FRI is pleased to announce that its Medical Director, Robert Schwartz, M.D., was recently invited to serve as a mentor for the IAS-NIDA International Fellowship Program. Prospective fellows will be able to choose a mentor in their field of interest and contact the mentor to discuss the possibility of working on a specific research project. Dr. Schwartz will act as a mentor for prospective fellows in the 2012 Round.

The application for the stipend of US $75,000 for an 18-month post-doctoral training or an eight-month long professional development training will be open from December 8, 2011 to February 10, 2012. Fellows will be selected by mid-April 2012. They and their mentors will be invited to the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, D.C. July 22-27, 2012. The fellowships will be officially awarded at the conference and there will be additional activities planned for fellows at the conference.

FRI is pleased to announce that Dr. Jami Obermayer, formerly the Director of Research at PICS, Inc., has accepted a position as a Senior Research Scientist at FRI. Dr. Obermayer has been conducting small business innovation research for the past nine years and has been the Principal Investigator for projects focused on health-related behaviors, including smoking cessation, drug and alcohol monitoring, diet and exercise, HIV prevention and intervention, and cancer risk factor monitoring. FRI is extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Obermayer to FRI and wishes her a prosperous career with the organization.

FRI is pleased to announce that Jan Gryczynski, Research Scientist at FRI, recently received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For his doctoral research, Dr. Gryczynski conducted a national study of on-site HIV testing in nearly 10,000 substance abuse treatment programs across the United States. His research employed multilevel statistical modeling to examine specific organizational, community, and state policy determinants of HIV testing adoption in the substance abuse treatment sector. The study sheds light on the complex interplay between policies, local contexts, and organizational characteristics in shaping the diffusion of an evidence-based service throughout a specialty sector of the healthcare system.

Dr. Gryczynski came to FRI in 2006 as a research assistant to work on disease prevention issues in American Indian communities. Since then, he has been involved in a number of projects at FRI and is currently working with FRI investigators on several substance abuse health services studies. He plans to continue his work at FRI to identify ways of improving behavioral health services for individuals affected by substance abuse and related issues.

Read a 2012 NPR article that refers to FRI Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Jerome Jaffe, about a connection between New Year’s Resolutions and the landmark study about heroin addiction among returning Vietnam War veterans commissioned by Dr. Jaffe and led by the late Dr. Lee Robins.
[ What Vietnam Taught Us About Breaking Bad Habits ]

FRI is pleased to announce that its Medical Director, Robert Schwartz, M.D., was recently invited by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime to present on evidenced-based drug abuse treatment guidelines and his recent research findings at an International Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, which was held at the Bekhterev Research Psychoneurological Institute on October 25th and 26th, 2011. Dr. Schwartz’s presentation was entitled “Evidence-based Addiction Psychiatry: A view from the United States.” FRI congratulates Dr. Schwartz for his important ongoing contributions to studying effective approaches to substance abuse treatment.