Category: Addiction

Leah Ranney, PhD, Sarah Kowitt, PhD, MPH, and team were rewarded a five-year, $2.9 million grant studying cannabis warnings. The award from the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will go towards research involving a legal analysis of existing cannabis warning regulations, interviews with cannabis regulators, the development of evidence-based cannabis warnings, and online experiments to implement more effective warnings that inform people about the risks associated with cannabis use.

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Christian Hendershot, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Clinical and Translational Addiction Research Program at the UNC School of Medicine, presented early findings from the first completed randomized controlled trial of semaglutide for reducing alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers.

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The UNC School of Medicine lab of Zoe McElligott, PhD, and colleagues found that the animal tranquilizer xylazine activates opioid receptors in the brain, suggesting a reason why the treatment naloxone triggers a more severe withdrawal response when given to individuals on fentanyl/xylazine and suffering from respiratory depression.

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UNC Addiction Medicine Program and CORE NC presented on "Low Threshold MOUD: Partnering with Community to Expand Access" during the Morning Plenary at the 2024 Addiction Medicine Conference and shared new video on the Atlas Mobile Clinic community-campus partnership in Robeson County.

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Under the direction of assistant professor of radiology Li-Ming Hsu, the research demonstrates how long-term cocaine use affects brain functions, making recovery and stifling cravings more difficult.

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Christian Hendershot, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Clinical and Translational Addiction Research Program at the UNC School of Medicine, co-wrote a commentary on repurposing the antidiabetic medication semaglutide to treat substance and alcohol use disorders.

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Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH, professor of family medicine and director of tobacco intervention programs at the UNC School of Medicine, was featured in the Triangle Business Journal.

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Through a new $3.8-million, five-year NIH-funded project, UNC School of Medicine researcher Aysenil Belger, PhD, and Diana Fishbein, PhD, at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute will examine neurological and psychological factors that lead some adolescents with anxiety symptoms to use controlled substances. The goal is to improve precision-based, targeted interventions for these teens.

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A new study published by UNC Family Medicine’s Sarah Kowitt, PhD, MPH, and colleagues looked at the impact of different types of warning signs for large and premium cigars sold individually at the point of sale. The team’s newly developed graphic and text warnings were more effective than the FDA’s proposed text-only warnings and could potentially increase the effectiveness of warning signs for large and premium cigars.

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Springer recently released "Chronic Illness Care, Principles and Practice," edited by UNC Family Medicine's Timothy P. Daaleman, DO, MPH, and Margaret R. Helton, MD. Faculty members in the Department of Family Medicine, faculty across the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and other national and international experts wrote the textbook.

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Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH, traveled to the White House on June 1 for the Cancer Moonshot Smoking Cessation Forum. The meeting highlighted the Biden Administration’s commitment to tackling the single biggest driver of cancer deaths in this country—smoking—and efforts underway across sectors to equitably expand access to effective smoking cessation support.

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Gregory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology and member of the UNC Neuroscience Center, received a Director’s Award for Excellence in Research, and Sarah Linnstaedt, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology, earned an honorable mention for the Director’s Trailblazer award.

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