CPDD 2018 Awards for Excellence
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Nathan B. Eddy Award
Alex Makriyannis, Ph.D.
Alex Makriyannis, Ph.D., is the George Behrakis Chair of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, and is the Founder and Director of the Center for Drug Discovery. Over the past four decades, his laboratory has designed and synthesized some of the key pharmacological endocannabinoid probes that are widely used and serve as leads for the development of new medications. His work is recognized for its high level of originality. Some of his compounds are in advanced preclinical trials for the treatment of metabolic disorders and liver function, neuropathic pain, addiction and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Makriyannis has been a member of CPDD since 1997.
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Innovator Award

Thomas E. Prisinzano, Ph.D. 

Thomas E. Prisinzano, Ph.D., graduated from the University of Delaware (1995) and received a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University (2000). Currently, Dr. Prisinzano is a Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Kansas and Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Chemical Biology. In 2007, he discovered herkinorin, the first synthetic mu opioid receptor agonist biased toward G protein-signaling that does not induce receptor internalization. His discovery was a visionary breakthrough that led to the mu opioid receptor biased agonists currently in clinical trials as analgesics with limited tolerance and dependence, constipation, and life-threatening respiratory depression. Dr. Prisinzano, a world-recognized leader in the chemistry of drug abuse, is a member of the Board of Directors of CPDD.
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Marian W. Fischman Lectureship Award

Kenzie L. Preston, Ph.D.

Kenzie L. Preston, Ph.D., is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch at the NIDA Intramural Research Program (IRP). After completing training at the University of Chicago in 1982, she began doing drug abuse research in humans at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Since 1991, she has been conducting treatment research at the NIDA IRP.  She led studies documenting the efficacy of contingency management for cocaine and opioid dependence and identifying optimal parameters for it. Dr. Preston has been at the forefront of drug abuse research using mHealth/mobile technology.
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Mentorship Award

Leonard Howell, Ph.D.

Leonard Howell, Ph.D., studied experimental psychology, biochemistry, and physiology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Following postdoctoral training in psychobiology at Harvard Medical School, he accepted a faculty position at Emory University where he spent his entire professional career and is currently Professor Emeritus. His research program at Emory for over 30 years focused on the neuropharmacology of  abused stimulants and included basic neurobiological studies of drug mechanism as well as medications development. Having served on numerous CPDD committees, Dr. Howell currently is Past-President, a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors and a Fellow of the College.
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Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award

Kelly Dunn, Ph.D.

Kelly Dunn, Ph.D., trained at the University of Vermont, and then joined the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (BPRU) in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow. She became an Instructor at BPRU in 2011, then Assistant (2012) and Associate (2016) Professor. She has been an Executive Committee member for the Psychopharmacology and Substance Use Division of APA since 2009, has continuously served on CPDD committees for the past 10 years, and is the incoming Chair of the CPDD Program Committee. Dr. Dunn has been the PI of 5 NIDA-funded grants, all of which focus on opioid use disorder. She is currently completing her MBA.
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Martin & Toby Adler Distinguished Service Award

Bertha Madras, Ph.D.

Bertha Madras, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School (HMS, 32 years), and directs the Lab of Addiction Neurobiology at McLean Hospital. With collaborators, she received 19 U.S. and 27 international patents. As Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of President, she catalyzed Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) services nationally. She received an NIH MERIT award, NIDA Public Service Award,  and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry Founders’ Award.  The Better World Report (2006) cited her brain imaging invention as “one of 25 technology transfer (university to industry) innovations that changed the world”. In 2017, she served on President Trump’s 6-member Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and marshalled the final Commission report.
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J. Michael Morrison Award

Ivan D. Montoya, M.D. M.P.H.

Ivan D. Montoya, M.D., M.P.H. is the Acting Director of the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences (DTMC) of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  He leads a large program of research at NIDA that supports the development of psychosocial and pharma-cological treatments for Substance Use and Addiction Disorders. He has published extensively in the areas of etiology, prevention, treatment (pharmacological and non-pharmaco-logical), and medical consequences of drug abuse.
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CPDD / NIDA Media Award

Maia Szalavitz

Maia Szalavitz is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. She has written about addiction for three decades for major publications including the New York Times, TIME, the Washington Post, Scientific American, the Atlantic and many others. She is author or co-author of six other books and writes a twice-monthly column for VICE on drugs and a regular column for The Guardian on inequality.
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Meeting Registration