SEPTEMBER 13, 2024
Lindsay M. Squeglia PhD
Professor and Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
Louise Mewton, PhD
Associate Professor
Program Lead in Lifespan and Brain Health Research
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use
The University of Sydney
About the Presentation: (Dr. Squeglia) Alcohol, cannabis, and other substance use typically emerges during adolescence, and substance use disorders peak during young adulthood. Early substance use is related to poorer long-term health outcomes, but the evidence base for effective youth-focused treatment is lacking. This talk will include discussion of research on potential adjunctive medications to treat youth substance use disorders. Clinical trial methods with this population will be discussed, including methods to remotely assess substance use and medication adherence, as well as collecting remote biomarker data (e.g., substance use biomarkers, salivary microbiome data). Considerations for future youth-focused remote clinical trials research methods will be discussed.
(Dr. Mewton) While adolescence and young adulthood are the peak period of risk for the onset of substance use disorders, older adults are increasingly drinking at risky levels. As such, excessive alcohol use has been newly recognized as a key risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. Given our ageing population and the associated increases in the rates of dementia, we need to identify novel and scalable avenues for dementia prevention. This talk will include discussion of the development and large-scale RCT of an online alcohol use intervention designed specifically for older adults. Outcomes will be discussed in terms of both impacts on alcohol use, as well as impacts on cognition as assessed using remote cognitive testing.
About the Presenters: Dr. Lindsay Squeglia is a Professor and licensed clinical psychologist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She is the co-Director of the MUSC Youth Collaborative, and her research focuses on: (1) understanding the effects of alcohol and cannabis use on brain development and (2) using neuroscience to improve prevention and treatment of adolescent substance use disorders. She runs several education and outreach programs to engage teens in clinical research.
Dr. Louise Mewton is an Associate Professor and public health researcher at the Matilda Centre, University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the epidemiology, assessment, prevention, and treatment of alcohol use and related disorders across the lifespan. Louise’s current program of research focuses on understanding the cognitive impacts of alcohol exposure during gestation, adolescence, and older adulthood using large-scale epidemiological data, as well as reducing the cognitive impacts of alcohol exposure through the development and evaluation of scalable digital health solutions.