Project Choice Staff
Stephanie O’Malley, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Dr. O’Malley is an internationally recognized leader in the field of addiction science. A clinical psychologist by training, she has been at Yale Medical School for over 25 years and is currently Professor of Psychiatry and the Director of the Divison of Addiction Research. Dr. O’Malley has extensive experience in conducting studies of pharmacological and behavioral interventions for substance abuse disorders. Her original study of naltrexone for alcohol dependence was submitted to the FDA and served as one of the two pivotal trials that led to approval of naltrexone for this indication. Since then she has conducted several studies of naltrexone in different populations and with different behavioral interventions and chaired the Steering Committee of the NIAAA multi-site COMBINE Study during the development of the protocol and the implementation of two pilot studies. As Principal Investigator, Dr. O’Malley has ultimate responsibility for the direction of the Project Choice.
William Corbin, Ph.D., Co-Investigator
Dr. Corbin, Associate Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, is an expert in the area of college student drinking and prevention. He has studied extensively the role of alcohol-related cognitions in relation to both drinking behavior and alcohol related risk taking. Dr. Corbin is the Principal Investigator on a NIAAA-funded human laboratory study on associations between alcohol consumption and gambling. He is also a Co-Investigator on a NIAAA-funded longitudinal study of alcohol and other risk behaviors during the transition from high-school to college. In addition, he has been actively involved in prevention research with college students using motivational and skills based approaches as well as expectancy challenge. Thus, Dr. Corbin brings a unique combination of experience to Project Choice including the conduct of longitudinal studies involving collection of daily assessments and applied prevention work with young adults.
Ece Tek, MD, Study Physician
Dr. Tek, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She has served as the Study Physician for several smoking cessation and alcohol clinical trials. Dr. Tek provides medical supervision of the Advanced Practice Nurse and oversees the medical aspects of the protocol, including final review of eligibility related to medical inclusion/exclusion criteria and ongoing review of participant safety.
Denise Romano, APRN, Family Nurse Practitioner, Study Nurse
Ms. Romano is responsible for medical screening of potential participants for admission into Project Choice. She conducts physical exams, administers and monitors the use of study medications and delivers the medication-related counseling developed especially for Project Choice. Ms. Romano has extensive experience in clinical trials and was responsible for similar tasks at Yale’s site for the COMBINE Study.
Lisa Fucito, Ph.D., Project Coordinator
Dr. Fucito is currently an Associate Research Scientist in the Psychiatry Department at Yale Medical School, and coordinates the study on a day-to-day basis. Prior to entering graduate school, Dr. Fucito was a research assistant on the COMBINE Study at the McLean/Harvard University site. As a graduate student, she served as a counselor at two different university counseling centers. In addition to her duties at Yale, she has provided drinking reduction counseling at the University of New Haven. She will provide BASICS sessions in the study.
Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., Supervising Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Toll is currently an Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry Department. Dr. Toll is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive training and expertise in treating substance use issues. Dr. Toll has been involved in the development of the manual for combining BASICS and naltrexone that is used in Project Choice. He is responsible for training study personnel in the BASICS intervention and monitoring adherence to manual guidelines. He also provides BASICS sessions in the study.
Robert Leeman, Ph.D., Collaborator
Dr. Leeman, an Associate Research Scientist in the Psychiatry Department at Yale Medical School, collaborates on the study. As a graduate student, Dr. Leeman was mentored by Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, who conducted a trial of naltrexone for alcohol dependence that, along with Dr. O’Malley’s trial, led to the approval of naltrexone for this indication. Dr. Leeman coordinated an open-label pilot study implementing procedures similar to those used in Project Choice.
