Southern Consortium Node (SCN) of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN)

Dr. Kelly Barth is a Med-Psych physician board-certified in internal medicine, addiction psychiatry and pain medicine. She directs the MUSC Pain Rehabilitation Program and also performs research in the area of opioid tapering and peer-led interventions for opioid overdose survivors. She is a member of the MUSC Project Echo OUD Hub where she provides mentoring and lectures in the areas of addiction diagnosis and treatment, pain management, and overdose prevention.

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Louise Haynes is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. For the last sixteen years, she has served as a liaison between academic research and community treatment programs for the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition to her research experience, Ms. Haynes has worked in both clinical and administrative roles in South Carolina. She was Director of Women’s Services for the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services and, later, the Director of Morris Village, a residential treatment program in Columbia.

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. McCauley is a clinical psychologist who has led efforts to disseminate best practices in opioid prescribing to dental professionals. She will head up the Health Care Systems Liaison Core.

Dr. McCauley's general research interests focus on the dissemination and implementation of multi-level interventions targeting prescription opioid abuse and its common comorbidities (e.g., pain, traumatic stress, depression). In addition, Dr. McCauley is an active collaborator on projects to develop, evaluate, and implement indicated prevention and early intervention programming for youth and adults at-risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorders, and HIV/STI.

Dr. Moreland is a clinical psychologist with expertise in adaptation, implementation and dissemination of evidence-based treatments. She is the co-lead investigator for CTN0107-A-1; she will lead the Community Liaison Core with Louise Haynes.

Constance Guille is the Director of the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC. Dr. Guille completed her psychiatry residency training and subspecialty training in perinatal psychiatry at Yale University. She established the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division at MUSC. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters.

Dr. Guille has transitioned her research into the area of Perinatal Psychiatry investigating biological markers of postpartum depression. Her clinical practice focuses on the management of mental health problems in pregnancy and postpartum.

Dr. Erin A. McClure is a behavioral psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. McClure earned her B.S. in Psychology and Neuroscience from Allegheny College and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Florida. The overarching goal of Dr. McClure’s program of research is broadly focused on reducing the harmful impact of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine product use across the lifespan. Her research has focused on refining and evaluating strategies to improve long-term abstinence and prevent relapse, as well as pursuing harm reduction strategies to minimize the adverse impact of substance use; all utilizing technology to improve remote procedures and data quality, as well as to increase reach and accessibility.

Co-Investigator
wardrc@musc.edu

Dr. Ward is a statistician who will aid SCN investigators in conducting secondary data analyses of CTN studies. He will also provide statistical support in the development of SCN generated CTN concepts and protocols. He will work with Dr. Sonne on the Protocol Management and Administration Core.

Co-Investigator
jennil@musc.edu

Dr. Jennings is a physician in the MUSC Emergency Department. She is the site Principal Investigator for CTN0099 and the Co-Lead Investigator for CTN0107-A-1.

Dr. Karen Hartwell has extensive clinical experience as a general and addiction psychiatrist in the treatment of substance use disorders with/without comorbid psychiatric disorders. She was the Medical Director of the Substance Treatment and Recovery Program at the Ralph H Johnson VAMC until 2019. She has treated veterans with multiple substance use disorders, including opioids, alcohol, and stimulants, among others. She is now leading several initiatives to address the opioid epidemic, including becoming the medical director of MUSC’s Project ECHO Opioid Use Disorder program.

Dr. Hartwell made a mid-life career change and returned to academics to complete a fellowship in addiction psychiatry to better address the substance use disorders that commonly co-occur with psychiatric disorders. Her research career has focused on understanding the underlying neurobiology and improving treatment outcomes. She has collaborated on a variety of research studies involving opioids, cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco use disorders. She has also been involved in multiple clinical trials, including multisite trials ranging from Phase 2 to Phase 4, investigating a variety of pharmacotherapeutic agents, and TMS.

Co-Investigator
kcropsey@uabmc.edu

Dr. Cropsey has been a part of the CTN for the last 15 years. She has collaborated with the SCN on a number of projects and currently works on CTN0109. More information

Dr. Brown is a Research Assistant Professor in Addiction Sciences at MUSC.  Her research focuses disparities in substance use disorders and comorbid stress-related conditions ( e.g., PTSD, trauma, early childhood adversity) that impact women and African Americans.  She is currently examining the impact of race-related stress among individuals with alcohol use disorder and PTSD. She is also conducting a laboratory study to investigate sex differences in the impact of early childhood stress on opioid craving among men and women with opioid use disorder.

Dr. López’s research interests include identification of barriers to treatment engagement in mental health services, the use of culturally tailored interventions as a means of engaging specific high-risk groups in prevention and behavioral health services (e.g., HIV prevention, prevention of child maltreatment), increasing visibility and access of trauma related services to Latinx and other underserved populations (e.g. Telemedicine), and assessment of provider-level factors that affect youth and family involvement in outpatient community-based therapy.

The Innovation Sciences Unit is led by Dr. Jennifer Dahne, an Associate Professor within the Addiction Sciences Division of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Dahne is an academic entrepreneur who has received five small business grants from various NIH institutes (NIMH, NIDA, NCATS, NIMHD) totaling more than $3M. Dr. Dahne has co-founded two faculty-led spinout companies, both of which are in the digital health space. Dr. Dahne has led the development, evaluation, and commercialization of five commercially available digital health products to date. These products have been evaluated via rigorous randomized clinical trials which have accrued more than 1,000 patients. In addition to entrepreneurial ventures, Dr. Dahne directs a research laboratory within the Addiction Sciences Division that has received numerous traditional NIH grant awards including R01, R21, and K23 funding. Dr. Dahne is passionate about translating academic innovations into products that can be widely disseminated and commercialized in order to improve public health.

Finance Manager
lofay@musc.edu

Ms. Lofay is an experienced finance manager/grants administrator and works with Dr. Sonne to develop CTN budgets for the SCN.

Brenda Brunner-Jackson, MPH, CCRC

Program Manager

Ms. Brunner-Jackson has over 15 years in clinical research. She currently serves as the national regulatory and project manager for CTN0108, and the node level protocol manager and QA specialist for CTN0109 and CTN0121.

Protocol Manager/QA Specialist

Ms. Shaw has been part of the SCN for over 6 years and has been involved in clinical research for approximately 9 years. Ms. Shaw currently acts as Protocol Manager/QA Specialist for CTN0100 and CTN0107, and acts as Program Coordinator for CTN0099.