RIA’s Spring Seminar Series features national experts on smoking, alcohol

BUFFALO, N.Y. – This year’s Spring Seminar Series at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions will focus on the topics of smoking and alcohol.

The series kicks off March 27 with a talk by Larry Hawk, PhD, professor of psychology at UB. Hawk will speak on “A Learning-Based Approach to Improving Smoking Cessation with Medication.”

Hawk’s research focuses on two common externalizing psychological problems, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and cigarette smoking. His work integrates neuroscience, experimental psychopathology and clinical trial approaches to improve understanding of learning and cognitive processes in the development and maintenance ADHD and smoking, and to evaluate treatment mechanisms and develop more effective interventions.

On April 24, RIA will host Dominic J. Parrott, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Georgia State University, who will discuss “Using Laboratory Methods to Inform Interventions for Alcohol-Related Aggression.”

Parrott’s research interests include alcohol-related aggression, intimate partner aggression, gender role adherence and aggressive behavior, and aggression against women and sexual minorities. He is an associate editor for the journal Psychology of Violence and editorial board member of the journal Aggressive Behavior.

The Spring Seminar Series will conclude May 22 with a visit from Lorenzo Leggio, MD, PhD, from the National Institutes of Health, who will speak on “Neuropharmacological Treatments for Alcoholism: Update on Recent Clinical Findings.”

Leggio is chief of the joint National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism-National Institute on Drug Abuse Section on Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. He also is an associate professor (adjunct) in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. His clinical research is primarily focused on the pharmacological treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and on the medical consequences of AUD, specifically liver disease.

All seminars are held at 10 a.m. in Room 132 at RIA, 1021 Main St., on UB’s Downtown Campus. They are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact seminar coordinator Rebecca Houston, PhD, at 887-2579 or rhouston@ria.buffalo.edu, or visit http://www.buffalo.edu/ria/news_events/seminars/.

RIA is a research center of the University at Buffalo and a national leader in the study of alcohol and substance abuse issues. RIA’s research programs, most of which have multiple-year funding, are supported by federal, state and private foundation grants. Located on UB’s Downtown Campus, RIA is a member of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and helps promote UB’s strategic focus on research initiatives.