Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., of Yale University has won the 2023 Bowles Award from the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. She visited the Center on May 7 and 8 and presented a lecture entitled “Stress Neurocircuit Disruption Rescue to Improve Alcohol Binge and Relapse Outcomes.”
Dr. Sinja is the Foundations Fund Endowed Professor in Psychiatry, and Professor in Neuroscience and in Child Study at the Yale University School of Medicine. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Neuroscientist, Deputy Chair of Psychiatry for Psychology and Chief of the Psychology Section in Psychiatry. She is the founding director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Stress Center that focuses on understanding the neurobiology and psychology of stress, trauma and resilient versus vulnerable biobehavioral coping mechanisms that promote neuropsychiatric diseases such as alcohol use disorders, substance use disorders, chronic pain, PTSD and other chronic diseases. She has developed novel stress, pain and craving provocation paradigms to understand mechanisms that drive these states and related pathologies and their impact on clinical addiction outcomes in alcohol use disorder, substance use disorders and related conditions.
The Bowles Award honors distinguished researchers who have made significant contributions to our understanding of the causes, prevention and/or treatment of alcohol use disorder and alcohol abuse. Introduced in 1997, the annual Bowles Award honors the best and the brightest in alcohol research. The recipient presents a distinguished lecture and meets with BCAS investigators and trainees to share knowledge and innovative ideas.