The School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series, “Leveraging Therapeutic Development with Technologies to Impact Neurobehavioral Change for Substance Use Disorders” Presented by Dr. Sterling McPherson

About the event

Leveraging Therapeutic Development with Technologies to Impact Neurobehavioral Change for Substance Use Disorders

Presented by Dr. Sterling McPherson, Professor and Vice Dean for Research, College of Medicine, Washington State University

Abstract:
This talk will cover current therapeutic developments within the Analytics and PsychoPharmacology Laboratory, led by Dr. Sterling McPherson. Specifically, their work focuses on medications developments that are paired with technology and or behavioral change strategies, such as contingency management. Their current work is attempting to harness the glutamatergic and GABAnerigc systems through the use of anti-convulsants in the treatment of alcohol use disorder. More recently, their work added the orexin system with the use of dual orexin receptor antagonists for the treatment of insomnia in those with an alcohol use disorder. In parallel, their team is designing technologies to help deliver, monitor and improve access to these treatments in rural and other place bound communities. Dr. McPherson’s seminar will cover this work and its integration of the additiction neuroclinical assessment framework to optimize such therapeutics for substance use.

Biography:
Dr. Sterling M. McPherson is a Professor and Vice Dean for Research at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University. He is also a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. He has secured more than $42 million in grants and contracts as a PI and another $67 million as Co-I from NIH (11 different institutes/centers) and 16 other agencies. He is involved in multiple research projects ranging from translational non-human primate behavioral pharmacology to human pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, to Phase I/II therapeutic development projects, to the health economics of substance use disorder treatments. He also collaborates with several different industry sponsors (e.g., Idorsia, Altimmune, Optum, Indivior, Pillsy, Managed Health Connections, and Intent Solutions) on biopharmaceutical products and technology-enhanced addiction treatment platforms. Dr. McPherson has published over 170 peer-reviewed research articles on various topics and has given over 200 presentations globally; all related to drug/alcohol use therapeutic development, behavioral pharmacology, psychopharmacology, and kidney disease. He was competitively chosen to become an NIH Fellow of the Summer Institute on Randomized Clinical Trials in 2014 and has reviewed for more than 40 journals. He is an Associate Editor (Human Psychopharmacology) at the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Associate Editor at Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, and Senior Editor/Deputy Statistical Editor at Addiction. He is also the former Chairperson for the NIH Study Section, Interventions to Prevent and Treat Addiction, and the current Chairperson for the NIH Study Section, Pharmacotherapies for Substance Use Disorders