2008 Conference News Article

Eighth National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse Conference

The National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) on Drug Abuse, chaired by José Szapocznik, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and Associate Dean for Community Development at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, held its eighth annual conference, “Community, Behavioral and Molecular Sciences in Addictive Disorders,” from October 1-3 in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference was an outstanding success with over 220 participants from ten different countries, and addressed vital issues of Latino drug use research.

Mexican-born Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), presented the conference’s keynote address on “Imaging Obesity and Addiction,” which examined the common effects on the brain’s dopaminergic system and executive functioning that occur in obesity and addiction, with the hope of leveraging the science from one disorder to inform the other.

Common effects in obesity and addiction were also discussed by neuro-economist Warren Bickel, PhD of the University of Arkansas, examining brain functioning in decision making and choice, temporal discounting and dependency.

The 2008 NHSN Conference also featured several special interest break-out sessions, as well as mentoring and training activities to improve grant writing skills and overall scientific productivity. New to this conference and extremely well received by members was a breakout session on Research Priorities and Funding Opportunities with NIDA, and a presentation by the National Institutes of Health Office of Intramural Training and Education, to discuss training and research programs available. Other activities included an International Poster Session, a New Inves­tigators in Hispanic Drug Abuse Research Panel, and a session on “Navigating the Grant Submission and Review Process.”

Finally, two exciting and international initiatives of the NHSN were also brought together at the conference. The first, the RED Latino Americana de Investigadores en Drogas (REDLA), an epidemiology network of eight countries conducting coordinated epidemiological research on drug abuse and bringing governments and within country scientists together. REDLA was created by the NHSN in partnership with the Organization of American States and NIDA. The second, the Central American Research Network on Addictions, known as RECIA, for its initials in Spanish was created in partnership with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime, NIDA and the US State Department to assist Central American countries develop a research infrastructure to improve the country’s drug abuse treatment programs. As a result of the meeting, the Central American governmental and university representatives constituted themselves as a node for the conduct of drug abuse treatment clinical trials under the NIDA National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network Center grant of which Dr. Szapocznik is PI.

The NHSN conference proved to be an outstanding opportunity to meet and network with scientists based in the U.S.A. and the Spanish speaking world. Based in Bethesda, the conference location also enabled interaction between NIH scientist and scientists from throughout the Spanish Speaking world.

Dr. Szapocznik, “This conference explored common community, behavioral and neurobiological processes across obesity and drug addiction, suggesting that over-eating in obese individuals is not a matter of volition, but rather like drug addiction is a brain disease.”

The Conference brought together major networks in drug abuse, including the Spanish-led RIOD, a network of 54 elite drug abuse treatment programs throughout the Spanish-speaking world, RECIA, the Red Centroamericana de Investigacion de las Addiciones representing six countries, and REDLA, the Red Latinoamericana Epidemiologica representing eight countries, and the NIDA-funded, University of Miami-based Center of National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network.

“One of the most important functions of the NHSN is to mentor the next generation of scientists working in Hisapnic drug abuse. The Conference provided a broad range of mentoring experiences for young investigators, opportunities to meet NIH scientists, learn about the NIH process, and to discuss their research.”