Mentor Pool

Estefania Azevedo, Ph.D.

Dr. Azevedo’s Laboratory seeks to understand how emotional experiences, such as trauma or reward, are processed and integrated in the brain. Our main goal is to determine the circuit, cellular and molecular mechanisms by which emotions control behavior and physiology. Ultimately, we aim to understand and define novel molecular targets involved in psychiatric diseases, such as Eating Disorders, PTSD, and Anxiety. Using the mouse limbic system as our primary model, our laboratory employs a combination of behavioral, molecular, anatomical, and imaging tools.

Arjun Bharioke, Ph.D.

Dr. Bharioke's lab focuses on looking at neuronal activity throughout the lifespan. They mostly use two-photon imaging to study cortical activity both in living embryos (during development) and in adult mice. Their goals are to understand (1) how neurons generate the cognitive functions that serve to define who we are, and (2) how to manipulate that activity in order to correct defects associated with neurological disorders. His background is in both computational and experimental neuroscience, and the lab uses methods from both those angles, building models of neuronal circuits based on experimental data.

Delisa Brown, Ph.D.

The ROOTS Collaborative (The Reducing Oppression & Overcoming Trauma and Substance Use Collaborative) "Where equity, identity, and healing take root"
The ROOTS Collaborative is dedicated to advancing equity in mental health and addiction treatment through community-engaged research that explores the impact of racial trauma, cultural identity, and structural oppression on substance use and psychological well-being. We develop and test culturally responsive, integrated interventions to address disparities and promote healing, particularly among African American communities. Grounded in a commitment to resilience, justice, and representation, our work seeks to unearth root causes and cultivate systems of care that affirm the lived experiences of underserved populations.

Christine Hahn, Ph.D.

Dr. Christine Hahn leads the Recovery and Early Support for Trauma (R.E.S.T.) lab which focuses on development and testing of early interventions that can prevent and reduce substance misuse and traumatic stress following recent exposure to violence. Her translational program of research utilizes novel, efficient technology-based interventions focused on improving recovery for sexual violence survivors and victims of other types of crime. Dr. Hahn is also interested in community participatory research methods and integrating evidence-based care in real-world settings such as sexual assault advocacy centers.

Amber Jarnecke, Ph.D.

Dr. Jarnecke believes that people’s relationships and social connectedness are key to well-being; thus, her primary research focuses on the ways that interpersonal relationships affect recovery from substance use and after trauma. She is currently co-leading a community-based research study that is developing and testing a digital tool to better detect and connect individuals with resources for intimate partner violence and co-occurring mental health conditions in substance use treatment settings. She is also working on research to better understand the neurobiology underlying alcohol use disorder and PTSD and disseminate treatments that help patients heal from substance use and PTSD.

Xingbao Li, M.D., MSCR

Dr. Li has one NIH project and one VA project that are currently ongoing. Dr. Li's lab uses fMRI to guide TMS for smoking cessation. Their interest areas include brain stimulation and brain imaging in tobacco use disorder. 

Marcelo López, Ph.D.

Dr. Lopez's research interests are the effect of stress and other environmental factors on alcohol intake and relapse, and the role of learning in the development of addictive behaviors. He is conducting studies to evaluate the effect of stress at different developmental stages on voluntary alcohol intake. Dr. Lopez conducts behavioral pharmacology studies utilizing numerous rodent models of alcohol exposure. This includes studying alcohol dependence and relapse drinking involving a mouse model of chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) exposure that produces escalation of drinking. This model has been used to characterize genetic, neurobiological, and behavioral (motivational) factors that influence alcohol self-administration including measures of relapse, tolerance, and behavioral flexibility.

Erin McClure, Ph.D.

Dr. Erin A. McClure is a behavioral psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. McClure earned her B.S. in Psychology and Neuroscience from Allegheny College and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Florida. The overarching goal of Dr. McClure’s program of research is broadly focused on reducing the harmful impact of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine product use across the lifespan. Her research has focused on refining and evaluating strategies to improve long-term abstinence and prevent relapse, as well as pursuing harm reduction strategies to minimize the adverse impact of substance use; all utilizing technology to improve remote procedures and data quality, as well as to increase reach and accessibility.

James Prisciandaro, Ph.D.

Dr. Prisciandaro's research focuses on individuals with Bipolar Disorder and Substance Use Disorder. His lab work is primarily in brain imaging and neuropsychopharmacology.

