# Mentored Patient-Oriented Research on Adolescent Alcohol Misuse and Treatment

> **NIH NIH K24** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $185,644

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This K24 midcareer research and mentoring program aims to provide the candidate with protected time from
direct patient care to conduct patient-oriented research (POR) on adolescent alcohol misuse and to mentor
junior clinical investigators in translational research in addiction science. Understanding how behavioral,
physiological, and neurocognitive assays measured in controlled laboratory settings can be leveraged to
advance knowledge of how medications impact alcohol use in the real world requires expertise in clinical and
behavioral neuroscience, psychophysiology, and clinical trials methods. For nearly two decades, the candidate
has built a productive and continuously funded POR program that translates theory-driven hypotheses from
preclinical and human laboratory research to real world applications. The proposed integrated plan will
facilitate the candidate’s ability to mentor junior clinical investigators in POR and augment his capabilities as an
independent clinician scientist. The research plan, which focuses on improving treatment options for
adolescent alcohol misuse by optimizing ways to combine medications with behavioral interventions, dovetails
the mentoring goals by providing a vehicle for mentoring junior scientists in: i) mechanisms of alcohol use
disorder (AUD) pathogenesis and treatment effects, ii) clinical trial methods, iii) ecological momentary
assessment (EMA) and psychophysiological research approaches, and iv) training in the responsible conduct
of research. The candidate’s goal is to further develop and refine an experimental therapeutics approach (R01
AA007850) that yields high quality information to inform decisions about whether further development of novel
treatments is warranted. This work centers on developing innovative human laboratory paradigms and related
methods that reliably predict the efficacy of novel pharmacological and behavioral interventions in the real
world and inform models of AUD etiology. This K24 will support the collection of pilot data for an integrative
neurobehavioral therapy that combines a promising novel medication, shown to reduce alcohol use and
craving in adults, with a gold standard psychosocial intervention for treating AUD among adolescents.
Adolescence is a critical period for the pathogenesis of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Alcohol use typically
begins during adolescence and prevalence rates for AUD peak before age 21. Yet, despite clinical demand,
AUD treatments for youth rely on psychosocial interventions that yield only modest benefits. One potential way
to improve adolescent alcohol treatment is to augment the best available psychosocial interventions with
pharmacotherapy. Although the FDA approved four medications to help treat AUD in adults, no medication is
indicated for adolescent use and controlled clinical trials with teenagers are almost nonexistent. Optimizing
treatment options for youth will require closing this important gap in medication dev...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10198650
- **Project number:** 5K24AA026326-04
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ROBERT MIRANDA
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $185,644
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10198650

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10198650, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research on Adolescent Alcohol Misuse and Treatment (5K24AA026326-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10198650. Licensed CC0.

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