Jennifer M. Loya, PhD, associate research scientist in psychiatry, has been awarded a K23 mentored patient-oriented research career development award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Throughout the 5-year funding period, Loya aims to gain mentored training in implementation science, qualitative research methods, and clinical trials with people who are incarcerated, as well as advance her professional development.
Her project, titled “Implementing a Digital Therapeutic to Address Substance Use Disorders Among People Who Are Incarcerated,” aims to identify and address barriers to implementation of a digital therapeutic (Computer Based Training for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; CBT4CBT) in correctional settings in order to improve access to evidence-based substance use treatment among people who are incarcerated.
Mentors on the grant include Yale Department of Psychiatry faculty Brian Kiluk, PhD (primary) and Joan Cook, PhD; Yale Department of Internal Medicine faculty Sandra Springer, MD; and Yale School of Public Health faculty Ashley Hagaman, PhD.
Loya is a clinical psychologist dedicated to pursuing a career as an independent clinical researcher. She came to Yale School of Medicine in 2020 to complete her clinical internship through the Yale Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology.
After receiving her PhD in 2021, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship (T32DA007238) within the Yale Department of Psychiatry under the primary mentorship of Kiluk. Loya aims to develop dual expertise in substance use treatment and implementation science to conduct patient-oriented research to improve access and quality of evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders for vulnerable populations, particularly people who are incarcerated.
The grant discussed in this article was awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23DA061045. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.