The Faculty of Pharmacy announced in August the establishment of the educational program Rising STARS (Scientific Training in Alcohol Research and Other Substances). The program will be a partnership between USC, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Charles R. Drew College of Medicine and Science. Rising STARS is now accepting applications for the first cohort.

Daryl Davies, CSULA’s Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, is Associate Director of the USC Institute of Addiction Science and Principal Investigator of Rising STARS. Davies was inspired to start Rising STARS after discovering that undergraduates had few research opportunities and limited ability to choose graduate programs that fit their interests.

“[Rising STARS] Providing them with all the practical experience to succeed and pursue a graduate or doctoral degree. Referring to the research experiences, workshops and career-building activities that Rising STARS scholars participate in, Davies said:

Workshops during the academic year can be completed in person or remotely, giving CSULA and CDU Rising STARS Scholars flexibility in completing their programs. Workshops cover a variety of topics, including resume writing sessions, to prepare students for their future higher education. Scholars also have the opportunity to work in a USC lab during the summer.

Rising STARS is made up of approximately 80 faculty members from various schools, including the Faculty of Pharmacy, the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and the Dwarak Peck School of Social Work, to mentor scholars during the program. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Rising STARS introduces scholars to different approaches to studying addiction science and allows them to explore approaches that interest them.

Terry David Church, Assistant Professor of Regulatory and Quality Sciences, runs the education division of Rising STARS. Church said he hopes the program will start with about 50 scholars and expand over time.

“Investigating the problem of addiction requires the use of extra-disciplinary skills,” Church said. “We expose [students] To get the best tools, you can look at information in different ways. “

Vickie Williams, Chief Program and Communications Officer for the USC Institute of Addiction Science, said she hopes to advance addiction science operations at USC and encourage students from different disciplines to collaborate on Rising STARS.

“We want to nurture the talent of our highly motivated undergraduate, minority undergraduate students and give them the opportunity to participate in truly great training opportunities,” Williams said. , public health policy, or anything that focuses on addiction science.”

Davies emphasized the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to addiction science. Completing a research project requires support from experts in a variety of fields, and using a holistic approach to addiction science allows students to better understand the field and easily work in teams. can work.

“Understanding addiction is going to take a perspective from around the academic table,” Church said. “There are many things that addiction affects.”

The Rising STARS program was awarded a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is the first of its kind to increase the diversity of addiction science in the country and is meant to support educational efforts. This will be distributed to the program over a period of approximately 5 years and in a period of 2 years he will support 2 cohorts of scholars.

Church said it is important to study the science of addiction as new compounds and drugs are created over time. should be studied at the molecular and societal level to prevent

“Addiction spans many subjects,” Williams said, noting that the causes of addiction are many and varied. “There are opioids, intravenous drugs, social media, phone calls, food addiction, and more.”

Rising STARS aims to give underrepresented students the opportunity to be innovative, creative and flexible, said Davies.

“The goal is to really engage people, help develop their creativity, and foster their desire, interest and understanding of what addiction science really needs,” Church said. “Through their participation, [students] I hope it helps solve many of the problems encountered with addiction when it comes to ensuring good programs for treatment, research and care. “