NIDA Selects Three New Distinguished International Scientists

NIDA has selected senior researchers from Brazil, China, and Taiwan to receive Distinguished International Scientist Collaboration Awards (DISCA). The awards will support a 1-month research exchange visit between the scientists and their U.S. partners. The DISCA awardees are:

• Felix Kessler, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., deputy director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, will work with George E. Woody, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, to identify treatment interventions that can be adapted and used in research and training programs at the newly funded Brazilian research center. Dr. Kessler will review pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, counseling, and exercise interventions; genetics and imaging research; and procedures for data management, quality assurance, research publication, and grant writing.
• Former NIDA INVEST Fellow Jiang Du, M.D., Director of the Shanghai Mental Health Center in China, will work with Yih-Ing Hser, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). They will adapt interventions for amphetamine-type stimulant use for China, such as those developed by UCLA using contingency management, exercise, mindfulness, and self-management via cell phone. The two also will develop plans for a pilot study to be conducted in Shanghai.
• Tony Szu-Hsien Lee, Ph.D., National Taiwan Normal University, and his DISCA partner, Marek Chawarski, Ph.D., Yale University, will collaboratively develop behavioral and psychosocial interventions to reduce stimulant abuse and promote safer sexual practices among stimulant abusers. Dr. Lee will conduct literature reviews, analyze data, prepare manuscripts for publication, and plan future collaborative research.