Clinical Neuroscience Division (CND)  

Within the CND, investigators with a wide variety of skills and expertise including psychiatry, psychology, nursing, pharmacology and neuroscience work collaboratively to investigate mechanisms, causes and treatments for a number of psychiatric disorders with a particular emphasis on substance use disorders and co-occurring substance use and psychiatric disorders.  Specific projects and faculty interests are listed in the pages that follow, but CND faculty are conducting federally funded research on marijuana, cocaine, opiate, alcohol and nicotine dependence, as well as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.  In all cases, studies involve a multidisciplinary team of investigators using state-of-the-art approaches to better understand the causes of these disorders in order to improve prevention and treatment. 

The CND is proud to be the home of two NIH-funded translation research centers. We are one of 17 regional research and training centers in the NIH-sponsored Clinical Trials Network (CTN). Through this initiative, we have established collaborations with community treatment programs throughout the Southeast with the primary goal of closing the gap between research and treatment.   Clinical trials of empirically based substance abuse treatments are conducted in front-line treatment settings with the ultimate goal of enhancing communication/collaboration so that clinical practice is increasingly informed by scientific development.  The CND is also home of one of eleven Specialized Centers of Research on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health.  The center at MUSC, known as the Women’s Research Center (WRC) is designed to forge connections between basic scientists and clinical investigators studying gender-based differences in substance use disorders.  Through these initiatives, the CND is helping to improve the translation of basic science findings to clinical practice, and to move best clinical practices into front-line treatment settings. 

Training and education is also a major focus of the CND.  Key training initiatives include the ACGME-certified Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program, an NIH-funded post-doctoral research training program and the Drug Abuse Research Training program designed to provide clinical research training and experience within the context of residency training.  This newly developed initiative is a model program designed to address the growing shortage of M.D.’s involved in clinical research.  Thank you for your interest in the work of the CND.