Association of American Geographers

NIDA/AAG
Symposium on Geography and Drug Addiction

[Registration Information]	[Keynote Speaker]	[Call for Participation]	[Preliminary Program]

Registration Information

The Symposium will be held in conjunction with the AAG Annual Meeting. Information about the Meeting as well as lodging and travel information can be found in the following URL.

http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/index.cfm

To register for the NIDA/AAG Geography and Drug Addiction Symposium, or for the AAG Annual Meeting, please go to the main registration site: http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/Chicago2006/reg.cfm

If you register for the AAG Annual Meeting, you will automatically be registered for the NIDA/AAG Geography and Drug Addiction Symposium.

If you want to participate only in NIDA/AAG Geography and Drug Addiction Symposium on March 8, 2006 (Wed), simply purchase the "one day pass"

Keynote Address: Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse will deliver the Keynote Address at Noon, March 8, 2006.

The AAG is pleased to announce that Dr. Nora D. Volkow will present the keynote address at the NIDA/AAG Symposium on Geography and Drug Addiction. The symposium, on March 8, 2006, is being held in conjunction with the 2006 Annual Meeting of the AAG at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago and will allow medical researchers, epidemiologists, geographers, neuroscientists, geneticists, and others to explore the geographical dimensions of drug addiction.

Nora D. Volkow, MD, became Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in May, 2003. A leader in drug addiction research, she is the first woman to serve as NIDA's director since the founding of the Institute.

Volkow came to NIDA from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), where she held concurrent positions including Associate Director for Life Sciences, Director of Nuclear Medicine, and Director of the NIDA-Department of Energy Regional Neuroimaging Center. In addition, Volkow was a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the medical school at the State University of New York (SUNY)-Stony Brook.

Volkow is a recognized expert on the brain's dopamine system with her research focusing on the brains of addicted, obese, and aging individuals. She was the first to use imaging to investigate neurochemical changes that occur during drug addiction. Her primary focus was on mechanisms underlying the reinforcing, addictive, and toxic properties of drugs of abuse in the human brain. She investigated the neurochemical mechanisms that influence the way individuals respond to drugs of abuse and the potential link to vulnerability to drug abuse, alcoholism, or other impulse behaviors.

Volkow received her BA from Modern American School, Mexico City, Mexico, her MD from the National University of Mexico, Mexico City, and her postdoctoral training in psychiatry at New York University. In addition to BNL and SUNY-Stony Brook, she has worked at the University of Texas Medical School and Sainte Anne Psychiatric Hospital in Paris, France.

Call for Participation (The Submission Process is Now Closed!)

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are jointly sponsoring a research symposium on Geography and Drug Addiction. The symposium will be held March 8, 2006, in conjunction with the 2006 Annual Meeting of the AAG at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

Medical researchers, epidemiologists, geographers, neuroscientists, geneticists, and others with experience in the geographical dimensions of drug addiction are encouraged to apply to participate in the symposium. Themes to be addressed include:

Spatial patterns of drug use and addiction
Linking spatial models with neuroscience and genetics in drug abuse research
Interaction of social and environmental factors with biochemical processes of addiction
Geographic analysis linking demographic and genetic characteristics related to drug addiction and treatment
Locational analyses of drug addiction treatment and service delivery facilities
Neighborhood scale studies of geographic factors (including the built environment) and their interaction with drug addiction, treatment, or prevention
Use of Geographic Information Systems in better understanding and responding to drug addiction
Spatial diffusion modeling of addictive drug usage and its changing characteristics, including also predictive modeling
Interaction of other spatially dependent variables with drug addiction, or with prevention and treatment strategies
Other geographic research relevant to better understanding the etiology of drug use and addiction.

Those interested in participating in the Symposium as a presenter should submit a one-page summary of their proposed topic, describing relevant research conducted, along with a brief resume or CV to Douglas Richardson, AAG Executive Director, at drichardson@aag.org and to Yonette Thomas, Ph.D., Chief, Epidemiology Research Branch, NIDA Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research, at yt38e@nih.gov. In addition, poster submissions are also welcome; poster applications need only be accompanied by an abstract.

A book or special journal issue publication of the symposium results, including selected research papers, is planned for early 2007. Symposium participants should be prepared to develop a full paper for publication if requested by the editors.

For more information on the NIDA/AAG Geography and Drug Addiction Symposium, contact Douglas Richardson at drichardson@aag.org. Participation as a presenter is limited to approximately thirty researchers. Applications for Participation should be received no later than December 8, 2005. Earlier submission is encouraged.