Epidemiology Research Branch (ERB)

What We Do:

The Epidemiology Research Branch (ERB) promotes an extramural program of research and research training that informs and facilitates real-world responses designed to reduce the burden of substance use, misuse, and/or addiction on the nation’s public health.

Research Interests:

ERB is looking for research solutions to these questions:

  • How do we take current understandings of more general predictors of drug use outcomes and move toward more precise, individualized predictors of risk?  How do we determine the unique risk and protective factors of different subpopulations in order to identify foundations for more effective, tailored interventions?
  • How do rapidly changing technological advances (i.e. modernization) impact both drug using behaviors and our strategies for assessment, prevention, and treatment?
  • How do we best address variation in broad structural factors (e.g. policy context, shifting attitudes toward drug use, drug availability) across the population landscape to support science with real world implications?

Figure 1 - Examples of End Users/Change Makers

See text

Policy Makers

  • Politicians
  • Health Departments
  • Regulatory Agencies
  • Anyone else who can enact policy/regulation: states, cities, tribes, school boards, etc.

Population

  • People who use substances
  • Parents and families
  • Educators/Students
  • Anyone else who is impacted by substance use

Practitioners/Providers

  • Clinicians
  • Health Departments
  • Harm Reduction
  • Anyone else who is providing services

Planners

  • Program Planners and/or Interventionists
  • Community Organizations and/or Advocacy Groups
  • School Administrations
  • Anyone else on the ground

