Fellowships in Research Training in Drug Abuse Behavior

Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships

This National Institute on Drug Abuse training program supports four predoctoral and four postdoctoral trainees with a faculty of 28 drawn from seven academic and research units of the University of Kentucky. The program offers opportunities for bio-behavioral research in facilities such as the: 

  1. Center on Drug and Alcohol Research
  2. Center for Drug and Alcohol Research Translation
  3. Center for Clinical and Translational Science
  4. Laboratory of Human Behavioral Pharmacology
  5. Residential Research Facility
  6. Straus Behavioral Research Building.

The program is designed to prepare trainees to assume research responsibilities in academic, and other scientific organizations concerned with bio-behavioral aspects of drug abuse. Postdoctoral fellows will either have a doctorate in a behavioral science discipline and will be preparing for a research role in the drug abuse field, or they will be health professionals who are seeking a behavioral science research orientation in drug abuse.  

Predoctoral trainees will concentrate on behavioral aspects of drug abuse as part of a doctoral program in a behavioral science discipline (e.g., psychology, sociology). Basic elements of the program include:

  1. Training in the basic building blocks of research (e.g., experimental design, data analysis) and independent research competence;
  2. An interdisciplinary orientation that takes students beyond their basic discipline and provides exposure to key theoretical concepts and methodological issues of the related behavioral sciences along with a bio-behavioral conceptualization;
  3. A program of enculturation and orientation to drug abuse, health, and mental health settings;
  4. Exploration of drug abuse topics from a medical behavioral perspective through courses offered by training faculty; and,
  5. Opportunities for research around relevant questions in drug abuse behavior constitute significant learning experiences for postdoctoral fellows and a dissertation project for predoctoral trainees.  

The postdoctoral program is individually geared to the objectives of the fellows and will build on their previous knowledge and experience while drawing on these five core elements. We feel the need for a translational and interdisciplinary program such as the one proposed is greater today than ever before and fills a unique niche in substance abuse research.

For information on the application process, see the application page.