Dr. Thomas Hanlon has had a long and distinguished career in the areas of personality assessment and treatment evaluation. His initial research experience involved conducting clinical psychopharmacological trials largely involving the treatment of schizophrenic and other seriously ill psychiatric patients. During this same period, he also participated in early treatment evaluation studies of the effectiveness of narcotic antagonists in the treatment of heroin drug addiction. The second stage of his involvement in treatment evaluation studies (which involved collaboration with Dr. David Nurco of Friends Social Research Center) included designing and conducting numerous psychosocial outpatient treatment trials involving addicted substance abusers under probation and/or parole supervision by the Maryland Department of Corrections. Examining the early developmental experiences of these addicted individuals led to Dr. Hanlon’s interest and involvement in drug abuse prevention studies of at-risk adolescent minority youth, first in community behavioral clinics and subsequently within the public school system. (Dr. Hanlon’s extensive list of publications reflects this transitional aspect of his professional experience.) The latter part of his professional career as a senior investigator has also involved the mentoring of junior professional staff at FRI on the analysis, interpretation, and write-up of prevention research findings, with more recent emphasis on the avoidance of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Originally a Maryland State employee, Dr. Hanlon entered State service as a research scientist assigned to the research center at Spring Grove State Hospital, which subsequently became the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC) following the reception of a Center foundation grant from the federal government. Having obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1958 from Catholic University of America, Dr. Hanlon became a faculty member of the University of Maryland Medical School when the MPRC was incorporated into the Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry. Dr Hanlon retired from State service in July of 1991.

Dr. Hanlon has had a long association with FRI initially working in conjunction with Dr. Albert Kurland and other founding members of the FRI organization in establishing a program of research at Spring Grove originally involving treatment efforts targeting chronic psychiatric illness. During these early years, Dr. Hanlon was the first recipient of educational support from FRI that enabled him to complete his doctoral training. During his long-term association with FRI, Dr. Hanlon served for 11 years as the Chairman of FRI’s IRB and contributed importantly to the early growth of FRI as a viable research organization.

FRI is pleased to announce that our research on Interim Methadone, Principal Investigator Dr. Robert Schwartz and Co-Investigators Drs. Jerome Jaffe and Sharon Kelly, has been listed on the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program’s website of evidence based practices.

In addition, FRI is please to announce that our research on Prison-Initiated Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Principal Investigator Dr. Timothy Kinlock and Co-Investigators Drs. Robert Schwartz and Michael Gordon, has also been listed on the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program’s website of evidence based practices.

The Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ CrimeSolutions.gov uses rigorous research to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. FRI congratulates Drs. Schwartz, Jaffe, Kelly, Kinlock, and Gordon for their important contributions to effective substance abuse treatment approaches.

Friends Research Institute (FRI) was recently awarded a highly coveted challenge research grant funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The nearly $1,000,000 grant award will support the work of ten research staff as well as the work of three clinics in conducting the study.

This highly competitive award will be led by Dr. Shannon Gwin Mitchell, a community psychologist and research scientist at FRI. Dr. Mitchell has spent the last three years leading the ethnographic component of a longitudinal study examining factors affecting methadone treatment entry and engagement. Prior to her work with FRI, she was at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University where she conducted qualitative research for several HIV risk reduction and peer support interventions with injection drug users.

Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe, an internationally-known expert in addictions, will work closely with Dr. Mitchell on this newly funded study, which will compare the relative effectiveness of intensive outpatient v. standard outpatient counseling when combined with buprenorphine for heroin-dependent African Americans. It will shed light on the important question of what is the appropriate amount of counseling to provide along with medication for opioid addiction.

FRI is pleased to announce that the results of a collaborative study between researchers in Puerto Rico and the Social Research Center, including Timothy W. Kinlock, Ph.D., Michael S. Gordon, D.P.A., and Robert P. Schwartz, M.D., were recently published in a NIDA NewsScan. This study tested whether treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone could feasibly be initiated with soon-to-be-released opioid-addicted prisoners, and whether the treatment would continue in the community and decrease drug use and criminal activities. Of 45 prisoners who began treatment, 42 continued treatment until release; of these 42, 35 continued treatment in the community by one-month post-release. Key findings indicated that these 35 treatment completers had significantly greater reductions in heroin and cocaine use as well as a reduction in criminal activities compared with those who did not complete the program. Although the authors caution that this was a small feasibility study without a control group and that larger-scale future studies are needed, they believe that “the short-term outcomes of this study suggest that treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone may significantly contribute to reductions in readdiction to heroin and in criminal activities among re-entering male offenders.

FRI is pleased to announce that the following researchers at its East Coast Social Research Center have recently received grant funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). We would like to congratulate them as they embark on their timely and significant project.

Principal Investigator Timothy Kinlock, Ph.D., and Co-Investigators Michael Gordon, D.P.A., and Robert Schwartz, M.D., received a five-year grant from NIDA entitled “Prevention of Relapse to Opioid Addiction using Long-Acting Injectable Naltrexone.” The purpose of this study is to determine whether a monthly injection of naltrexone is practical and useful in the prevention of relapse and when compared to treatment as usual. This collaborative project will take place in five treatment sites where there is a large population of parolees with a history of opiate addiction: 1) University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA: 2) Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI; 3) New York University/Bellevue, New York, NY; 4) Columbia University, New York, NY; and 5) Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, MD.

The University of Pennsylvania will be the coordinating site and each site will have a randomization goal of 20 new patients per year over 3.5 to 4 years to accrue a total of 360 to 400 participants. Treatment outcome will be measured by urine tests, hair analysis, self-report and continuation in treatment. Both naltrexone and comparison groups will receive equivalent cash incentives to remain in the program. A benefit-cost analysis will be conducted to compare the costs of the treatment with the quantifiable benefits in terms of reduced crime, re-incarceration and medical services and increased employment.