NIDA, EMCDDA Cosponsor Session at Lisbon Addiction Meeting

NIDA grantee Robert L. Balster, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and NIDA International Program Director Steven W. Gust participated in the First European Conference on Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies, held September 23–25, 2015, in Lisbon, Portugal. NIDA and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) cosponsored a session focused on ways to promote synergies and sustainability in addiction research capacity building and program implementation. Dr. Gust discussed NIDA’s research capacity-building efforts, and Dr. Balster discussed the NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellowships and the International Programme in Addiction Studies, an online master’s degree program offered by the University of Adelaide, Australia; King’s College, London; and VCU. Dr. Gust also chaired a session of oral presentations on research methods and analysis. Former NIDA fellows who presented during the conference included 2012 INVEST Drug Abuse Research Fellow Jan Klimas (Ireland) and NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellows Roumen Sedefov (1994–1995, Bulgaria), Lubomir Okruhlica (1995–1996, Slovak Republic), David Otiashvili (2003–2004, Georgia), Tomas Zabransky (2003–2004, Czech Republic), and Roman Gabrhelik (2010–2011).