By Taylor Riley

Nearly 200 researchers from across the country are set to share their recent findings in the 2010 Addiction Health Services Research conference sponsored by the UK Department of Behavioral Science and the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research and the Bell Chair on Alcohol and Addictions.

The conference will convene at the Hilton Hotel in Lexington Oct. 25-27. The  conference welcomes researchers, faculty, and students to attend lectures based on a range of topics related to addiction health services. Conference attendees may also enjoy activities such as an afternoon at Keeneland shuttled from the Hilton Hotel in addition to the many forums held during the conference days.

Topics include methods for improving the quality of addiction health services, innovative methods for improving treatment access and treatment retention and integration of services to address co-occurring substance abuse, mental health and/or physical health conditions.

“It is a wonderful chance to highlight the high-quality research related to substance abuse that is being conducted at UK in the Department of Behavioral Science, the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, and other departments on campus,” Conference co-chair Dr. Hannah Knudsen said.

Dr. Wilson Compton, Director of the Division of Epidemiology Services and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Dr. David Gustafson, an expert in process improvement and health care quality from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will all speak at the conference.

In addition to innovative researchers, several UK graduate students will also be presenting their research at the conference. Graduate students will be presenting their work in a poster session Tuesday afternoon.

Students have the opportunity to network with nationally recognized and experienced researchers. UK faculty will present their research and interact and meet other staff from the National Institute of Health.

“This conference is a great venue for networking, which may lead to future research collaborations,” Knudsen said.