Figure 2 - Examples of Epidemiology Research that can Benefit Change Makers

Examples of types of research to benefit Planners:Examples of types of research to benefit Policy-Makers:Examples of types of research to benefit Providers / Practitioners:Examples of types of research to benefit the general Population:
  • Develops risk assessment tools to predict overdose in populations
  • Develops methods that will shorten the lag time between data capture and data availability to allow for more rapid community responses
  • Integrates multiple data sources to create dashboards that can inform prevention services
  • Examines substance use and related outcomes among subgroups to inform program planning
  • Describes national trends in substance use and attitudes in youth across the US to provide a foundation of data supporting the creation of policy
  • Examines distribution of cannabis or tobacco outlets that can identify areas of particular density and targets for prevention interventions and policy
  • Interactions between traditional or medicinal product use and recreational product use (e.g. tobacco and/or cannabis) to inform future substance use policies and healthcare policies to accommodate multiple perspectives
  • Identifies supply side and other drug market factors that impact substance use and overdose
  • Identifies novel and emerging drug trends in specific geographic areas to support appropriate service coverage and deployment
  • Examines reasons for cannabis use in pregnancy leading to more precise targets for intervention
  • Uses novel data collection techniques to assess patterns of substance use and/or new epidemics to allow for  more rapid responses at the individual and population level
  • Examines stigma and other reasons for ineffective treatment/uptake to understand and inform appropriate matching of users to effective services
  • Develops methods that will shorten the lag time between data capture and data availability to identify immediate concerns for people who use drugs their family members
  • Identifies subgroups of individuals most at risk for substance use outcomes to aid in targeted interventions and preventions
  • Identifies novel and emerging drug trends in specific geographic areas to support targeted interventions
  • Understands substance use and identifies health-related priorities from the perspective of subgroups of people who use substances
Program Contacts
Staff Interests and Expertise:
  • Marsha F. Lopez, Ph.D., MHS - Branch Chief
    (301) 443-6504
    Dr. Marsha Lopez has served as the Chief of the Epidemiology Research Branch since 2009 and has been a Program Official at NIDA since 2006. Her Program areas have focused on major epidemiological studies, efficient and ethical use of existing data, emerging drug trends, and cannabis and psychedelics policy. Dr. Lopez is the Program Official for the Monitoring the Future Study, as well as an active supporter of Research Training among new and early-stage investigators. After receiving her B.A. in Psychology from Georgetown University, Dr. Lopez was an Intramural Research Training Associate (IRTA) Fellow at NIDA for two years in Behavioral Pharmacology working with cocaine and rats in the Preclinical Pharmacology Laboratory. She subsequently attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Department of Mental Hygiene, where she received her MHS with a concentration in Public Mental Health, and then Ph.D. with a focus on drug and alcohol dependence epidemiology. Dr. Lopez’s graduate training was funded by an Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA, F31) from NIDA, supporting research on drug related mortality. 
  • MeLisa Creamer, Ph.D., MPH - Deputy Branch Chief
    (301) 402-1933
    Dr. MeLisa Creamer is the Deputy Branch Chief and a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch. Her program areas include trends and patterns of use of new and emerging psychoactive substances (NPS); marketing and social media of various substances; tobacco use in marginalized populations; and general epidemiology and etiology research of tobacco, nicotine products, and substance use and misuse. Since joining NIDA, Dr. Creamer has worked to apply her tobacco control knowledge and skills to NPS. Dr. Creamer also is a member of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study team, which is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study on tobacco use behavior, attitudes and beliefs, and tobacco-related health outcomes, conducted as a collaboration between NIDA and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Creamer previously worked at CDC as an ORISE Fellow in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in Academia as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin. She served as one of the Senior Scientific Editors of the 2016 Surgeon General’s Report on E-cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults. Dr. Creamer earned her B.A. in Sociology from American University, and her M.P.H and Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin.
  • Sheba K. Dunston, EdD, MPH, CHES - Program Official
    (301) 402-1526
    Dr. Sheba Dunston is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch (ERB). Her program areas of expertise and interest include health disparities and health equity research among underserved populations, and the intersection of drug use and HIV. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the impact of system and structural level factors, social/ behavioral influences, intersectionality and discrimination on substance use patterns, HIV infection and the HIV care continuum among high risk populations. She is also the Program lead for NIDA’s HIV and Substance Use Cohort Studies, a multidisciplinary program of longitudinal cohort studies that addresses the intersection of HIV and substance use. She also serves on several of NIDA’s Racial Equity Initiative committees and work groups, the trans-NIH Climate Change and Health Workgroup and is a member of NIDA’s Diversity Supplement Review Committee. Dr. Dunston has over a decade of experience in social and behavioral sciences research, qualitative, and mixed methods research, including conducting and managing HIV and health equity research at the National Center for Health Statistics /CDC, The Army Public Health Institute, and Columbia University. Prior to joining NIDA, she has served as a Scientific Review Officer with NIH’s Center for Scientific Review, and as a Program Director with NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. Dr. Dunston received an EdD in Health Education from Columbia University, an MPH from Drexel University, with a focus on community health, and a BS in Biology from Syracuse University.
