Linda B. Cottler, PhD, will receive the Marian W. Fischman Memorial Lectureship Award at the 72nd annual meeting of the College of Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD).
The award was established in 2001 to recognize the contributions of outstanding women scientists in drug abuse research. Cottler, a professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was chosen to receive the award for her mentorship of young investigators, as well as her research contributions in the field of substance abuse and drug addiction.
Cottler
Cottler directs the Epidemiology and Prevention Research Group and the Center for Community Based Research at the School of Medicine. Her work has focused on the development of reliable tools to assess addiction to illicit drugs, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, gambling and the Internet. In addition, she has focused on peer-delivered interventions to change behaviors associated with HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases.
She has worked with crack cocaine and heroin users, heavy drinkers, prescription drug abusers and inmate populations. A special emphasis of her work has involved changing high-risk behaviors among women who use drugs and are in the criminal justice system.
Recently, Cottler’s team has expanded its community focus. The program, called HealthStreet, is part the Center for Community Based Research, which, in turn, is part of Washington University’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards program, which aims to re-engineer the country’s clinical research enterprise. HealthStreet is used to link the community to social and medical referrals and research opportunities. Cottler’s studies also involve subjects in Australia, Taiwan, India and Afghanistan.
She is an author of more than 200 scientific papers and book chapters, and she serves on many grant review committees and editorial boards. In addition, Cottler is a past president of the Academic Women’s Network at the School of Medicine.
Cottler came to Washington University in 1980 as a project coordinator on the landmark Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) study, which was the largest survey of the prevalence of mental illness in the general population. She joined the psychiatry faculty in 1988 after earning a doctorate in sociology at Washington University.
The Fischman Memorial Lectureship Award was established in honor of Marian Weinbaum Fischman, PhD, a much-admired leader in drug abuse research and mentor to a generation of young investigators. Cottler will receive the award and deliver the Fischman lecture at the CPDD’s annual meeting Monday, June 14 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.