Psychology professor Lara Ray received the Young Investigator Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism for her contributions in the prevention and treatment of alcoholism. The award recognizes a young investigator who has demonstrated research excellence, potential to be a future leader and a commitment to the alcohol field.
Ray's lab studies the clinical neuroscience of addiction. She specializes in the etiology and treatment of substance-use disorders, particularly alcohol abuse and dependence. Her research integrates clinical psychology, pharmacology and behavioral genetics. She is especially interested in employing experimental designs that address mechanisms of risk and of treatment response for substance use disorders.
Ray is actively involved in personalizing the use of naltrexone for alcoholism by using gene markers that may identify treatment responders. Most recently, she has been working to advance the understanding of alcoholism as a progressive disorder, given that the factors that lead a patient to start drinking may not be the same that help maintain drinking for long periods of time. Ray seeks to further develop treatment models that include effective medications and behavioral therapies that more fully capture alcoholism as a brain disorder.
