The Damaris J. Rohsenow Endowed Pilot Project Program is designed to ensure a steady stream of funding for pilot projects at the Center in coming years, regardless of economic difficulties in other sources of such funding.
Dr. Rohsenow explained that “in this era of reduced funding for scientific research, it is more important than ever for faculty to be able to conduct pilot studies of their proposed ideas and include the results in their applications for funding.” She went on say “I want to be sure our faculty at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies have the best chances to be competitive in receiving research awards.”
CAAS director Peter Monti added, “No one knows better than those on 'soft money' the challenging times we live in. This gift is a manifestation of Professor Rohsenow's steadfast commitment to the work we are currently engaged in at CAAS, and it will help to ensure the execution of our mission through the hills and valleys of funding cycles. I speak for the entire CAAS faculty in voicing sincere appreciation for Damaris' generosity.”
Dr. Rohsenow is a professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research), associate director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, and director of Substance Abuse Intervention Outcome Research Training, a postdoctoral research training grant, in the Center. She joined the Center in 1987 and also held a Research Career Scientist award from the Providence VA Medical Center from 1999 until this year when she retired from the VA. She has spent her career investigating cognitive and pharmacologic aspects of alcohol use and abuse; used human laboratory methods to understand alcohol use, abuse, and smoking; developed and tested novel treatment approaches or combinations of approaches (behavioral or pharmacologic) for alcohol use disorders, cocaine use disorders, and smoking, particularly smoking in populations with substance use disorders or serious mental illness. Dr. Rohsenow’s current research involves novel nicotine or tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes and very low nicotine cigarettes, to study effects on health indicators and cigarette use.
The Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, established in 1982 and now in the Brown University School of Public Health, is an internationally renowned research center that conducts collaborative research and trains the next generation of researchers to lead to more effective treatment for alcohol and drug abuse.