# Frontiers in Addiction Research and Pregnancy

> **NIH NIH R25** · MAGEE-WOMEN'S RES INST AND FOUNDATION · 2021 · $362,192

## Abstract

PROGRAM SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This revised application entitled `Frontiers in Addiction Research and Pregnancy [FrARP]' requests R25
funding within NIDA's Research Education Program, responsive to PAR-16-224. FrARP recruits, educates and
helps launch the careers of clinical researchers and clinicians, primarily under-represented minorities (URMs),
starting with an advanced lab course for skills development followed with mentored research, career
mentoring, tracking and evaluations. The course has formal and individual career development components
ensuring that each participant is well versed in vital skills for designing, conducting, and publishing
independent research, obtaining grants, and launching and sustaining independent careers. The target
audience is graduate and medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and early stage scientists and clinicians. The
courses are offered exclusively at URM institutions: Morehouse School of Medicine (a historically Black
Institution) in 2018, 2020, and 2022, and San Diego State University (a Hispanic Serving Institution) in 2019
and 2021. In addition to recruiting URM scientists, FrARP concentrates on a uniquely vulnerable population—
pregnant women who abuse substances and their babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome. These medical
challenges are serious, growing issues for families and for our Nation. Justifications include: the growth of
addiction research; clinical challenges resulting from addiction during pregnancy; and the paucity of labs led by
URM scientists. FrARP's Executive Committee includes Program Director Gerald Schatten, PhD, at Pitt and
Co-PD Michael Kuhar, PhD, at Emory (Addiction Research Leader), together with Co-Is Steve Caritis, MD, at
Pitt (Addiction Obstetrician), Thereasa Cronan, PhD, at SDSU (Facilitator, Psychologist, URM and Women's
Health), Calvin Simerly, PhD, at Pitt (Course Implementer), Evan Snyder, MD, PhD, at SBP (Addiction
Neonatologist), and Winston Thompson, PhD, at MSM (Facilitator, URM and Women's Health). It is overseen
by a Scientific Advisory Board. Related courses have been successful in attracting URMs (31% African-
Americans; 29% Hispanic Americans; 65% women; 51% from URM institutions). Five Specific Aims are
proposed. I. FrARP Advanced Lab Course for skills development provides conceptual education and
research training; II. Mentored Addiction Research; III. Career Planning Tools; IV. Responsible Research
Conduct; and V. Unbiased Quantitative Evaluations to ensure that this R25 is a wise, cost-effective
investment. The R25's goals, then, are to provide courses in skills development, mentored addiction research,
and ongoing career support resulting in comprehensive, sophisticated training in clinical and translational
strategies for addressing the current challenges in addiction during pregnancy, for designing better therapies
for the future, and for launching and sustaining successful careers in substance abuse, pregnancy, pediatrics
and related fields. In so do...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10113573
- **Project number:** 5R25DA043880-04
- **Recipient organization:** MAGEE-WOMEN'S RES INST AND FOUNDATION
- **Principal Investigator:** GERALD SCHATTEN
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $362,192
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10113573

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10113573, Frontiers in Addiction Research and Pregnancy (5R25DA043880-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10113573. Licensed CC0.

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