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The NIH T32 training grant marks a milestone in research and doctoral education at GSU.
ATLANTA—The Georgia State University School of Public Health has received a five-year, $1.2 million National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant to establish a training program for Ph.D. students who are dedicated to the prevention of alcohol misuse and its association with violence.
The Alcohol Prevention Research on Violence, Equity and Novel Techniques (A-PREVENT) training program offers fellowships to up to 12 Ph.D. students per academic year. It leverages Georgia State’s status as one of America’s most diverse top-tier (R1) research universities to train the next generation of scholars in addressing not only alcohol and violence, but related conditions such as substance use, tobacco use and mental health conditions — many of which intersect with and disproportionately affect minoritized populations.
Distinguished University Professor Laura Salazar of the School of Public Health.
The program is led by Associate Professor Amanda Gilmore and Distinguished University Professor Laura Salazar in the School of Public Health and housed in the National Center for Sexual Violence Prevention, a unit of the GSU’s Mark Chaffin Centers for Healthy Development.
“The awarding of this highly competitive NIH T32 training grant advances critical goals of our Blueprint to 2033 strategic plan by bolstering Georgia State's identity as a leader in interdisciplinary research and fueling the engines of our doctoral programs,” said President M. Brian Blake.
Alcohol misuse is associated with a range of adverse health and social consequences, including interpersonal violence such as sexual assault, intimate partner violence, child maltreatment and self-directed violence. In addition, experiencing different forms of violence is a significant risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder and subsequent alcohol and drug use.
Rather than focusing exclusively on individual-level factors associated with alcohol misuse and violence, A-PREVENT takes a holistic, public health perspective to prepare students to address health disparities that span interpersonal, institutional, community and societal factors.
“A-PREVENT is designed to prepare the next generation of alcohol researchers to develop innovative methodologies to work toward health equity in alcohol and violence prevention research,” said Gilmore, A-PREVENT director of training. “Our fellows will be trained to define problems, pinpoint risk factors, devise prevention measures, roll out strategies on a broad scale and assess their impact.”
The program builds upon the expertise of GSU faculty in alcohol and violence prevention, with areas of focus that include health equity, program design and implementation, research methods and statistics.
In addition to the GSU’s National Center for Sexual Violence Prevention, faculty in units such as the Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence, Department of Psychology, National Center on Child Trafficking and the National SafeCare Training and Research Center serve as mentors for the program.
“Each of the students in A-PREVENT will be supported by a mentorship team to ensure a comprehensive training experience,” said Salazar, A-PREVENT director of research. “Students choose a primary mentor with expertise in alcohol and violence prevention research as well as secondary mentors with expertise in complementary areas that align with their interests and goals.”
The A-PREVENT training program will combine existing coursework with new courses on grant writing, alcohol and interpersonal violence prevention, and integrative data analysis, among other subjects. Students undertake faculty mentored research projects, learn about community engaged research methods, attend national conferences and participate in events that bring A-PREVENT students and faculty mentors together to share research and network.
“Under the outstanding leadership of Drs. Gilmore and Salazar, the A-PREVENT training program will prepare tomorrow’s leaders to address the intersection of alcohol misuse and violence,” said Dean and Professor Rodney Lyn. “The expertise of our faculty combined with the diversity and drive of students who are drawn to the Georgia State School of Public Health create unparalleled opportunities for impactful research.”
In addition to Gilmore and Salazar, faculty mentors for the A-PREVENT training program are:
- Jalayne Arias, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Kathleen Baggett, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, and Director, Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development
- Vince Calhoun, Distinguished University Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Department of Psychology, and founding Director, Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science
- Michael Eriksen, Regents’ Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Katherine Masyn, Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Public Health
- Isha Metzger, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences
- Dominic Parrott, Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences, and Director, Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence
- Dennis Reidy, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Anne Marie Schipani-McLaughlin, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Ashli Owen-Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Lucy Popova, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
- Shannon Self-Brown, Distinguished University Professor and Chair, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, and Co-Director, National SafeCare Training and Research Center
- Claire Spears, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, and Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Public Health
- Cynthia Stappenbeck, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences
- Erin Tone, Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences, and Chair, Clinical Psychology Program
Story by Sam Fahmy