Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research
BST Fellows
| Rebecca de Guzman | Vivian C. Pacheco | Rafael A. Torruella |
| Luther Elliott | Marlene Pantin | Peter Vazan |
| Maria Khan | Ben Singer | Brooke Wells |
| Buffie Longmire-Avital | Azure Thompson | |
Rebecca de Guzman, a BST predoctoral fellow, is ABD in Cultural Anthropology at the Graduate Center of CUNY. She defended her dissertation proposal, “The production of race and knowledge in AIDS clinical trials” and has begun her fieldwork with an AIDS Clinical Trial Unit in New York City. Rebecca is currently conducting secondary data analysis of semi-structured interviews with medical practitioners concerning the barriers that limit the participation of people of color, women, and substance users in AIDS Clinical Trials (Gwadz, PI). In addition, she is conducting data analysis and will contribute to the writing of a paper based on her work as a qualitative consultant on a mixed-methods study that is examining HIV risk and protective factors in adolescent relationships (Noelle Leonard, PI). Rebecca was awarded the NIDA Director’s Travel Award to attend the 2007 College of Problems on Drug Dependence (CPDD) Annual Meeting in Quebec City, Canada, where she presented a poster entitled, “‘The rush’": Narratives of crystal methamphetamine use among HIV+ gay, bisexual, and MSM injectors” (de Guzman, R., Eyre, S., & Galloway, G.). Rebecca’s most recent article, “‘I thought there was no hope for me because I was a relapser’: An examination of a behavioral intervention for urban HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected mothers with problem drinking” was published in Qualitative Health Research in 2006 (de Guzman, R., Gwadz, M., Leonard, N., Young, B., & Ritchie, A.)
Luther Elliott, PhD, a BST postdoctoral fellow, received his doctorate in 2006 in Cultural/Linguistic Anthropology from NYU. He spent the past five years conducting ethnographic field work on the intersection of new media technologies and substance (ab)use. His dissertation on the international proliferation of psychedelic drug subcultures between 1985 and 2005 documents his work with young adult substance users in NYC, South Africa, India and Australia, and provides extensive analysis about the various vectors of drug cultural diffusion. In addition to revising his dissertation as a book manuscript, Dr. Elliott has published a paper in 2004, on the use of internet mailing lists as an organizational tool for youth drug subcultures, and has recently submitted for publication a second article from his dissertation, which examines rhetorical practices in substance use initiation. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Elliott has received extensive training in survey design and statistical methods and has recently contributed survey questions for the Tides Center's "Break the Chains" project. Dr. Elliott also submitted two papers for publication that draw on his work with Drs. Bruce Johnson, Eloise Dunlap, Ellen Benoit, and Steven Sifaneck in their study of marijuana "blunt" subcultures in NYC. In addition to conducting a secondary analysis of qualitative data about the motivations and social contexts of blunt use, he has conducted innovative fieldwork with young adult marijuana smokers in New York using a digital scale to assess the amount of marijuana being used during each inhalation, or "hit," taken by users. He has recently done extensive qualitative interviews with a marijuana grower in upstate New York, which will be published in a paper on emerging techniques in cannabis cultivation. Dr Elliott is currently completing a paper on the ethnographic approaches to multiplayer online computer gaming. He is also developing an R21 grant to examine the relationship between playing various types of video games and using different types of drugs.
Maria Khan, MPH, PhD, a BST postdoctoral trainee, recently graduated from the Epidemiology Department at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. She researches the social determinants of sexual risk behavior, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV in domestic and international settings. During this first year of her postdoc, her time has been devoted to four research areas: (1) working with her mentor Samuel Friedman, Principal Investigator in the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research at NDRI, to study how the social and sexual network structure of a sample recruited from an impoverished neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY has influenced community STI and HIV transmission; (2) collaborating with UNC researchers on a multi-level analysis of the association between residence in communities with high incarceration rates and individual sexual risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States; (3) publishing dissertation-related research that analyzed incarceration and sexual risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States and a sample of adults in North Carolina prisons; and (4) working with UNC researchers on STI prevention intervention studies in Madagascar and other international settings. Since joining the BST program in June, 2007, Dr. Khan has submitted three manuscripts from her dissertation, two of which have been accepted for publication (Journal of Urban Health, and Annals of Epidemiology) and two manuscripts on STI/HIV in international settings, one of which has been accepted for publication (Sexually Transmitted Diseases).
