CBAM’s Executive Director, Dr. Steven Shoptaw, recently visited South Africa where he met with colleagues at the University of Cape Town. He gave a lecture at the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre and met members of the clinic team with whom CBAM will be collaborating on a new study that will test ways to optimize behavioral therapies for treating stimulant use disorder.
Methamphetamine addiction (MA) is a global health problem with high prevalence and great social and health costs in both the United States and in the Republic of South Africa. This study addresses a strong need for development and implementation of effective MA treatment approaches. The project will correlate outcomes from an 8‐week program of contingency management with findings from pre‐ and post-treatment neuroimaging and neurocognitive assessments to identify structures and/or processes that may represent targets for development of novel behavioral and/or medication therapies. The public health relevance of this application is enhanced by its effort to develop capacity for a productive and impactful neuroscience research agenda between groups of strong clinical scientists in the U.S. and in the Republic of South Africa.