Spotlight

For a decade or more, research has shown that alcohol increases the risk of several different cancers, yet most people are unaware of this link and the harms drinking can cause. A new ARG project, in collaboration with UCSF, seeks to change that by raising awareness among young women that alcohol use is a risk factor for breast cancer. To learn more about this unique project, we sat down with Principal Investigator and Scientist Priscilla Martinez, to talk about the study, what it’s like to … [Read more...]

The treatment and recovery research undertaken by ARG scientists involves assessing service options, both formal and informal, to understand treatment utilization, help determine clinical best practices and make recommendations that assist people on their road to recovery. Our studies have measured outcomes of participating in 12-step programs and their alternatives, assessed the positive outcomes experienced by residents of sober living houses, reviewed effectiveness of counseling … [Read more...]

More Paths to Successful Sobriety than Just Alcoholics Anonymous, Says New Study Alternative Mutual Help Groups are Viable Options to Traditional 12-step Groups People with an alcohol use disorder who participated in alternative mutual help groups had abstinence outcomes equivalent to those who participated in traditional 12-step groups at the same level, a new study from Senior Scientist and Center Associate Director Sarah E. Zemore and colleagues.  This is the first longitudinal, … [Read more...]

As leaders of the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute, we are writing in solidarity to unequivocally condemn pervasive racial injustice and the targeting, brutal treatment, and killing of Black people by police. We fully support the Black Lives Matter Movement, along with efforts to reform police departments, improve public safety, and develop means of addressing the needs of Black communities and other communities of color. We commit ourselves anew to … [Read more...]

ARG's policy-focused studies aim to inform and communicate research that inspires public dialogue and promotes evidence-based decision-making to advance the development of more effective health interventions. Applying a critical lens to issues of equity -- racial/ethnic, social and economical -- our analyses strives to help determine if policies affect groups differently and how to mitigate these differences in order to reduce health disparities between populations. In an effort to continue … [Read more...]

Since 1977, the National Alcohol Research Center has conducted critical research on how we drink and how alcohol consumption impacts our lives. It has also assessed policies to determine how best to curb the harms that drinking causes to the individual, their families and communities. The current Center's work has focused on disparities with the goal of reducing alcohol-related inequities between groups through the application of specific methods and sub-population analyses. Within the … [Read more...]

Since 1977, ARG's Training Program, in partnership the School of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley, has mentored and nurtured over 230 pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Many have gone on to serve the research community as faculty at universities, scientists at other institutions, while others have continued as scientists at ARG. To highlight the incredible contribution this NIAAA-funded program has provided to the field of alcohol- and other drug-related research, we … [Read more...]

Addressing Alcohol-related Disparities It is well documented that there is a bias in clinical and epidemiological studies, one that favors English over other languages, both in how it is communicated and used. It is a bias that also permeates the research process, from how studies are designed and who participates, through to what is published and disseminated. While scientists are aware of this language bias, there are few resources and mechanisms available to support a more equitable … [Read more...]