Following the completion of her NIDA National Research Service Award-funded Ph.D. in 2019, Dr. Lauren Reynolds began a NIDA-Inserm Drug Abuse Research Fellowship in Paris, France. She joined the team of Dr. Philippe Faure, first at Sorbonne Université, and then at the ESPCI Paris, where the lab moved in September 2021. During her 2-year fellowship, Dr. Reynolds developed new skills in neurophysiology and launched a project that applied the techniques and themes of Dr. Faure’s team to her research interests. Her current research explores how the basal and drug-evoked physiological activity of dopamine neurons changes as their connectivity matures, and how adolescent experiences enduringly impact adult neuronal physiology. She focuses on the experience of nicotine exposure in adolescence, which has significant potential to inform treatment strategies and public policy because up to 90 percent of adults who smoke began as adolescents. Dr. Reynolds hopes to have a publication in press by the end of 2022. In the meantime, as a testament to the successful start that the NIDA-Inserm fellowship granted her in France, she will continue as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Faure’s laboratory, funded by a collaborative grant from the French National Research Agency. In addition, Dr. Reynolds was selected as a L’Oréal Young Talent for France in 2021. For now, she says her time in France has been, and continues to be, “a period of great scientific growth. The ability to work internationally can offer an incredible change of perspective and the NIDA-Inserm Drug Abuse Research Fellowship has allowed me to join a leading lab in the fields of dopamine, nicotine, and decision making that I may not have otherwise had the chance to join.”