Stephanie O’Malley, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale and Director of the Division of Substance Abuse Research in Psychiatry, has been chosen to receive the 2018 Distinguished Researcher Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA).
The award recognizes a senior researcher who has made outstanding scientific contributions to the alcohol field. Recipients must have demonstrated a sustained long-term commitment to conducting alcohol research, have a substantial record of publication, and be a leader in the field. O’Malley is the 39th winner of the award.
Her nomination was unanimously endorsed by the RSA Awards Committee. She has been at the forefront of research in the field of alcohol treatment. Among her many accomplishments was her seminal 1992 paper on naltrexone for the treatment of alcoholism, which contributed to FDA approval of the drug for use in treating alcoholism.
She has continued to study the efficacy of opiate antagonists and other pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder using innovative human laboratory paradigms and clinical trials. She has headed several large research initiatives nationally and within the Yale Department of Psychiatry, where she is Deputy Chair for Clinical Research.
“In sum, Dr. O’Malley’s scientific contributions to the alcoholism field have been highly significant and innovative, and her role as Co-director of the NIAAA-funded Translational Neuroscience Center for the study of alcoholism supports the high regard that her research warrants and is yet another example of her overall contribution to the study and treatment of alcohol use disorder,” the RSA Awards Committee wrote in a letter of congratulations to O’Malley.
O’Malley will be honored with the award at the closing ceremony of the 41st annual RSA Scientific Meeting, to be held June 16-20 in San Diego, Calif. She will present a plenary during the conference.
At Yale, O’Malley’s research interests include laboratory and clinical trial methods to study treatments for alcohol and tobacco, and to provide a scientific base for the regulation of tobacco products.
She has served on several professional editorial boards and councils, and has received numerous awards for her work, including the American Psychological Association’s Presidential Citation for Leadership and Research in the Field of Addictions in 2014.
In 2015, the Psychology Section of the Yale Department of Psychiatry bestowed its highest honor, the Sidney J. Blatt Award, on O’Malley.