cognitive,
behavioral, and
physiological effects of
opioid pharmacotherapy
maintenance, and
assessing the abuse liability
of new medications for pain
treatment.
Alison Looby, MA
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D.
Ms. Looby’s research
examines neurocognitive
deficits in cannabis
users. Specifically, she is
interested in mediating
factors influencing
performance, such as
incentives and stereotype
threat. In tandem, her
research examines the role
that expectancy effects play
in predicting prescription
stimulant misuse.
Michael Mancino, MD
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Alison Oliveto Beaudoin, Ph.D.
Dr. Mancino’s research
examines patient factors
such as sex, genetic
polymorphisms,
psychiatric comorbidity,
and neurophysiological
markers that may impact
treatment response. End
goal is to identify potential
treatment agents for
psychostimulant
dependence.
Michael Odenwald, Ph.D., Dipl Psych
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Thomas Elbert, Ph.D.
Dr. Odenwald’s research
focus on drug abuse and
PTSD in post-conflict regions
and among refugees in
western countries. He is also
interested in neurobiological
mechanisms of crosssensitization in humans. He
currently works in a clinical
research setting at the
University of Konstanz,
Germany.
Rajkumar Sevak, Ph.D
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Craig R. Rush, Ph.D.
Dr. Sevak’s research examines
the behavioral and
pharmacological determinants
of the stimulant abuse, using
drug discrimination and drug
self-administration procedures
in humans. His current
research is focused on
identifying putative
pharmacotherapies for the
management of stimulant
dependence.
Jesse Suh, Psy.D.
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: Anna Rose Childress, Ph.D.,
Charles O’Brien, MD, Ph.D., Ronald Ehrman, Ph.D.
Dr. Suh’s research
demonstrates a functional
frontal-limbic disconnection
when exposed to "unseen"
aversive stimuli in cocaine
patients- a potential source
of affective dysregulation
and relapse vulnerability. His
ongoing work involves novel
brain-behavioral probes of
affect dysregulation in
substance abusers with
comorbid conditions.
Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentors: Alan Budney, Ph.D., Maxine Stitzer, Ph.D.
Dr. Vandrey’s research
interests include assessing
the consequences of heavy
cannabis or tobacco
cessation and investigating
medications which assist
cessation. Integrally, Ryan
is pursing novel ways to
apply behavioral
modification techniques
(CM) to the treatment of
drug abuse problems.
Sunmee Wee, Ph.D
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentor: George F. Koob, Ph.D.
Dr. Wee’s research focuses
on identifying the
neurocircuitry and
neuropharmacological
mechanisms underlying
behavioral changes that
occur during the
development of
psychostimulant dependence
using a rodent model of drug
self-administration with
extended access.
Thomas E. Wooters, MS
CPDD Early Career Investigator Travel Award
Mentors: Michael Bardo, Ph.D.
Mr. Wooters uses behavioral (e.g.,
drug self-administration) and
neurochemical (e.g., in vivo
voltammetry) animal models to
study the neurobehavioral
pharmacology of illicit and
therapeutic stimulant drugs. He is
also interested in the development
of selective inhibitors of α-CTX
MII-sensitive α6* nicotinic
receptors involved in nicotineevoked dopamine release as
potential smoking cessation
medications.