This April 2026 issue of the Rhode Island Medical Journal (RIMJ) includes a special section dedicated to the Brown University School of Public Health and features the work of several CAAS faculty, staff, and trainees. Notably, there is a piece by CAAS Director Christopher Kahler, PhD, titled "Four Decades at the Forefront of Addiction Research and Training" that describes the evolving landscape of public health research and education. The issue also includes a collaborative article on Addressing Chronic Steatotic Liver Disease involving many members of CAAS.

CAAS Director Professor Christopher Kahler and CAAS Assistant Professor David Zelaya are co-authors on a recent paper offering guidance for how researchers can contribute to an antiracist public health agenda.

A recent study co-authored by CAAS adjunct professor Ethan Mereish, CAAS postdoc alum Jamie Parnes, and current CAAS faculty member Robert Miranda investigated how daily substance use differs when it’s planned versus unplanned, specifically for nicotine, cannabis, and alcohol.

CAAS postdoc alums Jamie Parnes and Samuel Meisel worked with current faculty member Robert Miranda on a study exploring the relationship between cannabis use and sleep for young adults.

Former CAAS postdoc Megan Strowger and current CAAS faculty members Matthew Meisel and Suzanne Colby conducted a review to broadly characterize the peer-reviewed literature on Dry January, summarize its main findings, strengths, and limitations, as well as delineate future research directions.

Balancing public health priorities around e-cigarette flavors requires a careful approach that supports adult harm reduction while safeguarding youth.

Despite an abundance of public discourse about the opioid crisis in the media, there is little research characterizing opioid-related content on TikTok, a popular video-based social media platform. This study involving CAAS Assistant Professors Michelle Haikalis and Melissa Pielech sought to examine how opioids are portrayed on TikTok.

The lack of integration of addiction treatment with other health care services presents distinct challenges for people with higher levels of OUD treatment needs who require SNF care. Since inpatient SUD treatment programs are not currently classified as medical facilities, a status that some in the SUD treatment sector defend to avoid increased regulation and cost, they do not address medical and rehabilitation needs as part of their services. Medically-enhanced addiction treatment programs should be options for people with OUD.

Dr. David Zelaya recently published "Psychometric validation and extension of the LGBT people of Color Microaggressions Scale with a sample of sexual minority BIPOC college students" in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Dr. Zelaya's research provides further rigorous statistical support and evidence for researchers and clinicians to use the LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale. Additionally, findings from the study allows for more nuanced ways to capture the frequency (i.e., within the past year and lifetime) and appraisal of stress associated with intersectional forms of discrimination.

Matthew Meisel had a paper accepted for publication in the journal BMC Psychology. In the manuscript, in a sample of emerging adults who never attended 4-year college, the authors found that most of the sample experienced some form of education-based stigma and discrimination and that these experiences were associated with worse mental health symptoms.

Dr. Lauren Micalizzi, along with Brown University co-authors, recently published their manuscript "A psychometric assessment of the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire for Marijuana (BSCQ-M) in juvenile justice-involved youth" in Addictive Behaviors.

Highlights of the manuscript include: the study provided the first test of the psychometric properties of the BSCQ-M; findings indicated a three-factor structure; BSCQ-M scores showed convergent validity with past 30-day cannabis use; and the BSCQ-M can be implemented quickly and effectively among justice involved youth.

Dr. Molly Magill has received a Notice of Grant Award for a U13 Conference Grant from the NIAAA with MPI Dr. Stephen Maisto from Syracuse University.

Dr. Kelli Scott and collaborators at CAAS and the Brown University Center for Evidence Synthesis in Health recently published, "Pharmacotherapy interventions for adolescent co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders: a systematic review" in Family Practice. Findings from the review suggest that pharmacotherapy for mental health is insufficient for addressing substance use, suggesting the need for additional intervention for teens with substance use problems.

Co-authors include: Drs. Sara Becker, Sarah Helseth, Ian J Saldanha, Ethan M Balk, Gaelen P Adam, Kristin J Konnyu, Dale W Steele

Dr. Nathan Kearns recently published a new first-author manuscript "Effects of bodily arousal on desire to drink alcohol among trauma-exposed college students" in Alcohol.

Generally, findings suggest that bodily arousal may only serve as an implicit, trauma-relevant interoceptive cue that increases desire to drink within a specific subset of trauma-exposed college students (i.e., individuals indexing interpersonal trauma).

In a new paper, Dr. Tara White and Meg Gonsalves propose that human rights are deeply rooted in human brain science, which provides a novel evidentiary base informing the universality, scope, and content of human rights and their relationship to human dignity. Their paper, "Dignity neuroscience: universal rights are rooted in human brain science" was published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences on August 5, 2021.

Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Dr. Aditya Khanna, recently published in the journal Mathematical and Biosciences and Engineering.

Postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Samuel Meisel, has two new first-author publications with CAAS faculty and former postdoctoral fellow co-authors in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Dr. Sara Becker has a newly published manuscript in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (JSAT) and was quoted in a New York Times article!

Dr. Kelli Scott recently published a manuscript titled, "Implementation support for contingency management: preferences of opioid treatment program leaders and staff" in Implementation Science Communications.

Dr. Helseth recently published manuscript: "What parents of adolescents in residential substance use treatment want from continuing care: A content analysis of online forum posts."

