ACE Project second-year Graduate Student, Benjelene Sutherland, in the Cognitive Neuroscience program, was awarded the Spring and Summer 2022 Edward and Rita Girden Cognitive Neuroscience Scholarship. This scholarship is eligible for enrolled psychology students and applies towards travel support to conferences to present their research. Students can receive up to $1,000.00 for national and $1,500 for international conferences. The award will cover part of her travel expenses for this year’s Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, June 19-23, 2022. This conference will share the latest research in human brain mapping. She will be the first/presenting author of her on-going research project: “The association of amygdala-insula functional connectivity and sleep via negative affect among teens.”
ReACH Lab Graduate Student Julie Cristello received an Early Career Investigator Award from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (R13AA022858). This will fund her participation in, and travel to, the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA). At APA, and the NIAAA/NIDA poster session, Julie will be presenting a poster titled “Examining adolescent exposure to alcohol and marijuana content across popular social media platforms.”
Congratulations on this amazing achievement, Julie!
Florida International University (FIU) has been ranked No. 3 in the nation by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research funding in psychology, moving up from No. 5 in previous rankings.
FIU claimed the highest ranking of all Florida universities in the NSF’s annual Higher Education Research and Development rankings, which ranks total and federally financed higher education research and development expenditures. Based on 2020 fiscal year expenditures, FIU rose to its highest level yet — $34.6 million. According to Raul Gonzalez, interim chairperson of the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, this ranking “highlights the success of our faculty in obtaining extramural funding given the high impact and innovation of their research.”
FIU has experienced a rapid ascension in the NSF rankings, jumping from 116 less than 10 years ago to the top 3 in the latest report.
“FIU continues to drive innovative research and clinical work to help reduce the burden of mental illness, increase access to mental health treatments and advance new techniques for public health and law enforcement, all in the hopes of helping people, their families and our communities,” Gonzalez said. “As we continue to rise in these rankings, it only stands to prove that our faculty, staff and students are advancing science and developing solutions worth investing in.”
The Center for Children and Families (CCF), an FIU preeminent program, has provided an optimal setting for psychology faculty to pursue funded research on mental health and neuroscience. Through clinical services and research initiatives, faculty at the center provide services to more than 3,000 families every year. With a team of nearly 40 researchers and experts, CCF continues to deliver new insights about the process, effects, and treatment of child and adolescent mental health disorders, having published hundreds of research papers in recent years.
Programs in public health are advancing health and wellness within our own community. For example, the FIU Research Center in Minority Institutions (FIU-RCMI) is supporting the $3.5 million ACE Project, with Dr. Elisa Trucco and Dr. Matthew Sutherland serving as Co-PIs, which investigates the antecedents and consequences of nicotine vaping among teenagers in Miami-Dade, as well as a separate study examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted teenagers’ mental health and substance use.
National agencies are increasingly investing in research that explores the interface of mental health and neuroscience, including the NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Justice and NSF. FIU has the infrastructure needed to conduct groundbreaking research in those specific areas. Students and postdoctoral scholars, who are training with some of the best scientists in the country, are instrumental in the process of securing external funding and assisting with the research once a grant starts.
The Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A) has authorized the first electronic cigarette allowed to be sold in the United States, following a controversial path to approval for these devices. The Vuse electronic cigarette device, as well as Vuse tobacco-flavored cartridges, was authorized by the agency last month, with the F.D.A saying that “The authorized products’ aerosols are significantly less toxic than combusted cigarettes based on available data.” The agency continued, saying they “determined that the potential benefit to smokers who switch completely or significantly reduce their cigarette use, would outweigh the risk to youth.”
The news may be confusing to the public, given that e-cigarette products have been available for purchase in the United States for years. However, these products have been in approval limbo by the F.D.A for over a year while the agency investigated whether or not they could be considered a benefit or danger to public health. E-cigarette products were allowed to be sold by the F.D.A without authorization while waiting for approval, but it seems the agency is finally starting to crack down on individual products. As part of the agency’s review of e-cigarette products, thousands of brands and flavors have been ordered off the market over the past few months, including some of Vuse’s flavored products. Another popular choice among adolescents, Puff Bars, were also ordered off the market during this time.
Expectedly, the agency approval of Vuse products has drawn a mixed bag of reactions from the public. Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said “now that the F.D.A. has acted, we are hopeful that adult consumers and health communicators will begin to understand the harm reduction benefits offered by these and other smoke-free products.” On the other hand, Erika Sward, national assistant vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association, said the F.D.A decision “throws young people under the bus.” Ms. Sward says the concern is both with the general approval of an e-cigarette device, as well as with Vuse specifically, which was recently found to be one of the most popular vaping brands among youth. Some public health experts believe that allowing e-cigarette devices to stay on the market may be beneficial in the long-run by helping the government impose stricter regulations on traditional cigarettes, which have been linked to over 400,000 deaths in the United States each year.
ACE Project graduate students, Benjelene Sutherland and Katharine Crooks, provided a webinar on e-cigarette use/vaping to Miami-Dade County Public Schools Student Success Centers (M-DCPS SSCs). Alongside ACE Project program coordinator, Nasreen Hidmi, they provided information on current rates of e-cigarette use/vaping among teens and described potential risks of e-cigarette use/vaping on teens and the developing brain. Over 20 students attended the live webinar hosted on October 18th.
