Yale Researcher Receives Dan Anderson Research Award

Stephanie O’Malley, professor of psychiatry and director of the Division of Substance Abuse Research at Yale School of Medicine, is the recipient of the 2004 Dan Anderson Research Award.

The award is sponsored by the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Foundation and honors the distinguished contribution of a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery.

The Hazelden Foundation, founded in 1949, is an internationally known nonprofit organization based in Center City, Minn. The foundation provides a wide range of published materials, training, research, and treatment services on addiction and recovery.

O’Malley received the award for a study published in a 2003 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The three–part study demonstrates that long–term counseling and support can be effectively delivered through a primary medical care or cognitive behavioral approach.

“Given that about only 10 percent of the people in this country who need treatment for alcoholism get it, treatment in the primary care setting could greatly improve access to care,” O’Malley said. “It could open up a whole new venue for treating alcoholism in patients who otherwise might not receive it.”

Valerie Slaymaker, director of the Butler Center for Research, said the nine–member panel that selected O’Malley’s research from among several outstanding candidates was impressed with the quality of her work. “This study helps us learn of different settings where care can be delivered to those who otherwise might not receive it,” Slaymaker said.

O’Malley will receive the award on April 21 at Hazelden’s Substance Abuse Research Forum in St. Paul, Minn.

The award is named for Dan Anderson, the former president of Hazelden and one of the major architects of the Minnesota Model, the Twelve Step multidisciplinary approach to addiction treatment that has been replicated worldwide.