Specific Aims & Mission

The Center for Addiction and Disease Risk Exacerbation's (CADRE) mission is to become a national leader in substance use bio-behavioral research and chronic disease manifestations in vulnerable populations (especially underrepresented ethnic or racial minorities), serving as a resource for training and research within Brown University as well as regionally and nationally. 

Additionally, the overarching goal of CADRE is to create a thematically and technically linked center that will promote the research programs of 5 promising interdisciplinary junior faculty members, and in so doing, enhance their competitiveness for independent external funding. Brown University’s commitment to supporting CADRE’s goal of diversifying the biomedical workforce and addressing health disparities will be supported by (1) a pilot grants program that focuses on addressing the higher burden of illness related to substance use and chronic disease among racial and ethnic minorities, and (2) a postdoctoral position given to someone from a group underrepresented in biomedical sciences. 

Specific Aim 1

To establish a thematically linked, state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary center to investigate bio-behavioral mechanisms by which substance use increases the risk for or exacerbates chronic disease. By facilitating and promoting this thematically linked center, the research of CADRE's promising project leaders will be enriched, thereby enhancing their competitiveness for extramural funding. The COBRE grant will achieve this objective through the initial research projects. 

Specific Aim 2

To establish an Administrative Core (AC) with a leadership team and organizational structure for scientific excellence to facilitate the goals of CADRE; to provide mentoring support and initiatives for the CADRE project leaders and pilot grant recipients; to develop and administer a pilot grants program; and to conduct ongoing evaluation of the overall COBRE effort. The AC will create an environment that supports and encourages scientific exchange and innovation in the realm of substance use and chronic disease. Core personnel will work with project leaders to prepare competitive grant applications and peer-reviewed manuscripts emanating from CADRE-sponsored research. Such support will extend to existing faculty and postdocs, as well as to newly recruited individuals who share research interests that might contribute to the scientific nexus of the CADRE. We will facilitate interactions with other existing and future COBREs in Rhode Island and elsewhere.

Specific Aim 3

To establish a Clinical Laboratory Core (CLC) that will provide infrastructure and resources to the research projects in the service of developing and sustaining a multi-disciplinary center focused on substance use disorders and chronic diseases. It will maximize the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of this COBRE by building linkages between CADRE research projects and other neighboring COBREs, and will create a center-wide database of risk factors associated with the development and progression of substance use disorders and chronic disease, available to CADRE and other investigators engaged in research consistent with the CADRE mission. In future COBRE phases, a business plan will be developed to ensure the Core’s long-term sustainability.