# Transdisciplinary Training in Addictions Research

> **NIH NIH T32** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $274,681

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
The George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University seeks an additional five years
(years 16-20) of support for a predoctoral and postdoctoral research training program, funded since 2002
focusing on services to, treatment of, clinical correlates of and policies affecting minority, underserved
populations and those particularly vulnerable to substance use disorders and co-occurring and comorbid
conditions. Maximizing an effective transdisciplinary collaboration between the Brown School and the School of
Medicine, the Transdisciplinary Training in Addictions Research (TranSTAR) Program provides a stimulating
and collaborative research training environment to produce exceptionally well-trained addictions researchers.
TranSTAR faculty are particularly well-suited for addressing challenging addiction research issues such as
polydrug users, non-treatment seeking, incarcerated populations, or those with mental health/health
comorbidities, and URM and other populations disproportionately impacted by social issues such as poverty,
racism and discrimination, housing and educational inequality. TranSTAR holds a superlative training record,
with 100% of its 10 past predoctoral trainees currently in addictions research, 40% tenured, 53% with external
funding during and 90% subsequent to training. Postdoctoral trainees are similarly accomplished: with 100% of
past trainees in addictions research, 37% tenured, and 50% with external or university funding. With a highly
diverse training faculty, led by two faculty from social work/public health and psychiatry, TranSTAR has
demonstrated success in recruiting and retaining women and URM scholars; current predoctoral trainees are
100% women and 67% URM; diversity of postdoctoral trainees overall is similarly excellent (50% women, 50%
URM). TranSTAR leverages successes and “lessons learned” with on-going monitoring and evaluation to
ensure that trainees (three pre- and two postdocs/year) have the necessary knowledge and skills to: (1)
conceptualize meaningful research questions with practical service and policy implications; (2) execute
rigorous, cutting-edge projects; (3) develop competitive grant applications; and (4) translate and disseminate
results with potential for high impact. TranSTAR provides:(a) transdisciplinary and specialized addictions
coursework and seminars taught by leading faculty in social work, public health, psychiatry, statistics, and the
social sciences; (b) structured mentoring, advising, and “hands-on” experience on addictions research projects
for postdoctoral trainees over two years of training and for predoctoral trainees across three years of mentored
research; (c) proposal critique review sessions; (d) predoctoral teaching assistantships in Master-level courses
in addiction, comorbid conditions, statistics, and research methodology; (e) professional development sessions
on presentation skills, effective communication of research findings, a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928399
- **Project number:** 5T32DA015035-18
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** KATHLEEN KEENAN BUCHOLZ
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $274,681
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928399

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928399, Transdisciplinary Training in Addictions Research (5T32DA015035-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928399. Licensed CC0.

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