Thank you for providing the community with necessary information on e-cigarettes, ACE team!
Earlier this semester, ReACH Lab Director Dr. Elisa Trucco hosted the 1st annual ReACH Lab Open House. The open house was hosted in order to give prospective graduate students information about Florida International University, the Clinical Science in Child and Adolescent Psychology PhD program, the Center for Children and Families, and the ReACH Lab. The open house was held over Zoom, with 13 prospective graduate students attending from all over the globe. ReACH Lab graduate students also joined Dr. Trucco, in order to give prospective applicants a chance to ask questions to all members of the lab. The ReACH team hopes the open house provided prospective applicants with an equal opportunity to learn more about the lab and the program, before needing to apply. Dr. Trucco aims to make this a yearly event, with the hopes that interested applicants will gain a unique insight into the lab before submitting applications.
Earlier this month, ACE Project members Brigitte Madan (Senior Research Assistant) and Benjelene Sutherland (Graduate Student) attended the 2021 Children’s Trust Family Exposition at the History of Miami Museum. The Family Expo serves to “connect [families] with the Trust’s extensive provider network as well as other community agencies and organizations that serve them.” The Children’s Trust hosts the Family Expo to give parents the opportunity to “learn of the wealth of resources and opportunities available to their children including after-school and enrichment programs, nutrition education, injury prevention, programs for children with special needs, pre-K registration information and KidCare outreach.” A total of 15 contact sheets from families and adolescents interested in the ACE Project were collected. Great job continuing community outreach, ACE Project team!
ReACH Lab director, Dr. Elisa Trucco, will be hosting a virtual open house over Zoom for prospective graduate students to learn more about Florida International University’s ‘Clinical Science in Child and Adolescent Psychology’ Doctoral Program. Dr. Trucco, alongside current ReACH Lab graduate students, will also be providing prospective students with information about the ReACH Lab and ongoing projects.
A recent commentary published in Neuropsychopharmacology addresses how choosing to use appropriate language when describing mental illness and addiction can reduce stigma while improving how individuals with these conditions are treated in health care settings. The perspective, published by leaders from the National Institutes of Health, emphasizes that language chosen by researchers and clinicians plays “a major role in shaping people’s thoughts and beliefs,” and that words must be carefully selected when describing mental health conditions and addiction. Authors suggest using language based in science and words that validate the patient’s worth to positively impact how they are treated in society.
According to the authors, breaking down stigma is a crucial component in removing barriers to care. 35% of people in the U.S. with serious mental illness and 90% of people with substance use disorders do not receive treatment, with perceived public stigma and self-stigma being a significant hinderance in seeking treatment. Research from Harvard University shows support for language change impacting stigma, with a study finding that doctoral-level clinicians in mental health and addiction were more likely to “favor punishment (a jail sentence) versus treatment for a character when that individual was described as a ‘substance abuser,’ versus when they were described as having a ‘substance use disorder.’”
Authors note that, given the ever-present presence of stigmatizing words like “addict” and “alcoholic,” even in professional literature, it is not surprising that the treatment gap is so much larger for substance use disorders compared to other mental illnesses. A study from 2019 found that 17% of people with an alcohol or other substance use disorder chose not to pursue treatment due to concerns that their community would have a lesser opinion of them. Additionally, previously traumatizing experiences of stigma or discrimination in healthcare settings may contribute to the low levels of treatment-seeking.
Changes in language choice are crucial in order to break down barriers and prejudice for those in need of mental health and addiction services. It is important to correct the public if any stigmatizing language is used in order to properly educate society about conditions that “have long been, and continue to be, greatly misunderstood.”
Adolescents reported a record decrease in perceived availability of marijuana and alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the use of these substances did not significantly change. Data from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which has been measuring substance use and related attitudes among adolescents for the past 46 years, was used by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor researchers. Their research findings (published June 2021) show that limiting the substance supply alone is not enough to reduce adolescent drug use.
In order to understand the effects of the pandemic, MTF surveyed 12th graders between the months of February to March and July to August of 2020. Responses showed that adolescents perceived a decrease in alcohol and marijuana availability at the beginning of the pandemic. Large decreases usually consist of a one to two percent difference in perceived availability, yet during 2020, the largest decrease since 1975 was reported. Marijuana perceived availability among adolescents decreased by 17% points, while alcohol decreased by 24% points. However, no significant decrease was reported in marijuana and alcohol use. The data mentioned above was weighted to be nationally representative.
It is expected that the use of these substances did not decrease due to the wide availability of marijuana and alcohol, as most students reported having access to them despite the social restrictions and decreased availability caused by the pandemic. Another reason for this plateau in use might be due to adolescents increasing their efforts to obtain alcohol and marijuana when confronted with less availability.
On the other hand, adolescents’ perceived availability of nicotine also decreased during the pandemic and, unlike the previously mentioned substances, nicotine use subsequently decreased. This decrease might be due to the legal smoking age increasing to 21 in early 2020. An increase in reported vaping-related lung injuries might also have had an effect on this decrease. The team lead and author of the MTF study, Dr. Richard A. Miech, reiterated the difficulty in lowering underage substance use by simply decreasing availability and stated that “the best strategy is likely to be one that combines approaches to limit the supply of these substances with efforts to decrease demand, through educational and public health campaigns.”