Jennifer Rinker, Ph.D.

The Rinker Lab is a preclinical, basic science lab that explores the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie alcohol dependence and stress-related disorders using a murine model of excessive alcohol consumption that emulates aspects of this human medical condition of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The lab has several main projects that focus on stress system dysregulation in alcohol dependence, cortical mechanisms of excessive alcohol drinking, and thalamic regulation of reward seeking. We utilize in vivo calcium imaging to track neural activity during alcohol drinking and behavioral tasks, as well as chemo- and optogenetic approaches to manipulate neural activity, and basic wet lab techniques, like immunohistochemistry, western immunoblotting, and slice electrophysiology. The overall goal of the lab is to help understand the etiology of AUD and identify new pharmacotherapeutics targets for drug development.

Tracy Smith, Ph.D.

The goal of Dr. Smith’s research is to reduce the harms associated with smoking, with a focus on regulatory science. One arm of her research has focused on tobacco regulations that can reduce the appeal and addictiveness of combustible tobacco — the most harmful form of tobacco. This includes a decade of research related to reducing the nicotine level within cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, and new research investigating the impact of banning menthol within cigarettes. Another arm of Dr. Smith’s research focuses on the impact of non-combustible tobacco products on public health, including both their potential to serve as harm reduction tools for current smokers and their potential to increase harm for youth and non-smokers who initiate tobacco use with these products. Dr. Smith is currently conducting several trials that test the impact of e-cigarettes on smoking behavior and smoking abstinence among current smokers. Dr. Smith is passionate about mentoring and works with trainees at a variety of levels, including high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, psychology interns, and postdoctoral fellows.

Rachel Tomko, Ph.D.

Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is prevalent and associated with significant clinical sequelae. Women demonstrate more severe withdrawal, more rapid progression from first use to CUD, and greater likelihood of comorbid psychiatric disorder, while men tend to initiate use earlier and have higher lifetime prevalence rates of CUD. In other addictive disorders, such as alcohol use disorder, clinical trial endpoints are sex/gender specific. However, to date, no work has focused on whether different clinically relevant endpoints may be needed for men and women with CUD. An expert workgroup recently concluded that reduced cannabis use is a viable alternative endpoint to abstinence in CUD trials, particularly in the context of changing patient preferences and growing cannabis legalization. However, the amount of reduction necessary for remission from CUD is unknown and may differ for men and women. An emerging literature suggests that ovarian hormones play a key role in drug use. Preclinical and clinical research suggests that endogenous progesterone attenuates drug sensitivity and behavior. Recent clinical studies investigating exogenous progesterone as a potential pharmacotherapy have shown that it attenuates the subjective and physiological effects of cocaine and tobacco in drug-dependent individuals. Presently, little is known regarding the interface of progesterone and CUD, and if fluctuations in progesterone levels may impact ability to reduce cannabis use. The DART intern can help with a project that addresses a key gap in CUD treatment research by empirically-deriving the threshold of cannabis quantity and frequency of use below which most individuals in CUD treatment can achieve CUD remission. Importantly, the roles of gender and ovarian hormones in CUD outcomes are considered and gender-specific endpoints will be derived. Treatment-seeking adults who meet criteria for CUD (N=224, ages 18+, 50% female) receive 8 weeks of a psychosocial intervention, including computerized CBT4CBT. CUD symptoms and detailed information on cannabis use will be collected from participants during the 8-week treatment period and during a three month follow-up (1, 2, and 3 month follow-up visits). Analyses will examine whether the threshold for cannabis reduction necessary to achieve remission from CUD differs by gender and the effect of variation in progesterone on successful cannabis reduction. The establishment of gender-specific reduction endpoints will have both real-world clinical treatment implications as well as enable future studies to rigorously test promising candidate treatments for CUD.

Allison Wilkerson, Ph.D., DBSM

Dr. Allison Wilkerson is an Associate Professor in the Sleep, Mood, and Anxiety Research and Treatment (SMART) Division within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and diplomat in behavioral sleep medicine (DBSM). Her program of research is focused on: 1) understanding the impact of sleep health in underserved populations and using this knowledge to develop tailored sleep interventions; 2) leveraging technology to enhance dissemination of evidence-based assessment and treatment of sleep and mental health disorders, which includes the development and launch of online provider-facing trainings, virtual patients for practice following training, and patient facing mobile applications.