  • Elyse R. Grossman, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.P. –Program Official
    (301) 480-1928
    Dr. Elyse Grossman is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch. Her program areas of expertise and interest center around the intersection of law and policy as it relates to substance use and misuse. More specifically, Dr. Grossman is interested in understanding illicit drug markets – including the relation between characteristics of these markets and drug use and the interactions between these markets and other illicit and licit drug markets – and analyzing the impact of drug-related laws, including changing psychedelic policies, on drug-related and other health outcomes. Dr. Grossman also serves as the NIDA Project Scientist for a project examining COVID-19 policies on various health-related outcomes including drug-related overdose deaths and for a project that uses drug-checking to examine how characteristics of illicitly manufactured fentanyl in the drug supply influence treatment regiments and ongoing drug use. Dr. Grossman is a public health lawyer with over two decades of research and analytical experience in the areas of law, policy, and public health as it relates to substance use and misuse and alcohol consumption. Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Grossman served as the Senior Legal Policy Advisor for alcohol- and drug-related projects at a Maryland-based consulting firm and as the Project Director for a SAMHSA-funded contract. She also worked as an adjunct professor at various universities teaching classes on public health law, health care policy, and alcohol and drug use and misuse. Dr. Grossman received a J.D. with a concentration in Health Law from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School Law, a PhD and an MPP in Health Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a BA in Psychology from Cornell University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the NIDA-supported Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
  • Peter Hartsock, Ph.D. - Program Official
    (301) 402-1964
    Dr. Peter Hartsock serves as a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch, where he has many years of experience in epidemiological, prevention, and intervention research on drug abuse and associated problems. Dr. Hartsock established NIDA’s research program on HIV /AIDS and associated infectious diseases, and since the AIDS epidemic began he has dedicated himself to facilitating a successful program of research in mathematical modeling of drug abuse, HIV and other infectious diseases, especially syndemics whose power dwarfs that of epidemics, molecular epidemiology, and innovative methods in the behavioral, biological and social sciences to characterize HIV/AIDS and associated problems. For some time, Dr. Hartsock has been instrumental in advancing the science of mathematical modeling to determine the public health impact and cost effectiveness of making HIV testing and counseling routine in medical and clinical settings. He also manages international research grants on drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and related problems. Dr. Hartsock serves on a number of advisory groups including the UNAIDS Task Force on AIDS in the Military, the Committees on AIDS of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council, and with the Bilateral Presidential Commission on the U.S. and Russia. Last but not least, Dr. Hartsock does volunteer work with Title One public schools to encourage interest in the health sciences and help students in these schools to obtain scholarships, mentorships and more.
  • Keva Collier Kidemu, M.D., MBA, MPH - Medical Officer, Program Official
    (301) 402-1881
    Dr. Collier Kidemu is a Medical Officer and Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch (ERB) with a passion for improving population health. Dr. Collier Kidemu works with the staff at NIDA and the NIH to develop and manage a translational epidemiology program to help facilitate the effective transfer of supported epidemiologic research to inform the development of programs, policies, and services to intended “end users” for significant impact. Additional program areas include clinical & translational epidemiology, psychiatric comorbidity, and the role of the social determinants of health in substance use, misuse, and addiction. Dr. Collier Kidemu also serves as a program official on NIH’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Research on COVID-19 Consortium which includes a network of population health projects to extract, integrate & analyze data sources to support SBE research on COVID-19. Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Collier Kidemu completed the General Preventive Medicine and Public Health Residency program at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), where she also earned her M.P.H. Dr. Collier Kidemu believes in using collaborative, system-based approaches to advance public health initiatives, as evidenced by her work in preventive medicine at the URMC Health Lab developing digital health solutions for primary prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, clinical practice, and public health research. Dr. Collier Kidemu earned her B.S. in Biological Anthropology & Anatomy at Duke University, received her M.D. from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and M.B.A with a concentration in Healthcare Administration and Policy from Auburn University.
  • Heather L. Kimmel, Ph.D. - Program Official, Director of the PATH Study at NIH
    (301) 443-6504
