Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Psychology Professor Part of Two Grants Totaling Over $5M to Advance Alcohol-Related Research

Tuesday, January 10, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
Share
College of Arts and SciencesNational Institutes of HealthResearch and Creative
Stephen Maisto portrait

Maisto

During his nearly 30-year career at Syracuse University, Stephen Maisto, professor emeritus of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has devoted much of his research to the assessment and treatment of substance use disorders. Continuing that work, Maisto was recently awarded two grants through the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) (part of the National Institutes of Health) to address new approaches to chronic health issues. The combined projects, which involve several universities, are supported by over $5 million in federal funding.

HIV Prevention

Through a project titled “Alcohol and ‘Heat-of-the-Moment’ Sexual Decision-Making among MSM: Identifying Mechanisms of Sexual Risk and Promoting Behavior Change through Brief Intervention,” Maisto and researchers from Boston University and the University of South Dakota hope to advance understanding of how alcohol and other such factors as emotion and cognition combine to affect decisions about sex.

The rate of new HIV infections continues to drop in the U.S. each year, thanks in part to ongoing research and improved prevention methods, but there are still 1.2 million people in the country who are living with HIV. Of that total, infections continue to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM), according to HIV.gov.

With $3.7 million in funding from the NIAAA, Maisto and his collaborators are exploring the mechanisms driving sexual decision-making in men who have sex with men while under the influence of alcohol. The project aims to enhance the effectiveness of behavioral HIV prevention intervention by helping such high-risk (for contracting HIV) populations as MSM develop a better understanding of how alcohol influences sexual decision-making. Through improved prevention, the team hopes to decrease the incidence of HIV among high-risk populations.

glasses of alcohol against a black backdropAlcohol Use Disorder Recovery

In a second NIAAA-funded project totaling over $2.1 million, Maisto is collaborating with Robert Schlauch, associate professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, to improve treatment protocols for alcohol use disorder (AUD) recovery. Defined by the NIAAA as a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational or health consequences, AUD affects over 14 million adults ages 18 and older in the United States.

Recently, the NIAAA released a new conceptually based definition of “recovery from AUD” to address limitations of past research and stimulate new research. They outline recovery as “a process through which an individual pursues both remission from AUD and cessation from heavy drinking.” Furthermore, “an individual may be considered recovered if both remission from AUD and cessation from heavy drinking are achieved and maintained over time.”

Maisto and Schlauch’s project will be the first to test NIAAA’s new definition using empirical data they gather through a clinical study. Participants seeking treatment from AUD who are chosen to take part in the project will receive 12 weeks of AUD psychotherapy and complete brief assessments and in-person interviews both during and after treatment. The team will use those results to validate the definition of AUD recovery, improve clinical decision-making and generate future research.

  • Author

Dan Bernardi

  • Recent
  • Chancellor Syverud Addresses Athletics, Benefits, Sustainability at University Senate
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • iSchool Student Selected for Highly Competitive Data Librarianship Internship
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By Anya Woods
  • Exploring the Existence of Life at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • How Climate Warming Could Disrupt a Deep-Rooted Relationship
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi

More In Health & Society

School of Education Faculty Publish ‘Lesson Study With Mathematics and Science Preservice Teachers’

“Lesson Study with Mathematics and Science Preservice Teachers: Finding the Form” (Routledge, 2023) is a new overview of the fundamentals of lesson study edited by School of Education Dean Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Professor Sharon Dotger and Jen Heckathorn G’22, director for…

International Drug Policy Academy Offers a Unique Opportunity for Students Interested in Addiction Studies

Needing one more class or an independent study to complete a master’s degree in public health, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics student Emily Graham turned to Public Health Professor Dessa Bergen-Cico for advice and Bergen-Cico offered the opportunity…

Hendricks Chapel Dean, Chaplains and Students Attend Parliament of the World’s Religions

Representatives from Hendricks Chapel recently attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held in August in Chicago. This year’s theme was “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights.” More than 7,000 participants from more than 95 countries, representing…

Roundtable: 3 School of Education Alumni Define ‘Human Thriving’ in the Context of Global Diversity

“Human thriving” is among the areas of distinctive excellence enumerated in the University’s 2023 Academic Strategic Plan. This concept is inspired by the words of Chancellor Erastus Haven. In 1871, he charged Syracuse students “to thrive here, to learn here,…

Lerner Center and Maxwell X Lab Join Sheriff’s Office to Reduce Illicit Drugs’ Impact

The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health and Maxwell X Lab have partnered with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office on an initiative aimed at reducing the impact of opioids and other illicit drugs. The two centers, both…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.