The McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida (MBI-UF) has moved part of the addictions branch of its behavioral health research to the Vince Carter Sanctuary.
Under the direction of Mark Gold, M.D., the Vince Carter Sanctuary is conducting significant research into the many facets of addiction.
Dr. Gold is the Donald Dizney Eminent Scholar, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychiatry. Dr. Gold’s pioneering work on the brain systems underlying the effects of opiate drugs led to a dramatic change in the way opiate action was understood. Dr. Gold was the senior author on the discovery paper and was awarded a patent for the discovery of new uses for clonidine which remains widely used for opiate withdrawal and pain management.
Gold’s work on cocaine led to a complete change in thinking about cocaine’s addiction liability, acute and chronic actions. His work in this area remains seminal and are considered by many classic examples of translational science.
In addition to theory, Dr. Gold’s research has led to changes in the treatment of opiate and also cocaine addiction. He and colleagues have reported on the treatment and outcome of Impaired Health Professionals, especially physicians, for decades. In 2005, Gold and co-workers were first to demonstrate that intravenously administered anesthetics and analgesics were exhaled and these controlled and dangerous substances are active in the air of operating rooms and other sites where given to patients.
Dr. Gold and the Division provide basic science of addiction training in Pharmacology, Human Behavior, and Medical Neuroscience for all UF medical students. Most recently, he has developed and UF medical students have begun mandatory two-week clerkships in addiction medicine during their clinical rotations.
The Vince Carter Sanctuary’s research department has been fortunate to enlist the experience and knowledge of Dr. Sara Jo Nixon, a nationally known drug abuse researcher. Dr. Nixon brings over 20 years of experience working on the long-term effects of chronic substance abuse. She has authored and co-authored over 125 journal articles and has been awarded over $4 million in grants. In addition, she has directed multi-year projects funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) as well as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Her research experience is remarkably diverse and addresses issues ranging from changes in neurobehavioral patterns associated with addiction, to issues of gender differences to community mental health.
In addition to serving on a number of national boards and councils, Dr. Nixon is the President-Elect for Research Society on Alcoholism, an international society focusing on alcohol and its interactions with other drugs. Dr. Nixon stated, “The research being conducted at the Vince Carter Sanctuary will significantly impact our understanding of the initial deficits and the process of recovery. Perhaps most importantly, it will allow us to better understand the individual needs of clients and develop more effective individualized programs. Given the rich databases already available, we anticipate several professional publications within the next year."