    Dr. Heather Kimmel is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch. Her program area includes supporting research examining the outcomes of substance use policies, particularly the impacts of rapidly evolving tobacco and cannabis policies on reasons for and trajectories of substance use, polysubstance use, as well as physical and mental health outcomes of use. In addition, Dr. Kimmel oversees epidemiology-related tobacco regulatory science research supported by the NIH Tobacco Regulatory Science Program (TRSP). Dr. Kimmel also oversees research developing wastewater epidemiology approaches to inform intervention efforts. In addition, Dr. Kimmel is the Director of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study at NIH, which is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study on tobacco use behavior, attitudes and beliefs, and tobacco-related health outcomes, conducted as a collaboration between NIDA and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Kimmel also supports the National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP) contract, which is a NIDA-funded data repository for drug addiction and HIV research. Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Kimmel was an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Dr. Kimmel was also an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neuropharmacology and Neurologic Diseases at the Emory National Primate Research Center as well as in the Department of Pharmacology at the Emory University School of Medicine. At Emory, her research focused on the neuropharmacology and behavior of psychostimulants in animal models as well as the development of medications to treat psychostimulant addicts. Dr. Kimmel earned her B.S. in Biology from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Emory University.
  • Janet Kuramoto-Crawford Ph.D, MHS - Program Official
    (301) 443-8856
    Dr. Kuramoto-Crawford is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch. Her portfolio areas of interest include application of data science to drug addiction research and intersection of drug addiction, overdose, mental health, and suicide. Dr. Kuramoto-Crawford is also the program lead for the National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP) contract, which is a NIDA-funded data repository for drug addiction and HIV research. She is also one of the Program leads for the NIH HEAL Initiative and oversees a portfolio of projects that are developing innovative methods to accelerate drug overdose research using existing data. In addition, Dr. Kuramoto-Crawford supports the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, which is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study on tobacco use behavior, attitudes and beliefs, and tobacco-related health outcomes, conducted as a collaboration between NIDA and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Kuramoto-Crawford served as a health statistician at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the CDC assigned to the DC Department of Health and was involved in opioid overdose response. She also worked at the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and at the American Psychiatric Association as part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 multi-site field trials team. Her Ph.D. training was funded by an individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) from NIDA to examine social network and suicide risk among individuals who use heroin or cocaine. Dr. Kuramoto-Crawford received her B.A. in Public Health Studies from the Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in Public Health from the Department of Mental Health and concurrently her MHS in Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
  • Erin Parker, Ph.D., Commander, U.S. Public Health Service –Commander, U.S. Public Health Service
    (301) 451-8506
    Dr. Erin Parker is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch and a Commander (CDR) in the U.S. Public Health Service. Her program areas include substance use predictors/transitions/trajectories, non-infectious health outcomes (e.g., overdose), older adults, and people experiencing homelessness. She is also interested in epidemiologic studies that incorporate the input of people with lived experience with substance use and studies that can inform harm reduction efforts. She serves as the NIDA Project Scientist for the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) cooperative agreement. Prior to joining NIDA in 2023, CDR Parker served as the Deputy Associate Director for Science in the Division of Overdose Prevention in CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. CDR Parker began her U.S. Public Health Service career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at CDC. After EIS, she served as a Health Scientist in the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, with a focus on older adult fall prevention, global road safety, drowning, and child injury. She subsequently joined the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention’s Senior Leadership Team as the Deputy Associate Director for Science, moving to the newly formed Division of Overdose Prevention as Deputy Associate Director for Science in 2019. CDR Parker received her B.A. degree in economics from Middlebury College and her A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Brown University, where she was a population studies trainee at the NICHD-funded Population Studies and Training Center.
  • Sarah Vidal, Ph.D., M.P.P. –Program Official
    (301) 827-5529
    Dr. Sarah Vidal is a Program Official in the Epidemiology Research Branch where she manages research portfolios on substance use, misuse, and addiction in the context of adolescent development and family studies, youth justice, child welfare (neglect/abuse/maltreatment; pregnant and parenting people substance use), and Native American research, including the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) program. Her scientific work has focused on identifying risk and protective processes of (multi)system involvement among youth, conducting evaluations of evidence-based programs and services for youth and families, and informing policy and practice to improve individual-, community-, and systems-level outcomes. She is a member of the NIDA Racial Equity Initiative – Research Gaps and Opportunities (REI–RGO) workgroup, the NIDA Diversity Supplement Program Review Committee, and the NIH-wide Health and Justice research interest workgroup. Prior to joining NIH, she directed studies in a contract research setting, focusing on justice and legal system, behavioral and mental health, and social services research. More recently, Dr. Vidal served as a Scientific Review Officer in the Clinical Care and Health Interventions Branch at the NIH Center for Scientific Review. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology with a concentration in Human Development and Public Policy from Georgetown University and completed an NIH/NIDA T32 postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Prevention and Community Research at Yale University School of Medicine.

Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW)

  • Kathy Etz - NIDA Associate Director of Tribal Affairs
    Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness Director
    (301) 402-1749
    Dr. Kathy Etz serves as the Director of Native American Programs and Acting Director of the Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness Program. Previously, she held the position of Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs in the Immediate Office of the Director at the National Institutes of Health. She also previously served as a Program Director in the Epidemiology Research Branch, where her work focused on research studies examining the developmental, social, cultural, environmental, and historical factors related to drug use as well as efforts to better share data in the social sciences. Dr. Etz joined NIDA in 1998 and has dedicated her efforts to supporting and advancing community-based research in partnership with American Indian and Alaska Native populations, emphasizing processes that respect and uphold Tribal sovereignty. Her specific research interests include wellness, substance misuse, and related factors. Dr. Etz has received numerous awards including the Phillip L Smith Award for Exceptional Contribution to Research to Benefit Native Communities from the Native Research Network, the Advances in Culture and Diversity in Prevention Science award from the Society for Prevention Research (SPR), and the Distinguished Alumni Award from UNCG’s School of Health and Human Sciences. Dr. Etz received her Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
  • Julie Erb-Alvarez – Social Behavioral Scientist Administrator, Scientific Program Director for N CREW
    (301) 443-6504
    Julie Erb-Alvarez joined NIDA in September 2024 as a Scientific Program Director for N CREW where she works closely with Native American communities and organizations to conduct community prioritized research, increase research capacity, and enhance data quality and accessibility. Julie is a Captain (CAPT) in the U.S. Public Health Service. Prior to joining NIDA, she directed the Office of Patient Engagement and Recruitment in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Division of Intramural Research in the Office of the Clinical Director at the NIH Clinical Center. Prior to joining the NIH in 2017, CAPT Erb-Alvarez served as the Epidemiologist for the Oklahoma City Area Indian Health Service (IHS), the Oklahoma Tribal Epidemiology Center, and the Republic of Palau Ministry of Health, Bureau of Public Health in the Pacific Islands of Micronesia. She also served as Director of Cancer Programs for the Cherokee Nation Health Services prior to her work as an epidemiologist. Julie has led epidemiologic projects on identification and adjustment of racially misclassified health data, infectious disease and syndromic surveillance, hepatitis C case identification and treatment initiation, IHS health systems data profile development, and served as the Institutional Review Board Co-chair for the Oklahoma City Area IHS. Julie is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. She earned a B.S. from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health. 
  • Steven Hafner– Program Official, Scientific Program Director for N CREW
    (301) 435-4765
    Steven Hafner joined NIDA in January 2024 as a Scientific Program Director for the Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) funded by the NIH HEAL initiative. In this role, he works closely with Native American communities and organizations to conduct community prioritized research, increase research capacity, and enhance data availability and quality. Prior to joining NIDA, Steven was a Research Scientist with the Center for Human Identification (CHI) at the University of North Texas Heath Science Center at Fort Worth, TX. At CHI, Steven’s work focused primarily on violence and victimization, including missing, murdered, and trafficked persons. As a graduate student, Steven served as a contract graduate research assistant with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, evaluation and development arm of the US Department of Justice. At NIJ, he assisted with the Tribal crime, justice and safety portfolio, working on projects related to violence and victimization, as well as research capacity building. During graduate school, he also collaborated with two tribal epidemiology centers – the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board in Rapid City, SD and the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board in Portland, OR on projects of local priority. Steven holds his BA in evolutionary anthropology from Duke University, his MA in health education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and his ScD from the Harvard School of Public Health.
  • Carly Marshall – Scientific Program Analyst [C]
    (301) 496-2038
    Carly Marshall joined NIDA in April 2023 as a Scientific Program Analyst [Contractor] for the Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) Program. Prior to joining N CREW, she worked at an Indigenous Public Health Institute housed within the University of Washington. In this role she focused on substance use data improvements, COVID-19 response, climate change mitigation, health systems alignment, Indigenous leadership, and other capacity building efforts. She is invested in Native health research and her approach is community-driven and highly collaborative. Carly holds a MPA and BS from the University of Washington and has additional work experience in ecological science and environmental policy.
  • Barbara Oudekerk– Program Official, Scientific Program Director for N CREW
    (240) 328-7936
    Dr. Oudekerk joined NIDA in January 2021. Within the Epidemiology Research Branch, Dr. Oudekerk is a Scientific Program Director for the NIH HEAL funded Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW): Addressing Overdose, Substance Use, Mental Health, and Pain Program, providing expertise in a variety of areas including intervention research and substance use prevention. Prior to joining the N CREW Program, she was a Program Officer in the Prevention Research Branch where she managed research portfolios on prevention in social services, justice, and community settings and was the Lead Project Scientist for the NIH HEAL Preventing Opioid Use Disorder Research Program. She came to NIDA from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice, where she was a social science statistician in the Victimization Statistics Unit. At BJS, Dr. Oudekerk directed the Victim Services Statistical Research Program, which included overseeing the National Census and Survey of Victim Service Providers and coordinating efforts to collect comprehensive national data on help-seeking and access to services among survivors of crime or abuse. She also managed research and produced statistical reports from the National Crime Victimization Survey on topics including juvenile crime and victimization, school crime, hate crimes, subnational crime trends, and repeat victimization. Prior to BJS, Dr. Oudekerk was an American Psychological Association Executive Branch Science Fellow, during which she spent a year working at the National Institute of Justice. She completed her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research training at the University of Virginia with a focus in community and developmental psychology.
  • Jaclyn Smith– Program Official, Scientific Program Director for N CREW
    (301) 443-7478
    Dr. Jaclyn Smith joined the Epidemiology Research Branch at NIDA in April 2023 as a Scientific Project Director for the NIH HEAL funded Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) Program. She works collaboratively with Native American [i.e., American Indian (AI), Alaska Native (AN), Native Hawaiian] communities and their allies as they conduct community prioritized research to address overdose, substance use, and pain, including related factors (e.g., mental health and wellness). Dr. Smith has been honored to work alongside AI/AN communities since 2005, when she supported the development of a research agenda, informed through qualitative data collection with community members, to address crime and justice issues in AI/AN communities. She also worked on the National Institute of Justice’s National Baseline Study, a study of health, wellness, and safety of AI/AN women living in Indian Country and AN communities. Over her career, Dr. Smith has been committed to the growth and wellbeing of tribal communities. She has partnered with tribal victim service programs to enhance their research capacity, worked with states to improve victim compensation services to AI/AN victims of crime, and worked with tribal grantees to strengthen their capacity to manage the financial requirements of federal awards. Dr. Smith received a BA in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Texas and completed both her MA and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in the Criminology and Criminal Justice program.
  • Andrea Williams – Program Manager [C]
    Andrea Wiliams joined NIDA in March 2024 as a Program Manager for the NIH HEAL funded Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) Program. Prior to joining N CREW, she worked across various industries within private and government sectors as a senior project manager leading cross-functional global teams. With a BS from Oglethorpe University and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University, Andrea possesses a robust academic foundation complemented by practical expertise in managing mission-driven projects. Equipped with a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, Andrea is adept at navigating the intricacies of project lifecycles and ensuring successful program outcomes.

Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs):

  • NOT-DA-22-004 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Epidemiology of Drug Abuse
  • RFA-DA-22-037, RFA-DA-24-037 - Accelerating the Pace of Drug Abuse Research Using Existing Data
  • NOT-DA-22-003 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Public Health Research on Cannabis
  • PAR-22-027 - Mechanism for Time-Sensitive Drug Abuse Research
  • NOT-DA-23-006 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Leveraging Data Science to Bring Actionable Insights for Substance Use Prevention and Treatment
  • NOT-DA-22-084 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Research on the Impact of Policy Changes and Emerging and Evolving Public Health Crises on NIDA Populations of Interest
  • NOT-AA-21-028 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Public Policy Effects on Alcohol-, Cannabis-, Tobacco-, and Other Drug-Related Behaviors and Outcomes
  • NOT-DA-24-003 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplement for Rapid Translation of Substance Use and Addiction Epidemiology and Prevention Intervention Research
  • NOT-DA-24-012 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Xylazine: Understanding Its Use and the Consequences
  • NOT-DA-24-010 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Impacts of Psychedelic and Dissociative Drug Policy Changes on Public Health Outcomes
  • PAR-24-062 - Phased Research to Support Substance Use Epidemiology, Prevention, and Services Studies (R61/R33 Clinical Trials Optional)
  • PAR-23-285, PAR-23-298, PAR-23-299 - Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (Clinical Trial Optional)
  • RFA-DA-23-013 - NIDA REI: Addressing Racial Equity in Substance Use and Addiction Outcomes Through Community-Engaged Research (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)