Department of Psychiatry Faculty

Education

1976, B.S., Vanderbilt University
1983, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
1984, Joined Yale University faculty

Research Interest

The ultimate goal of our laboratory is to develop more efficacious treatments for substance abuse disorders, particularly alcoholism and nicotine dependence. Toward this end, we are conducting clinical trials to determine efficacy of these medications, and laboratory studies to determine the mechanisms underlying the effects of treatment and the underlying nature of the disorder.

With regard to alcoholism, we are one of 11 clinical sites participating in a NIAAA sponsored study testing the efficacy of naltrexone, acamprosate, and behavioral interventions. In addition, we are conducting a study testing the efficacy of combination therapy with naltrexone and sertraline compared to naltrexone alone and to placebo for alcohol dependence in Alaska Natives as well as nearing completion of a study on the efficacy of naltrexone in alcohol dependent women. Our laboratory work has focused on testing the mechanisms by which naltrexone prevents a lapse in abstinence from leading to heavy drinking. In addition, we are evaluating the effects of acamprosate on several aspects related to relapse, including withdrawal symptomatology and alcohol drinking.

In 1999, we were awarded one of seven Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers funded by NIDA and NCI. The overall aim of our center is to reduce exposure to tobacco by focusing our research on smokers most resistant to current treatments for smoking cessation. The targeted risk factors are heavy alcohol use, depressive disorders, and female gender. While traditionally, these risk factors have been studied independently, this TTURC research will address at least two of these risk factors simultaneously and involve at least two disciplines and their techniques in each project. The proposed research plan will incorporate preclinical laboratory studies using rodent models, human laboratory studies, behavioral and pharmacological treatment research, and studies designed to translate and evaluate the significance of the findings for the field. Methods for insuring transdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis of findings are articulated for the center as a whole and within each project. In taking this approach we believe that we will arrive at a more complete synthesis of why these groups are at greater risk and as a result, how they can be more effectively treated.

Publications of Note

O’Malley, S.S., Sinha, R., Grilo, C.M., Capone, C., Farren, C.K., McKee, S.A., Rounsaville, B.J., & Wu, R. (in press). Naltrexone and cognitive behavioral coping skills therapy for the treatment of alcohol drinking and eating disorder features in alcohol dependent women: A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

O’Malley, S.S. (2006). Pharmacotherapy of addictive disorders. In W.R. Miller & K.M. Carroll (eds.), Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows and What We Should Do About It. (pp. 240-256). New York: Guilford Press.

O'Malley, S.S., Cooney, J.L., Krishnan-Sarin, S., Dubin, J.A., McKee, S.A., Cooney, N.L., Blakeslee, A., Meandzija, B., Romano-Dahlgard, D., Wu, R., Makuch, R., Jatlow, P. (2006). A controlled trial of naltrexone augmentation of nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166, 667-674.

O’Malley, S.S., Martin, D., Hosking, J.& Mason, B.R. (2005). How pilot studies improve large-scale clinical trials: Lessons learned from the COMBINE study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Suppl. 15, 66-71.

O’Malley, S.S., Rounsaville, B.J., Farren, C., Namkoong, K., Wu, R., Robinson J., & O’Connor, P.G. (2003). Initial and maintenance naltrexone for alcohol dependence using primary care vs. specialty care: A nested sequence of three randomized studies. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163,1695-1704.

O’Malley, S.S., Krishnan-Sarin, S., & Rounsaville, B.J. (2003). Naltrexone. In H. Kaplan & B.J. Sadock (eds), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, vol. 2, Seventh Edition (pp 2407-2412). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

O’Malley, S.S., Krishnan-Sarin, S., Farren, C., Sinha, R., Kreek, M.J. (2002). Naltrexone decreases craving and alcohol self-administration in alcohol dependent subjects and activates the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocorticol axis. Psychopharmacology, 160, 19-29.

O’Malley, S.S., Krishnan-Sarin, S., & Rounsaville, B.J. (2000). Naltrexone. In H. Kaplan, & B.J. Sadock (Eds), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, vol. 2, Seventh Edition (pp 2407-2412). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

O'Malley, S.S. (1996). Opioid antagonists in the treatment of alcohol dependence: Clinical efficacy and prevention of relapse. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 31, Suppl.1, 77- 82.

O'Malley, S.S., Carroll, K.M. (1996). Psychotherapeutic considerations in pharmacologic trials. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 17A-22A.

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