School of Public Health faculty, Drs. Murphy, Micalizzi, Sokolovsky, and Risica, along with colleagues, recently published an article titled "Motivational Interviewing Telephone Counseling to Increase Postpartum Maintenance of Abstinence from Tobacco" in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Dr. David Zelaya co-authored a book chapter titled "Psychosocial Risk and Resilience Factors in LGBTQ POC Mental Health."

Neuroscience Ph.D. student recently co-authored a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology

Angela Stevens, PhD, CAAS Postdoctoral Fellow, recently published, "Examining motivational pathways from adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms to cannabis use: Results from a prospective study of veterans" in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors with co-authors, Drs. Gunn, Jackson, Borsari, and Metrik.

Dr. Angela Stevens recently authored a paper on alcohol and cannabis co-use.

Meghan Gonsalves, ScM co-authored a study titled, "Development of a cognitive bias modification intervention for anxiety disorders in primary care."

Dr. Lauren Micalizzi, Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, published, "A Sibling-comparison Study of Smoking During Pregnancy and Risk for Reading-related Problems" in Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

Brendan Jacka, PhD, Investigator in Epidemiology, recently published, "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare access among patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder" in Drug and Alcohol Dependence along with co-authors, Dr. Sara Becker, Dr. Tim Janssen, Julia Yermash, and colleagues from RTI International and University of Washington.

Dr. Patricia Cioe's manuscript titled, "Personalized feedback improves cardiovascular risk perception and physical activity levels in persons with HIV: results of a pilot randomized clinical trial" was recently published in AIDS Care!

Drs. Rachel Gunn, Kristina Jackson, Alexander Sokolovsky, Angela Stevens, and Jane Metrik recently published a manuscript examining the effects of substance use ordering on consumption during alcohol and cannabis co-use days.

"Changes in alcohol consumption among college students due to COVID-19: Effects of campus closure and residential change" was both published and featured in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Dr. Jacob Van den Berg recently published in Journal of Men's Health!

Dr. Jennifer Merrill & former CAAS Postdoc Dr. Carpenter recently published a manuscript on the impact of not only amount, but also rate of alcohol consumption during drinking events, on alcohol-related consequences.

Dr. Treloar Padovano recently published an article in Psychological Science titled, "The Altered Course of Learning: How Alcohol Outcome Expectancies are Shaped by First Drinking Experiences" with co-authors, Drs. Tim Janssen, Alexander Sokolovsky, and Kristina M. Jackson.

Dr. Carolina L. Haass-Koffler was recently published in Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research Journal for her paper, "Differences in Sociodemographic and Alcohol‐Related Clinical Characteristics Between Treatment Seekers and Nontreatment Seekers and Their Role in Predicting Outcomes in the COMBINE Study for Alcohol Use Disorder."

Dr. Tara White and her White Lab Team just published a groundbreaking new paper on brain compounds signalling emotional wellness in healthy people in NeuroImage!

Dr. Treloar Padovano recently published a paper titled, "Incubation of alcohol craving as it naturally occurs in a developmentally diverse sample of dependent and nondependent drinkers" in Addiction Biology!

Drs. Jennifer Tidey & Patricia Cioe recently worked in collaboration with colleagues at Vermont Center on Behavior and Health and Johns Hopkins University on a study that found lowering nicotine decreases addictiveness of smoking in vulnerable populations!

Dr. Rachel Gunn was recently published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence with her paper, "Ordering in alcohol and cannabis co-use: Impact on daily consumption and consequences" with co-authors, Drs. Alexander Sokolovsky, Angela K. Stevens, Jane Metrik, Helene White, and Kristina Jackson.

Dr. Jacob van den Berg and his team have a paper entitled: "A systematic review of early adoption of implementation science for HIV prevention or treatment in the United States" that was just published in the journal AIDS. The manuscript was led by Dr. Sylvia Shangani, a former PhD student in the Behavioral and Social Sciences department, who just graduated and started a tenure track job at Old Dominion University this fall plus two undergraduates at Brown, Nidhi Bhaskar and Natasha Richmondand, and Drs. Don Operario and Jacob van den Berg.

Congratulations to the Director of the New England ATTC, Dr. Sara Becker, on this landmark publication in Pediatrics "Brief Behavioral Interventions for Substance Use in Adolescents: A Meta-analysis."

Dr. Melissa Pielech, and co-authors recently published a manuscript in the journal American Psychologist.

Treloar Padovano and Robert Miranda published a paper in Addiction Biology showing that craving when in the presence of visible alcohol cues in the natural environment intensified with more days of continuous abstinence, specifically among drinkers with dependence. This work supports the phenomenon described as "incubation of craving," wherein longer periods of abstinence enhance cue-elicited craving in animal analogue models of dependence.

Melissa Pielech recently published an article in The Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Dr. Magill presented a podcast in Spring 2020 and contributed to a publication

Congratulations to Morayo Akande on her first First-authored publication.

Dr. Rachel Cassidy published a paper on E-cigarette measurement. This paper validated a measure of reward from e-cigarette use in users of tank-style e-cigarettes.

Alexander Sokolovsky recently published two papers in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Jacob. van den Berg with Don. Operario and Stein has published two separate articles on (1) health disparities, and (2) motivational interviewing