- December, 2024 - We wrapped up a fabulous and productive (aka fabulously productive) Fall 2024 semester!
- Schyler and Kay successfully proposed their Specialties (the first step of their comprehensive exams)!
- We got two NIH grants! (see Research tab)
- A 3-year NIDA R15 titled OPTIMISM to design a comprehensive measure of Intervention Stigma toward medications for OUD (the research study part) and build SUD research infrastructure at UMSL (the R15 training part)
- A 4-year NIDA R33 (titled RESCUE; subcontract from U of Minnesota) to refine, improve, and scale decision-making tools to optimize harm reduction supply distribution
- We went to two big conferences - the Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR) conference in San Francisco, and the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research on Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) in Chicago
- Our full Addiction Science team gave 8 presentations - 4 posters and 4 oral abstracts! - and otherwise successfully balanced working hard and playing hard :)
- Kay won a selective "Growing a Diverse Workforce Award" that covered her entire conference experience and connects her to a mentorship and networking network for years to come!
- We had two papers accepted to JSAT's special issue on opioid-driven policy - An Interrupted Time Series analysis showing the respective roles of fentanyl and grant-funded naloxone coming to the STL region (Schyler et al., 2024) and a 5 year follow-up on Missouri's implementation of the Medication First approach to opioid use disorder treatment (Winograd et al., 2025)
- July 2024 - Soooo sad to say goodbye to our Lab Coordinator extraordinaire, Rashmi Ghonasgi, as she heads to the University of Central Florida to pursue her PhD in clinical psychology. We aregrateful for Rashmi's time with us and we will miss her dearly!
- April 2024 - Shout out to Brandon Park who not only submitted and presented an abstract at AP-LS this past week, but also proposed his thesis and got approved without revision!
- January 2024 - Thank you to Dr. Morgan Shields for presenting on her work in quality of care in inpatient mental health treatment and for kicking off our 2024 SURG Brunch n Learn schedule!
- September 2023 - Thank you to Dr. Jeremiah Weinstock at SLU for his wonderful presentation on Contingency Management and Gambling addiction at our SURG Brunch n Learn! We really appreciated you taking the time to speak about your work in Indiana and Missouri!
- August 2023 - The ASPIRE Lab welcomes our new grad student, Brandon Park! Looking forward to working with you Brandon :)
- August 2023 - Schyler and the rest of the Summer SURG (substance use research group) students complete and present their summer research projects! Y'all knocked it out of the park!
- July 2023 - The ASPIRE Lab kicks of the MO ISTARR Project with a SME (subject matter expert kick off)! Thank you all for your help!
- May, 2023 - Dr. Winograd was featured on The Addiction Psychologist podcast to speak on the Harm Reduction approach towards Opioid Use Disorder! Check out her podcast episode (and other episodes of The Addiction Psychologist) here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dr-rachel-winograd-evidence-based-harm-reduction-approaches/id1517074983?i=1000613978735
- April, 2023 - Our wonderful ASPIRE undergrads, Aurora Rojo and Allison Token, both won awards for poster content and presentation at the Undergraduate Research Symposium! Congratulations to both of you for doing such an amazing job!
- April, 2023 - Our ASPIRE grad student, Schyler Newman, successfully passed her thesis presentation with flying colors! Many congratulations to her for knocking it out of the park!
- April, 2023 - We had our 4th SURG Brunch n Learn with a guest panel of St. Louis based Addiction Science Researchers! Thank you so much Dr. McCall, Dr. Al-Hasani, and Dr. Marotta! We really appreciated all the knowledge you imparted to us!
- March, 2023 - Zach is very excited to teach us Chi Squared statistics! Looking forward to more learning opportunites and giving Zach more opportunities to be excited :)
- January, 2023 - We had our very first SURG Brunch n Learn! Looking forward to many more meetings/workshops where we learn about public health, addiction science, and professional development tools!
- December, 2022 - The MIMH AddSci team and ASPIRE Lab celebrated the end of a great year and semester with a Holiday Party! Time to recharge and get ready for another amazing year! (Pictured in image (from right to left): Schyler Newman, Melissa Nance, Rashmi Ghonasgi, and Rithvik Kondai).
- December, 2022 - The ASPIRE Lab had its final meeting of the semester where some our lovely members presented their research proposals and used the new tech we have set up! Happy holidays everyone :)
- December, 2022 - The ASPIRE Lab has some new tech thanks to our lovely lab members who helped set it up! (Pictured in image (from left to right): Rithvik Kondai, Schyler Newman, Rashmi Ghonasgi).
- November, 2022 - MIMH got featured in an UMSL Daily article: https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2022/12/05/addiction-science-team-growing-with-new-funding/
- November, 2022 - MIMH and part of the ASPIRE Lab attended the 46th annual AMERSA conference! Many of our folks (included our own Dr. Winograd shown below) presented research.
- October, 2022 - MIMH and part of the ASPIRE Lab attended the 13th National Harm Reduction Conference in Puerto Rico! We learned so much from the many experts in the field who presented and spoke on topics very near and dear to our hearts :).
- September, 2022 - Our first in person ASPIRE Lab Meeting! Looking forward to a great semester with these folks :) (Pictured in left image (from left to right): Aurora Rojo, Schyler Newman, Allison Token, Rashmi Ghonasgi, Rithvik Kondai, Rachel Winograd. Pictured in right image (from left to right): Schyler Newman, Allison Token, Rachel Winograd).
- June, 2022 - Grateful for our Clinical Psych Summer SURG (Substance Use Research Group) students and members of the UMSL-MIMH Addiction Science team for helping to pack a TON of Fentanyl Test Strips to go out across the state of Missouri! People deserve to know what they're putting in their bodies. These strips can help. (Pictured top left, clockwise: Aaron Ruiz, Miles Hoffman, Alex Duello, Khrystyna Stetsiv, Melissa Nance, Kanila Brown)
- May, 2022 - The ASPIRE Lab is welcoming our first graduate student within the Department of Psychological Sciences. Schyler Newman will be joining us in August, 2022 as a first year in the Clinical area. She is coming from a Clinical Research Coordinator position at the University of Pennsylvania. Welcome, Schyler!