The Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids (YC-SCAN2) announces that four research trainees have been chosen to receive 2025 Patrick Skosnik Travel Awards to support attendance at the Gordon Research Conference in August 2025.
The center originally planned to fund two awardees, however after a review of applications the selection committee was deeply impressed by the exceptional quality of the letters of intent submitted.
In recognition of the applicants' clear alignment with the mission of the center and the potential impact of their participation at the prestigious conference, YC-SCAN2 decided to expand the number of recipients from two to four.
The 2025 Gordon Research Conference will be held Aug. 17-22 in Waterville Valley, NH.
The award is named for Patrick Skosnik, PhD. Skosnik was associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine who spent most of his academic career conducting research on cannabis and cannabinoids before his untimely death in 2024.
The award recipients are:
Uri Bright
Uri is a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Joel Gelernter’s lab at Yale School of Medicine. He researches the genetic architecture of substance use and psychiatric traits using GWAS and post-GWAS methods. His focus is on genetic factors influencing cannabis use and its behavioral effects, including polygenic risk prediction in THC infusion studies. His prior work included studying the effects of CBD on stress and depression in animal models. He plans to present research on genetic loci associated with lifetime cannabis use and its correlations with other behavioral and psychiatric traits.
Courtney DiCocco
Courtney is the National Research Coordinator for a VA-funded clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of cannabis derivatives for neuropathic pain in veterans. Courtney's work focuses on understanding how cannabinoids affect pain, development, and various medical and psychiatric conditions. They are particularly interested in the relationship between cannabinoids and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. The applicant plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology to further study the impact of cannabinoid type, administration, and potency on pain and mental health.
Arnab Sengupta
Arnab is a postdoctoral research associate in the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at Yale, with a background in medicine and translational neuroscience. Arnab's research focuses on the link between cannabis use and psychosis, including the use of ecological momentary assessment to study cannabis effects in high-risk individuals, and the development of psychiatric biomarkers using EEG and plasma-derived extracellular vesicles. Arnab's long-term goal is to become a physician-scientist in psychiatry, advancing the understanding of complex psychiatric disorders and cannabis use.
Anne Elizabeth Sidamon-Eristoff
Anne is a third-year MD-PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, conducting PhD research in Dr. Kristen Brennand’s lab in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Her dissertation focuses on understanding how in utero cannabis exposure affects brain development and increases the risk for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Her approach combines basic science and big data, including a planned massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA) to identify cannabis-responsive genetic regulatory elements and subsequent analysis using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.