The Penn PET Addiction Center of Excellence (PACE)

Overview

The Penn PET Addiction Center of Excellence (PACE) combines established strengths in clinical research on opioid use disorder with the technical expertise of a newly-invigorated PET program at the University of Pennsylvania and an established PET neuroimaging program at Yale University. Together, these outstanding resources will yield mechanism-level discoveries that are unique to PET and are critical for translating basic addiction science to the clinical care of patients suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD). This translation promises to substantially improve treatment outcomes for OUD and associated disorders and thereby reduce the high rates of morbidity and mortality associated with them.

Cores

The Penn PACE includes an Administrative Core, three Research Cores (Radiochemistry, Imaging, and Clinical), and a Pilot Project Core, each of which are described briefly below.

Administrative Core (AC). The AC catalyzes, coordinates, and monitors the core infrastructure and pilot research within the PACE, including the process by which new pilot projects are solicited and selected and training initiatives. Strategic planning and evaluation ensure the quality and productivity of PACE science, fostering synergies across PACE.

Radiochemistry Core (RC). The RC develops and produces radiotracers, provides quality control, maintains regulatory compliance and documentation, performs metabolite analysis, and oversees the sharing of research materials.

Imaging Core (IC). Benefiting from the strong infrastructure at Yale and Penn, the IC assists with the design and execution of PET imaging studies, including image processing and PET data analysis for all pilot projects.

Clinical Core (CC). The CC supports the recruitment, assessment, and treatment of pilot study participants (both patients with opioid use disorder and healthy control subjects), maintains ongoing interaction with them to ensure study retention, and oversees the management and analysis of all clinical data. 

Pilot Project Core (PPC). The Pilot Project Core solicits, reviews, monitors, and evaluates all pilot projects.

Faculty

Click on names for bios + more information.

Administrative Core

Dr. Jacob Dubroff, MD. PhD.

Radiochemistry Core

Penn:
Hsiaoju (Sharon) Lee, PhD
Robert Doot, PhD

Yale:
Henry (Yiyun) Huang, PhD
Nabeel Nabulsi, PhD

Imaging Core

Penn:
David Mankoff, MD PhD

Yale:
Richard Carson, PhD

Clinical Core

Penn:
Corinde Wiers, PhD
Dr. Henry Kranzler, MD.
Kevin G. Lynch, PhD.
Kyle Kampman, MD
Reagan Wetherill, PhD, LCP
Rebecca Ashare PhD
Richard C. Crist III, PhD
Zhenhao Shi, PhD.

Yale:
David Matuskey, MD
Gustavo A. Angarita, MD.
Joel Gelernter, MD

Pilot Core

Penn:
Anna Rose Childress PhD

Yale:
Ansel Hillmer, PhD

 

Staff

Administrative Core

Erin Schubert, Project Manager
Regan Sheffer
Catherine Hou, Researcher
Ashley Veronsky, Clinical Research Coordinator
Matthew Furey, Clinical Research Coordinator

Clinical Core

Timothy Pond, Project Manager
Melanie Maron, Project Manager
Rachel Weyl, Clinical Research Coordinator
Klaudia Glogowska, Clinical Research Coordinator
Juliana Byanyima, Clinical Research Coordinator
Laurie Downing, CRNP, MSN
Kim Olson, CRNP


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