Academic Health Center receives 128 grants totaling nearly $35 million in federal stimulus money
September 30, 2017
Cancer Who: Dorothy Hatsukami What: Finding new strategies to quit smoking Amount: $924,135
Tobacco researcher Dorothy Hatsukami will research innovative strategies to help people quit smoking. In a clinical trial of cigarette smokers, Hatsukami and her colleagues will compare three strategies: the nicotine patch alone, nicotine-free cigarettes alone, and combining the nicotine patch with nicotine-free cigarettes. The results of this study will help researchers understand which methods to pursue to improve treatments for nicotine addiction.
Psychiatry and brain sciences Who: Jon Grant What: A new approach for treating nicotine and gambling addiction Amount: $475,600
Psychiatrist Jon Grant will research how a dietary supplement, N-acetyl cysteine, combined with brief behavioral therapy will affect both smoking and gambling behaviors. Grant and his colleagues believe this approach will greatly reduce nicotine dependence and pathological gambling symptoms both during treatment and long afterward. If this approach is successful, it will have the potential to set a new standard of care for a range of psychiatric disorders that occur along with nicotine dependence.
The University of Minnesota Academic Health Center is driven to discover and educate to find new treatments and cures in the areas of diabetes, infectious disease, neurosciences, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Comprised of the University of Minnesota's six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes, the Academic Health Center is a leader in research and training new health professionals. Founded in 1851, the University is one of the oldest and largest land grant institutions in the country.
Source: University of Minnesota