Buffie Longmire-Avital, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow, recently received her doctorate in Psychological Development from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University. Her research focuses on how the developing experiences of racial identity, sexuality, and social class influence the concurrent patterns of drug (ab)use and sexual risk-taking among urban Black American adolescents and emerging adults. Prior to being awarded this fellowship, Dr. Longmire-Avital was the data analyst and program evaluation specialist for a progressive youth development agency in New York City. She worked as the lead agency-based evaluator on a CDC-funded grant that tracked the HIV testing patterns of urban adolescents who used the agency’s health center. Dr. Longmire-Avital also evaluated the SISTA program which was geared toward increasing HIV testing self-efficacy, decreasing the use of substance abuse and sexually risky behaviors of Black American adolescent females who were agency members. During this first year of her postdoc, her time will be devoted to four research areas: (1) working with Dr. Jose Nanin, Principle Investigator at The Center for HIV Educational, Studies, & Training, on a CDC-funded research study tentatively called the HIV Prevention Communication among Black MSM project, which aims to explore the relationship between interpersonal communication about HIV prevention and HIV testing intentions among Black men who have sex with men; (2) publishing findings from various studies that investigate sexual risk behaviors, drug use, and HIV medication adherence rates for urban minority samples; (3) collaborating with a research team engaged in community participatory action research with urban diverse adolescents; and (4) developing a grant proposal that will further build upon Dr. Longmire-Avital’s research interests in developmental psychology and drug use. Since joining the BST program in June 2008, Dr. Longmire-Avital has submitted one chapter manuscript (for a psychology textbook) on identity development across the life-span. She is currently working on a manuscript from her dissertation research, which explored the relationships among perceived family socioeconomic status, racial identity and self-esteem of Black American emerging adults.
Vivian C. Pacheco, a BST predoctoral fellow, is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Rutgers-Newark, School of Criminal Justice. She has completed all the coursework and qualifying exams required by the department. She is currently working on her dissertation proposal, which focuses on women, illicit drug use and the criminal justice system. Her research interests include the interactions between gender, race/ethnicity and drug use/abuse, drug use among the Latino population, drug policies, and drug treatment effectiveness. Based on these interests, she is currently working on a women and reentry project in the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, where she is a research assistant. Ms. Pacheco has also presented her work at American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Graduate Education. She was also a fellow at the 2007 National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse-Summer Training Institute. Ms. Pacheco is currently working on a paper about perceived drug treatment success among Latina women.
Marlene Pantin, MPH, a BST predoctoral fellow, is completing the final year of her dissertation at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Pubic Health in the department of Sociomedical Sciences. Her dissertation focuses on HIV risk behaviors among high school students in Trinidad and Tobago. She is especially interested in understanding how structural factors such as socio-cultural, economic and political governance influence and impact youth risk behavior. Over a period of nine months Ms. Pantin conducted field work in Trinidad and Tobago that consisted of focus groups, key informant interviews, surveys, and participant observation. She is currently analyzing the data to identify the sexual norms and perception of sexual and drug use behaviors among these adolescents. Key informant interviews with persons who work with or on behalf of youth is being used to assess sexual and drug use patterns among adolescents in Trinidad and Tobago. Ms. Pantin is currently writing her dissertation. Data from her study will be presented at national and international conferences during the year. Within the near future she will also begin developing articles for submission to peer-reviewed journals.
