Dr. Lara Ray was interviewed by the KCRW radio station about a recently-passed law designed to decrease addiction to social media in young people. She discusses how current research suggests similarities between substance-seeking and social media-seeking behaviors.
Listen to the radio segment here.
Dr. Lara Ray was recently interviewed on ABC 7 about new research examining the relationship between cancer and alcohol use. The news clip and associated article is titled “Moderate drinking could increase cancer risk, new research shows.”
Read and watch the full segment here.
PURC 2025
Congratulations to our four undergraduate research assistants who participated in UCLA’s Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)!
Ella Liu presented a data blitz titled “Exploring the Relationship between Sex, Chronic Pain and Alcohol Use.”
Aditya Hari presented a poster titled “Effect of Alcohol Use Disorder and Sex on Reported Levels of Stress and Anxiety.”
Kaitlyn Cerwinski presented a poster titled “Stress generation in alcohol use disorder: Examining the role of early life stress.”
Sriya Chilla presented a poster titled “A Clinical Comparison of Treatment–Seeking and Non-Treatment Seeking Individuals with an Alcohol Use Disorder.”
Thank you for representing our lab well with your efforts in research!
Dr. Erica Grodin was recently quoted in a PsyPost article titled “Stress triggers different brain responses in women and men with alcohol use disorder” (Dolan, 2024). The article discusses her recent publication, “Sex differences in neural response to an acute stressor in individuals with an alcohol use disorder,” which found that women exhibited greater neural activation in the amygdala following the acute stress task compared to men.
Read the full article here.
Dr. Lara Ray was interviewed in The International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism’s March bulletin. (Published March, 2024). In the interview, Dr. Lara Ray explains the development of her interest in alcohol research, offers advice for young investigators, and explores fascinating discoveries from her research on the role of the immune system in Alcohol Use Disorder.
Read the full interview here.
The UCLA Addictions Lab was featured on CNN’s This is Life with Lisa Ling titled “We have a drinking problem.” (Aired December 18th, 2022). In the episode, Lisa explores America’s epidemic of heavy alcohol use, and how its upsurge through the pandemic is having a shocking impact on the health of approximately 15 million people. She visits the UCLA Addictions Lab to speak with Dr. Lara Ray about her cutting edge research being conducted on novel treatment options for Alcohol Use Disorder.
Find out more about the episode here.
PURC 2025
Congratulations to our four undergraduate research assistants who participated in UCLA’s Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)!
Ella Liu presented a data blitz titled “Exploring the Relationship between Sex, Chronic Pain and Alcohol Use.”
Aditya Hari presented a poster titled “Effect of Alcohol Use Disorder and Sex on Reported Levels of Stress and Anxiety.”
Kaitlyn Cerwinski presented a poster titled “Stress generation in alcohol use disorder: Examining the role of early life stress.”
Sriya Chilla presented a poster titled “A Clinical Comparison of Treatment–Seeking and Non-Treatment Seeking Individuals with an Alcohol Use Disorder.”
Thank you for representing our lab well with your efforts in research!
STATEMENT ABOUT ALCOHOL USE DURING COVID PANDEMIC
- Dr. Lara Ray recently participated in a virtual live conversation series, titled “Smarter at Home”, hosted by UCLA Strategic Communications. You can view her live talk here where she discusses how the global health crisis has impacted alcohol use.
- Alcohol Treatment Resources:
- Rethinking Drinking by NIAAA
- Alcohol Treatment Navigator by NIAAA
- SMART Recovery
- COVID-19 Resources:
- Los Angeles COVID-19 Resources
- COVID-19 Mental Health Resources
- FACE COVID-19 – How to respond effective to the Corona crisis
ABOUT
At the UCLA Addictions lab we are interested in understanding the clinical neuroscience of drug and alcohol addiction. To do so we utilize a variety of laboratory techniques including experimental psychopathology, behavioral genetics, and pharmacology to better understand the causes and correlates of substance use disorders and to identify promising interventions for drug and alcohol dependence. More recently, we have begun using neuroimaging methods to complement our research program.
FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN ONE OF OUR RESEARCH STUDIES:
