NIDA Deputy Director Wilson Compton, left, Society for Prevention Research (SPR) President Leslie D. Leve, and NIDA International Program Director Steven W. Gust at the 11th Annual NIDA International Poster Session at the 2018 SPR meeting.
The 11th Annual NIDA International Poster Session opened the 2018 annual conference of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR), held in Washington, DC, May 29–June 1. SPR President Leslie D. Leve, Ph.D., University of Oregon, and NIDA Deputy Director Wilson Compton, M.D., M.P.E., welcomed presenters and participants. The international posters highlighted drug and alcohol abuse prevention research featuring U.S. collaborations with prevention researchers from other nations. NIDA provided travel awards to seven researchers: Larissa Maier, Austria; Clea M. B. Sturgess, Canada; Viviana Munoz, Chile; Juliana Mejía-Trujillo, Colombia; Martina Ferić, Croatia; Solomon Renati, India; and Champion Seun-fadipe, Nigeria.
About 100 researchers convened during the International Networking Forum before the poster session. Participants heard progress reports from SPR International Committee workgroups focusing on communications, research collaboration, and outreach coordination. Small group discussions focused on international collaboration; matching research ideas, international settings, and funding; future challenges for prevention science; balancing generic prevention models and the reality of implementation; difficulties in sharing research terminology, measurement constructs, and models; and disseminating ideas for public policy, practices, and research advances. Representatives from international organizations and governmental agencies briefed participants on their prevention research activities. Speakers represented the International Society of Substance Use Professionals, United Nations Office of Drug Control, NIDA International Program, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.