New Clinical Director For NIDA's Intramural Research Program
Dr. Jean Lud CadetDr. Jean Lud Cadet has been named clinical director of NIDA's Intramural Research Program (IRP), supervising clinical procedures and medical care for all human volunteers enrolled in research programs at IRP's Addiction Research Center in Baltimore. Some 1,600 volunteers are screened each year for IRP's drug abuse clinical studies, and of those volunteers about 850 are accepted.Dr. Cadet, a psychiatrist and neurologist, will continue to serve as chief of the Molecular Neuropsychiatry Section of the IRP's Neuroscience Research Branch. Since becoming clinical director, he has begun to increase collaboration between the various IRP sections involved in basic research and those conducting clinical studies that involve human volunteers. He also has named several committees of NIDA staff to review and help implement changes in the IRP clinical research program.
Since joining NIDA in 1992, Dr. Cadet has conducted clinical research into the effects of drugs on the brain, using behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry approaches. He also has conducted basic research into the neurodegenerative and neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine abuse.
Gender, Ethnicity, and Age Make a Difference In Drug Dependence
A new analysis of data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse offers information about gender differences in drug dependence
NIDA grantee Dr. Denise Kandel at Columbia University in New York City and her colleagues looked at survey data from the years 1991, 1992, and 1993 and found, for example, that:
- Among adolescents, rates of dependence on alcohol and marijuana are higher in females than in males, but only rates of cocaine dependence are significantly higher in females.
- Adolescent females are significantly more at risk for becoming dependent on alcohol and marijuana than are women in any other age group.
- Among adults, rates of dependence on alcohol and marijuana are higher among males than among females, but rates of dependence on nicotine are lower among males.
- Among people who used drugs in the last year, whites are more likely than other ethnic groups to be dependent on nicotine. African Americans are more likely to be dependent on cocaine.
The findings were reported in the June 10, 1997 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Dr. Andrea Baruchin
Beverly Wyckoff JacksonNew Staff Members To Improve NIDA's Research Dissemination
NIDA's drive to disseminate its research more widely has been boosted with the arrival of two new staff members in the Institute's Office of Science Policy and Communications. Dr. Andrea Baruchin recently became the new chief of the Science Policy Branch, and Beverly Wyckoff Jackson is chief of the Public Information Branch.
Dr. Baruchin was previously associate director of science policy in the Office of Science Policy and Program Planning at the National Institute of Mental Health. She has authored and collaborated on publications covering topics such as biomedical ethics and human subjects, the molecular neurobiology of stress, and human gene linkage.
Ms. Jackson's extensive background in health and science communication includes heading public affairs at Children's Hospital and the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C. In addition, she owned a public relations firm for many years that served a variety of health-related associations, hospitals, and scientific societies.