Latest TCORS News

Angelina Spicer, a stand-up comic, producer, writer, and self-described “accidental activist,” was honored March 22, 2025 with the Yale Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Advocacy Award.

Manufacturers of oral nicotine products – pouches, tablets, or lozenges – are using splashy ad campaigns to appeal to retailers, particularly focusing on profitability, convenience of use, and availability of non-tobacco flavors, according to a study published in November 2024 by a multi-institution team that included two Yale researchers. Nicotine pouches are relatively new products in the U.S. tobacco market but have been gaining rapid popularity.

Marina Picciotto, PhD, Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and professor in the Child Study Center, of neuroscience and of pharmacology, has been elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

We’ve been conditioned to think that dieting and thinness are the norm. Yet, by widening the definition of “healthy” and focusing on small, sustainable changes, you may find that you’re better able to achieve your goals, both on and off the scale. YSPH Professor Marney White comments.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded Lisa Fucito, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, a $3.4 million grant to test if varenicline, a medication FDA-approved for smoking cessation, is effective for helping people quit vaping.

Robin Masheb, PhD, professor of psychiatry, and Marney White, PhD, MS, professor of public health (social and behavioral sciences) and psychiatry, are co-authors of a paper in General Hospital Psychiatry that discusses findings about a new eating disorder screener for use in healthcare and community settings that serve veterans.

Deniz Bagdas, DVM, PhD, research scientist in psychiatry, presented an invited talk, “Distinct Patterns and Challenges of Nicotine Addiction in Women: Insights from Clinical and Preclinical Research” on January 15, 2025 at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Women and Sex and Gender Differences Workgroup.

Four Yale Department of Psychiatry researchers, Julio Nunes, MD; Rebecca Suh, PhD; Mehmet Sofuoglu, MD, PhD; and Joao P. De Aquino, MD, investigated whether pain predicts daily cigarette smoking and if daily cigarette smoking predicts the development of pain. The results were published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The present study was commissioned by the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration in response to a Connecticut State Legislative mandate calling for information about virtual reality (VR) use in Connecticut public high schools. The purpose of the study is to determine how many high schools in Connecticut are using VR, the purposes for which they are using them, the challenges and barriers to implementation they have faced, and the benefits they perceive.