ABSTRACT This is a request for a 5-year renewal of grant R13DA013192 to continue to support travel awards for trainees and early career researchers to attend annual meetings of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). CPDD is the oldest scientific society dedicated to substance use research. As the only annual national or international meeting that brings together researchers studying all aspects and approaches to the problems of substance use, CPDD’s conference provides a particularly enriching experience for trainees and early career researchers in the field. The meeting attracts basic and clinical researchers from throughout the United States and about 40 countries, at all career stages from predoctoral students through senior investigators, as well as representatives from government and industry. It includes scientists, physicians, nurses, clinical psychologists, administrators, policy makers, journalists and others working on or interested in substance use research. Our meetings are a forum for researchers from a broad range of disciplines (e.g., medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, genetics, neuroimaging, psychology, sociology, addiction medicine, public health, epidemiology) to share their recent findings, network and learn from one another in formal and informal exchanges. We expect 1000-1300 attendees at each of our future meetings supported by this competing renewal. In the next funding period, we propose to continue to support travel awards for trainees and early career researchers to attend the CPDD annual meetings. Topics addressed at the meeting change with emerging concerns and cutting-edge research in the field, and, each year, sessions highly relevant to NIDA's major program areas (e.g., epidemiology, prevention, health services, medications development, neuroscience, behavior, HIV/AIDS and health disparities) are included. Presentations span the full range of drugs of abuse, including opioids, stimulants, sedatives, cannabis, hallucinogens, nicotine and alcohol. The conference includes awards lectures and forums on policy, animal and human research, industry/academia/government collaboration and media outreach, as well as activities directed towards trainees, early career researchers, underrepresented minorities and international scientists. We expect our annual meetings to accelerate innovation in substance use research through the translational nature of our content and through the collaborations that are built between attendees across the disciplines represented at the meeting. We also expect findings presented at the meeting to reach a broader audience due to our media outreach activities and newly developed virtual offerings, which can significantly improve prevention and treatment of substance use disorders and inform policy as it relates to substance use.

PROJECT NARRATIVE The mission of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) annual conference directly aligns with that of NIDA (i.e., to support the advancement and dissemination of knowledge on the neuroscience, medications development, treatment research and translational studies of substance use and its attendant problems). The primary purpose of this competing renewal application is to support attendance at, and participation in, the CPDD annual meeting for trainees, early career researchers, underrepresented minorities and international scientists and to foster their career development in substance use research.