Research Foci

The DART Program is unique in having faculty who conduct research on developmental phases that span from prenatal origins of disorders through childhood, adolescent, and adult periods (Table A). A unique and strong aspect of the DART program is that the research interests of the DART faculty cut across age periods. For example, the cohort studies in the MHPCD Program (Drs. De Genna, Richardson) cover the lifespan from prenatal exposures to adulthood. Outcomes available across these periods include cognitive development, behavior, and alcohol symptomatology and diagnoses. Other longitudinal studies, such as the Pittsburgh Youth Study (Dr. Stepp), the Pittsburgh Girls Study (Dr. Hipwell), and the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (Drs. Molina, Pedersen), have cohorts identified in childhood and study the development of behavior and alcohol disorders into mid-adulthood.

Alcohol research is interdisciplinary, as well as translational, and requires knowledge and collaboration from other disciplines. In Table B, we list faculty members by their specific areas of expertise available to trainees. These faculty can advise and mentor trainees in addiction risk processes, diagnostic and clinical issues, genetic risk, heath inequities, health services, and biological aspects of alcohol use and abuse. We have faculty whose research is directed toward basic and translational research, who focus on the etiology of specific disorders, and on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of alcohol disorders. Epidemiological tools and methods, clinical, developmental, and neurobiological approaches, longitudinal methods, and advanced quantitative methods are used to study these dimensions, as well as to translate from one level to another. Finally, our faculty are extremely collaborative, with nearly all DART faculty collaborating with one or more other DART faculty in their research, which provides excellent interdisciplinary access for trainees.