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Message from the Director,
T.K. Li, MDGreetings from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. As a science institute, the NIAAA is primarily responsible for stimulating and supporting biomedical and behavioral research on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. The Institute also uses the results of research to develop and disseminate important public health information about alcohol–related health, social, and other consequences.
Alcohol is the third leading preventable risk factor for premature death in developed countries, according to the 2002 World Health Organization report. In the United States, alcohol misuse costs society about $185 billion each year. The reason alcohol takes such a heavy toll is that its potential to cause harm extends beyond alcoholism and behaviors that lead to fatal injuries, major problems in themselves. Alcohol is not only a psychoactive substance but also a toxin that can damage any tissue or organ in the body. Alcohol toxic actions cause or contribute to certain cancers, liver and pancreatic disease, brain damage, and disturbances of the immune and endocrine systems, among other conditions. But alcohol also presents a paradox.
Increased rates of both biomedical (e.g., alcoholic liver disease) and non-biomedical (e.g., alcohol-related traffic accidents) consequences of alcohol among some minority groups exist even when the quantity of alcohol consumed is equivalent. These rates, when compared to those in the general population, suggest differential vulnerability to alcohol problems for ethnic and racial minority groups. Factors that contribute to variations in vulnerability are manifold, and may include biological, socio-economic, psychological-cultural, and environmental factors. Examples include genetically determined differences in alcohol metabolism, the incidence of co-occurring diseases, access to appropriate health care, attitudes about alcohol use, and advertising and alcohol outlet density. Research is directly targeted at improving alcohol-related prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies among minority and other disadvantaged populations. The aim of this research is to minimize and ultimately eliminate health disparities related to alcohol abuse and dependence.
In addition to an active research agenda, NIAAA also supports a variety of other health disparities initiatives. These include recruiting investigators into alcohol research and promoting the careers of ethnic and racial minorities at all levels of research. We hope, in effect, to create a pipeline of future ethnic and racial minority scientists working in the field of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Another strategy to combat health disparities is to promote research infrastructure development at minority-serving institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Finally, NIAAA supports dissemination of research-based alcohol information back to ethnic and racial communities as well as integration of this information into clinical and scientific training programs so as to produce a generation of scientist clinicians prepared to face the problems of alcohol use and abuse.
NIAAA is committed to increasing outreach and to translating research findings to clinical practice in ethnic communities. Our service-to-service program provides clinicians with information about current research and links them with scientists who advise them on specific areas of practice, at the clinician’s request. We recently published Helping Patients with Alcohol Problems: A Health Practitioner’s Guide. NIAAA has developed outreach programs to minority clinicians and physician groups such as the National Medical Association and the National Hispanic Medical Association, both of which serve special populations. We welcome this opportunity to communicate with the current and next generation of African American and Hispanic doctors.
Through all our efforts, we are making progress in understanding and treating alcoholism and alcohol–related problems. We invite you to read on to find out more about the work we’re doing and how you can become a part of our highly respected team of medical and research professionals working to address the problems associated with alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the community.
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