2016 APA convention update

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Div. 28. To celebrate, the 2016 convention will have several events to highlight the past and present accomplishments of our members. One exciting highlight will be a 50th anniversary symposium that will include presentations by past presidents and Med Associates Brady-Schuster Award Winners (Warren Bickel, Marilyn Carroll, Robert Balster, Maxine Stitzer and Stephen Higgins) and reflect on the past, present and future of our division and field more generally. This will be followed by a social hour where attendees can socialize and discuss science with the presenters. Please keep your eye out for this exciting session.

We will also have invited addresses by our Div. 28 award winners and recently appointed APA fellows. John Grabowski is the winner of this year's Med Associates Brady-Schuster Award. We will also hear from Katherine Marks, winner of this year's Outstanding Dissertation Award and Matthew Kirkpatrick, winner of this year's Young Psychopharmacologist Award. We also have three new Div. 28 fellows: Adam Leventhal will present on “Vaping: Implications for Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse”; Sandra Comer will present on “Abuse Potential of Buprenorphine in Humans Under Varying Conditions”; Matthew Johnson will give a talk on his work with “Psychopharmacology and Behavioral Economics of Drug-Related Sexual Risk Behavior.” Congratulations to all of our award recipients and new fellows.

We will also have a number of interesting collaborative proposals. Of course, our Denver convention location is perfect for a cannabis theme. Div. 28 will be sponsoring two symposia on cannabis research: “Trials, Tribulations, Possibilities: What to do about Cannabis?” and “Cannabis and Cognition: Harvesting Scientific Discoveries Towards Improvements in Treatment.” Two additional symposia will focus on the leading causes of preventable death and include prominent researchers in the nicotine and tobacco field discussing their latest research efforts to reduce tobacco-related use and health consequences: “Using Behavioral Science to Evaluate the Feasibility of a National Nicotine Reduction Policy” and “Electronic Cigarettes: State of the Science.”

We are also piloting a new Div. 28 Convention Undergraduate Scholarship. This award will sponsor two to four undergraduate students from the convention host city who are interested in psychopharmacology research. Awardees will have their conference registration costs covered, be invited to join Div. 28 members for poster sessions and symposia, and also have an opportunity to present their own research. If you see these students around the convention, please welcome them and introduce yourself (and your training programs).

Finally, we have maintained strong collaborations with our fellow APA divisions and have co-sponsored several symposia that will be of wide interest to our members, including:

• “Cognition, Memory, and Behavior of Sibling Groups with FASD: Nature and Nurture.”
• “Building Critical Substance Use Disorder Research on What We Know and What We Don’t Know We Know."
• “Mobile Technologies in Alcohol Treatment and Research.”
• “Imaging the Human Male and Female Addicted Brain: Implications for Precision Medicine.”
• “Nicotine Metabolism and Smoking: Using Precision Medicine to Optimize Smoking Cessation.” 

We look forward to another exciting convention and hope to see everyone in Denver.