Message from the Director
David A. Smelson, Psy.D.

The Center of Excellence in Addiction was approved in 2008 by the UMass Chan Medical School in recognition of the growing need to address the addiction crisis facing our nation. It is housed on the medical school campus and works in close collaboration with the UMass Chan Department of Psychiatry's Addiction Psychiatry Division.

Center of Excellence in Addiction Mission:

The Center of Excellence in Addiction is dedicated to conducting state-of-the-art research towards advancing our understanding of the etiology, consequences, and treatment of addiction and serves as an incubator for collaborations within the Department of Psychiatry, the UMass Chan Medical School, other University of Massachusetts campuses, and beyond.

  
Center of Excellence in Addiction Research Interests:

The Center of Excellence in Addiction has five main focal areas of addiction research:

• Psychosocial and Pharmacotherapy Treatments
• Implementation Science
• Co-Occurring Disorders
• Disparities
• Special Populations (Homelessness, Criminal Justice, Veterans)

Some examples of our research include testing novel behavioral and pharmacological treatments, community-based treatment engagement approaches, racial and ethnic disparities in care, mobile health devices, multisite implementation trials, and examining psychiatric epidemiological research across all expressions of addiction (i.e., substance and behavioral, including gambling).  The Center researchers have been consecutively funded from agencies such as the National Institute of Health (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National institute of Drug Abuse, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health), Department of Veterans Affairs, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, Bureau Of Justice Administration, the Executive Office of the Trial Court, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and several states around the country. 

Thank you very much for visiting the Center website.  Feel free to click on the other links to learn about our faculty, staff, and partners.