NIDA has selected postdoctoral researchers from Georgia and Nigeria to receive INVEST Drug Use and Addiction Research Fellowships:
- Ilia Nadareishvili, M.D., Ph.D., (Georgia) will work as an INVEST Fellow with Jeffrey Samet, M.D., M.A., M.P.H., at the Boston University School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Nadareishvili is currently Head of Research Unit at David Tvildiani Medical University in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he also previously served as educational program coordinator. His main research interest is in public health, and he also completed additional training in global health programs. With his INVEST fellowship, he hopes to strengthen his addiction research capacity as well as knowledge and skills in innovative study designs, methods, biostatistics, data management, and data analysis. During his fellowship, he will study ways to address the acute problem of cannabis use among emerging adults in Georgia. He will conduct a health policy analysis, using qualitative document and media analysis approaches, of emerging adults’ medical recreational cannabis use in Georgia following its legalization in 2018. Additionally, he will design, implement, and analyze an online survey for Georgian emerging adults to assess their recent cannabis use as well as their attitudes and knowledge about cannabis use.
- Grace Scent, M.Sc., (Nigeria) will work as an INVEST Prevention Fellow with William D. Crano, Ph.D., at Claremont Graduate University. Ms. Scent is currently a senior lecturer at Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on a variety of topics related to sociology, social work, and drug misuse. She also recently completed an International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction practical guide training on developing drug demand reduction programs in universities. Her INVEST fellowship work will focus on expanding knowledge of prevention science, including the evaluation and implementation of evidence-based practices for identification and brief intervention for harmful substance use. Upon completion of her fellowship, she hopes to increase human capacity building in prevention science by training secondary school teachers in Nigeria in addiction science so that they can more effectively address or prevent substance use in secondary school students.