Marek C. Chawarski, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry, has been selected as a 2014 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) International Program Awards of Excellence winner. The program recognized Dr. Chawarski and Vicknasingam B. Kasinather, Ph.D., an associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, for Excellence in International Collaborative Research.
The pair are conducting cognitive, neuropsychological, and epidemiological assessments of individuals who abuse both amphetamines and opiates in Malaysia, testing the effect of amphetamine treatment medications administered in conjunction with buprenorphine maintenance therapy. They also train therapists, drug counselors, and other medical and nonmedical personnel to provide educational drug and HIV risk reduction counseling for patients receiving agonist maintenance, or other pharmacological or drug-free treatments for opiate dependence.
"Dr. Chawarski is an outstanding leader in the substance abuse community," said Steven W. Gust, Ph.D., director of the NIDA International Program. "He and his colleagues have provided the scientific evidence for Malaysia to adopt buprenorphine and methadone as treatments for opioid addiction, and they are developing culturally appropriate prevention and treatment interventions for co-occurring opioid and amphetamine dependence and drug-related HIV infection in Malaysia."
The 2014 Awards of Excellence winners were announced on June 14 at the 19th annual NIDA International Forum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The 2014 forum focused on "Building International Collaborative Research on Drug Abuse."