Robert Zucker to receive RSA Distinguished Researcher Award

Research Society on Alcoholism nominated Robert Zucker to receive Distinguished Researcher Award, the society's most prestigious honor, Wednesday, June 30

Robert Zucker, Ph.D., director of the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center, and the Substance Abuse Section in the Department of Psychiatry, has been named recipient of the 31st annual Research Society on Alcoholism Distinguished Researcher Award. The award is given to an individual whose research has made significant contributions to the understanding of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and whose body of work demonstrates leadership in the field.

"Dr. Zucker has created and sustained a vibrant body of investigative work focused on substance abuse, surely one of the most important and ubiquitous challenges that faces our global society," says Gregory Dalack, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and chair of the Department of Psychiatry.  "He is a generative scientist with a truly translational focus, and has mentored a substantial portion of the next generation of investigators in this field, both in the US and in Eastern Europe. The RSA Distinguished Researcher Award is wonderful recognition of his work."

As the most esteemed research award given by the Society, it is traditional for the awardee to present one of the plenary session lectures at the RSA national meeting; this will occur from 8 – 9 a.m. Monday, June 28, in San Antonio, Texas.  Zucker will receive the award during the closing ceremony and dinner Wednesday, June 30.

Zucker, who is also a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, primarily focuses his research on a high-risk-for-substance use disorder longitudinal study, now 26 years in operation. It's currently the world's longest running and earliest beginning study specifically focused on the development of substance abuse.

The project involves more than 2,200 participants in more than 460 families, and has been following all family members since the children were in preschool. The study seeks to:

• longitudinally distinguish behavioral course and risk for substance abuse into young adulthood,
• investigate the social environmental factors that mediate or moderate risk development, and
• examine the developmental course of alcoholism in adulthood.

Zucker's recent work also includes developmental studies of gene-behavior-environment relationships and the characterization of the intermediate neural circuitry that mediates the emergence and maintenance of risk.