Researchers: John Rotrosen, MD, Paul Casadonte, MD, Malcolm Reid, PhD, Kathlene Tracy, PhD, Agatha Kulaga, MSW, Marc Galanter, MD, Mary Jeanne Kreek, MD, James Robinson, MEd, Marc Gourevitch, MD, Josh Lee,MD, Steve Kritz, MD, Larry Brown, MD.

Recent advances in basic and clinical neuroscience, neuroimaging and genetics are providing a rapidly growing body of evidence about pathophysiology and treatment of addictive disorders, and it is now widely accepted that these are chronic relapsing conditions. New medical and behavioral treatments have been shown to have efficacy, but this work has been carried out primarily in academic treatment research environments, by highly specialized staff, and with patient populations defined by restrictive inclusion and exclusion criteria. Translating these new treatments to the broader community is an important public health challenge that was highlighted in a 1998 Institute of Medicine Report, Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice, and which is now the focus of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network launched by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in late 1999.

The missions of the Clinical Trials Network (NIDA CTN) are (1) to conduct effectiveness studies of behavioral and pharmacological interventions across a wide range of community-based treatment settings in diverse clinical populations, and (2) to disseminate the results of this research to providers and their patients within the community using science as a vehicle.
The NIDA CTN is based on a model used successfully by other NIH institutes. It is funded as a cooperative agreement, which incorporates substantial NIH scientific and programmatic involvement to accomplish the primary goals in partnership with the grantees. The Network consists of a National Steering Committee which is the primary governing body and a number of Nodes, each of which consists of an academically based Regional Research and Training Center affiliated with five to ten Community-based Treatment Programs (CTPs). The CTN has been expanded from six Nodes originally to seventeen Nodes at present which are associated with over a hundred community-based treatment programs.

The New York Node includes investigators from New York University, The Rockefeller University, the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, the New York Academy of Medicine and Columbia University as well as New York City and New York State agencies that are involved in substance abuse treatment. The Community-based Treatment Programs affiliated with the New York Node include the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation, the Lower Eastside Service Center, Greenwich House, Odyssey House, Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, the DVA NYHHS, Mount Sinai Hospital and Gracie Square Hospital. Expertise within the New York Node includes molecular biology and genetics, methadone, LAAM, buprenorphine and other pharmacological approaches, behavioral and psychotherapies, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, public health and public policy, and training and dissemination.

There are presently approximately thirty CTN protocols involving medication and behavioral therapies. Protocols address substance use disorders, infections and addiction, smoking cessation, issues related to women and trauma, adolescent substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS.
There are numerous opportunities for interaction between the NIDA CTN New York Node and programs like the NIDA Genetics Consortium that require access to large populations or that focus on epidemiology, health care financing and services research, or on prevention strategies.

Current Clinical Studies