About

Through its affiliation with the School of Public Health and the Warren Alpert Medical School, CAAS occupies a unique position within Brown University. The Center was established by Brown University in 1982 as part of the Division of Biology and Medicine, under the directorship of David Lewis, M.D. The Center is one of 20 centers at Brown established by the President of the University to encourage interdisciplinary scholarly work that cuts across traditional department lines. The Center’s research endeavors are continually reinforced by the National Institutes of Health and by peer review journals at a pace that defies both the “leveling off” of the NIH budget and any cap on academic productivity. Center faculty are committed to Research, Training, Education and Policy.

Faculty are involved in educating the next generation of scholars through the Brown School of Public Health and the Warren Alpert Medical School. The CAAS houses the largest library of material on Alcoholics Anonymous, in conjunction with the Brown University library system.

Faculty are involved in Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy to align policy, practice, and public understanding with the scientific evidence that addiction is a preventable and treatable disease; to support the use of evidence-based, cost-effective approaches toward prevention and treatment; and to enable lawyers and physicians to provide effective and sustained leadership in this effort.

Our faculty conducts empirical research in a variety of areas of alcohol use/dependence, drug use/dependence and tobacco use, ranging from laboratory investigations of mechanisms through treatment to early intervention to implementation science and policy. Funding comes from the federal government and a variety of foundations.

We provide comprehensive training in how to conduct cutting-edge research to both predoctoral and postdoctoral research fellows. Faculty conduct clinical training seminars for practitioners at national and regional conferences. We are also the home of the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) and the South Africa ATTC, which combined train thousands of front-line addiction service providers each year.