Ben Singer, a BST predoctoral fellow, is a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University where he is completing an interdisciplinary ethnographic dissertation “On the medical margins: Transgender risk reduction in public health.” While to pursuing his doctorate he has also consulted in the public health sector, specializing in training to reduce health disparities by improving access to culturally competent care. He has worked with the CDC, HRSA, Philadelphia Department of Health, AIDS Activities Coordinating Office and other national and local health and human service organizations. He has applied his knowledge to the successful design and implementation of government-funded projects. For example, during the fieldwork stage of his dissertation he co-founded the Trans-health Information Project (TIP), a program of Prevention Point Philadelphia and the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative, with funding by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2002-2004 he served as director, contributing to program design, authoring curricula, managing staff, overseeing utilization of direct services, and presenting consumer-based health information workshops, as well as technically assisting other local social service agencies. In addition to presenting on transgender issues to government and community-based organizations across the country, Ben recently taught “Transgender Queries in Medicine, Law, Politics and Culture” at Barnard College in New York City. He has published on topics related to his dissertation, including: “From the medical gaze to sublime mutations: The ethics of (re)viewing non-normative body images,” in The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge, 2006); authored a public health curriculum: “HIV risk, hormones and safer injection techniques,” (group level intervention series of the Trans-health Information Project for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 2004); and co-authored: “A needs assessment of transgendered people of color living in Washington DC,” in International Journal of Transgenderism, 8.2/3, (Xavier, J., Bobbin, M., Singer, T.B., and Budd, E., 2005).
Azure Thompson, a BST predoctoral fellow, is in the doctoral program in the department of Sociomedical Sciences at MSPH, Columbia University. She has completed all required course work and qualifying exams for the doctorate and is now working on her dissertation proposal, which focuses on the relationships between work and family and women's smoking cessation. Based upon research on psychiatric disorders among patients in primary care, which she conducted with her faculty at Columbia University, Azure drafted a paper that compared impairment and treatment between Black and white patients. She is also currently working on a paper that is examining racial differences in the quality of residential drug treatment and their effects on treatment outcomes. Her doctoral dissertation advisor is Dr. Joyce Moon Howard.
Rafael A. Torruella, a BST predoctoral fellow, is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Social-Personality Psychology program of the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). He is currently writing his dissertation, “¿Allá en Nueva York Todo es Mejor?: A study on the relocation of drug users from Puerto Rico to the United States.” His dissertation blends his experiences as a researcher studying injection drug users with his work as a harm reduction service provider and activist helping IDUs. His dissertation is exploring the lives and the (not always unintended) consequences of the relocation of Puerto Rican injecting drug users from their homeland to New York City.
Peter Vazan, PhD Before joining the BST program, Dr. Vazan worked from 2004 to May 2008, as a Senior Research Associate at NDRI in the Center for Integration of Research and Practice. During that time, he also completed his doctoral studies in Psychology at the New School for Social Research (May 2006). At NDRI, Dr. Vazan collaborated with Drs. Frank Pearson and Michael Prendergast on a NIDA-funded meta-analysis “Evidenced-based Principles of Treatment,” which examined NIDA Principles of Effective Treatment (disseminated by NIDA in 1999) as well as three Andrews’ Principles of Effective Treatment in correctional settings. Currently, Dr. Vazan is analyzing these data for a manuscript that examines ethnic/racial health disparities in drug abuse treatment. In addition, he is a co-author (with Dr. Stan Sacks and Karen McKendrick) of a study on a modified therapeutic community aftercare program for triply diagnosed clients (HIV, drug use, psychological disorders). Dr. Vazan also works as a data analyst on the HIV Partner Notification project in collaboration with Dr. Marjorie Goldstein and Corrine Munoz-Plaza. During his time as a BST fellow, Dr. Vazan has been developing two international research proposals in collaboration with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These projects aim to improve the data collection infrastructure and epidemiological data on inhalant users among Roma minority population in both countries.
Brooke Wells, PhD, a BST postdoctoral fellow, recently received her doctorate in Social & Personality Psychology from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, Dr. Wells secured NIAAA funding to complete her dissertation and received extensive training in sexuality research, methodology, and statistical analyses. For her dissertation, Brooke conducted a mixed-method study entitled, “A feminist analysis of young women’s experiences of alcohol and sexuality,” which examined the relationship between alcohol consumption and sexuality and the individual and contextual factors influencing this relationship among young urban women. A goal of her postdoc is to publish several articles based on her dissertation research. In conjunction with her fellowship, Dr. Wells is conducting research on the Young Men's Health Project at the Center for HIV Educational Studies and Training (CHEST), collaborating with other senior scientists to develop and conduct research on sexual risk behaviors, substance use, the combination of substances and sexual behavior, and HIV prevention and intervention. Dr. Wells is also collaborating with Dr. Brian Kelly of Purdue University to assist with recruitment and data collection for a study of tryptamine using young adults. Brooke has presented her research at several conferences, including the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the American Psychological Association (APA).