We are proud to announce the Medical Student Summer Internships in Addiction Research, sponsored by our National Institutes of Health “Translational Training in Addiction” Institutional Research Training Grant (T32) award. The objectives of these internships are to introduce medical students to translational drug abuse research through an in-depth, hands-on training experience in a specific area of basic or clinical research, lectures, seminars, and completion of a project under the direction of a mentor. For more information or application details, contact information is included below.
Download the application for a summer internship.
Brain Imaging Research Center
Preceptor: Andy James, Ph.D.
A summer intern would engage in patient-oriented research and functional brain imaging exploring the human brain mechanisms of the development of drug addiction.
Women’s Mental Health Program
Preceptor(s): Shona Ray, M.D.; Jessica Coker, M.D.
Summer interns will be exposed to a wide variety of neuropsychiatric conditions in pregnant and postpartum women and spend time in the clinic setting observing evaluations and treatment plan development. Active participation in clinical research projects focusing on exposures during pregnancy, pharmacological treatments, and behavioral interventions in women with co-morbid substance use disorders will be part of the intern experience.
Health Services Research
Preceptor: Michael Cucciare, Ph.D.
The student will be exposed to a wide variety of health services research activities. The student will work closely with addiction health services researchers to become familiar with the literature discussing interventions for reducing substance (alcohol, opioids and stimulants) misuse in rural populations. They will collaborate on manuscripts, grant writing, and grants funded through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research and Development Service, and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Students will be expected to present preliminary findings of a project at the bi-monthly Division of Health Services Research research conference and have at least one manuscript outlined by the end of the 10-week period (past students have served as a co-author on several published manuscripts during their internship).
Behavioral pharmacology of emerging drugs of abuse
Preceptor: William Fantegrossi, Ph.D.
A summer intern will work with several categories of illicit drugs, including synthetic cannabinoids (constituents of K2/”Spice” smoking blends), analogues of cathinone (present in “bath salts” preparations), and novel opioids (related to morphine.) In an effort to better understand the biological actions of these emerging drugs of abuse, the research uses a battery of behavioral and physiological tests in mice against which to compare these compounds with more well-known drugs of abuse (the phytocannabinoid delta9-THC, psychostimulants like MDMA and methamphetamine, and opioids like morphine and fentanyl). Students will have the opportunity to assist with surgeries (intraperitoneal implantation of biotelemetry probes which simultaneously measure core temperature and locomotor activity), work with mice in behavioral assays (including operant tests of food-maintained responding, and assays of drug-elicited effects such as analgesia and catalepsy), and assist with dissections for studies involving tissue distribution and disposition of drug. This is a large project integrating the basic sciences of chemistry, pharmacology, and biology, as well as the clinical application of these scientific discoveries. Students will thus be able to choose among specific experiments that can be matched to their background and interest. Students with biology, chemistry, or psychology backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.
Maternal-fetal pharmacology of buprenorphine and norbuprenorphine
Preceptor: Lisa Brents, Ph.D.
Neonatal abstinence syndrome often occurs shortly after birth to children who were chronically exposed to opioids in utero. Neonatal abstinence syndrome can cause severe irritability, hypersensitivity to stimuli, poor feeding, and poor autonomic regulation in affected newborns. The mechanisms that determine neonatal abstinence syndrome severity are not well understood. The intern will gain hands-on experience conducting experimental procedures with rodent models of drug abuse and grading rat neonatal withdrawal signs captured on film. The intern will also have the opportunity to learn and conduct analytical procedures to measure the concentration of a radiolabeled probe in rat brain tissues to confirm P-glycoprotein inhibition. In addition to the research experience gained through the project, the student will benefit from the rich training environment offered by the behavioral pharmacology group in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and will have the opportunity to learn extensively from students, postdoctoral fellows, and investigators within the group.
Center for the Study of Tobacco
Preceptor: Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D.
Student interns will have the opportunity to learn more about the field of tobacco regulatory science, participate in research that monitors electronic cigarette advertising and promotion in social media, and work with an integrated team of scientists at the UAMS Center for the Study of Tobacco and at Virginia Commonwealth University on research projects. Skills enhancement will include participating in trainings, learning how to set up databases and record data, and monitoring YouTube, retail store, and electronic cigarette forum discussions related to flavored electronic cigarette products. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in writing reports, co-authoring abstracts and/or papers for submission to conferences or scientific journals.
Arkansas Center for Health Disparities
Preceptor: Nickolas Zaller, Ph.D.
Health disparities research is a multi-disciplinary field of study devoted to gaining greater scientific knowledge about the influence of health determinants, understanding the role of different pathways leading to disparities, and determining how this knowledge is translated into interventions to reduce or eliminate health disparities. The Arkansas Center for Health Disparities is supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The intern would focus on disparities and substance use disorders.
For more information, please contact M1 Summer Intern Program Director Lisa Brents at LBRENTS@uams.edu or T32 Program Manager Jan Hollenberg at JHollenberg@uams.edu.