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Faculty
Barbara Mason
Professor
Committee On The Neurobiology Of Addictive Disorders
TSRI - 2002
Education
Ph.D., Long Island University, 1983
Awards & Activities
Co-Director, Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research; Field Editor, Neuropsychopharmacology; Editorial Board, Journal of Substance Abuse; MERIT Award, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2003; Adjunct Appointments, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York; University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida.
Research Focus
Medication Development for Protracted Abstinence in Alcohol Dependence and Related Substance Dependence Disorders
The focus of the research programs in the Division of Clinical Psychopharmacology is the clinical evaluation of potential medications for protracted abstinence and relapse prevention in alcohol dependence and related disorders such as nicotine and cannabis dependence. Research projects range from proof-of-concept early phase human laboratory studies to long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical efficacy studies. A critical aspect of the conceptual framework under which the Division of Clinical Psychopharmacology is predicated is the dynamic feedback from the research findings of pre-clinical and clinical studies, which are designed to streamline information and provide converging evidence for ultimate clinical use. The critical conceptual framework is that the pre-clinical animal studies will inform the clinical laboratory studies, and the clinical laboratory studies will in turn inform the pre-clinical animal studies to further refine basic research involving animal models and the neuropharmacological approach. This approach has identified neuropharmacological domains that are currently being translated into long-term clinical efficacy studies.
Selected References
Mason, B.J. Acamprosate and naltrexone treatment for alcohol dependence: an evidence-based risk-benefits assessment. European Neuropsychopharmacology 13:469-475, 2003.
The COMBINE Study Research Group. Testing combined pharmacotherapies and behavioral interventions in alcohol dependence: rationale and methods. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 27(7):1107-1122, 2003.
Mason, B.J. Rationale for combining acamprosate and naltrexone for treating alcohol dependence. Journal of Studies on Alcoholism (Methodology Supplement), in press.
O�Malley, S.S., Martin, D.J., Hosking, J., Mason, B.J. How pilot studies improve clinical trials: lessons from the COMBINE study. Journal of Studies on Alcoholism (Methodology Supplement), in press.
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