Former NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Shehab Hassaan, Egypt, received the 2019 College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) International Committee Award for Best International Research Poster. The committee reviews posters submitted to the joint NIDA International Forum/CPDD International Research Poster Session by researchers from low-, lower middle-, and upper middle-income countries. The winner receives 3 nights’ lodging at the conference hotel for the CPDD Annual Scientific Meeting in 2020 or 2021. Dr. Hassaan was a 2013-2014 NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellow. His winning poster was “The effects of extended abstinence on cognitive functions in tramadol dependent patients: A prospective cohort study.” The semifinalist was Breno Sanvincente-Vieira of Brazil for “Sex differences in implicit brain connectivity of cocaine users: Opposite patterns of connectivity for males and females in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging.”
The 2019 judges included CPDD Board member Patrick Beardsley, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU); incoming CPDD International Committee Chair Francesca Filbey, University of Texas Dallas; NIDA International Program Director Steve Gust; outgoing CPDD International Committee Chair Clyde McCoy, University of Miami; and Dace Svikis, VCU. Dr. Svikis coordinated the judging of 55 eligible posters.