Dezarie Moskal, Ph.D., and Jacob Scharer, Ph.D., will lead a three-year NIH study funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Their project, Evaluating Implementation and Effectiveness of Alcohol Use Disorder Care Management in Primary Care, will test an approach designed to help more veterans receive medication treatment and stay engaged with care through VA primary care.
Both investigators work at the VA Center for Integrated Healthcare and are affiliates of Syracuse University’s Center for Health Behavior Research & Innovation (CHB).
Effective medications for alcohol use disorder are available, yet few people who could benefit from them receive them. The team will conduct pilot research on Alcohol Care Management, an approach intended to support medication prescribing in primary care. The study will examine its preliminary effectiveness and how it can be delivered in routine VA practice.
Stephen A. Maisto, Ph.D., CHB associate director of research and professor emeritus of psychology, is a co-investigator. His role continues a long history of alcohol research involving Syracuse and VA investigators. VA co-investigators include Jennifer S. Funderburk, Kyle Possemato, Jocelyn Remmert, Julie Gass, Katherine Buckheit and Clara Dismuke-Greer. Dave Oslin will serve as a consultant.
The award is also a tangible result of the research partnership CHB and the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) have built with the VA.
Moskal serves as a research assistant professor with CHB and IVMF, alongside her primary role as Clinical Research Program Director at the VA Center for Integrated Healthcare. Her Syracuse appointment was designed to give faculty and students a consistent connection to VA investigators, research opportunities, and resources. Through the CHB-IVMF Veteran & Military Behavioral Health Collaborative, she has mentored students, advised faculty interested in VA research and helped develop the SU+VA Collaboration Pilot Grant Program.
Moskal has also helped create guidance on the VA Million Veteran Program and other VA data sources, giving faculty a clearer starting point for research within the VA system. Scharer, a VA research psychologist and data team lead, advises CHB affiliates on data sources and project feasibility.
The study will provide early evidence on whether Alcohol Care Management can help more veterans receive effective treatment through primary care. It also shows the CHB-IVMF partnership with the VA working toward a shared clinical goal: making that care easier for veterans to access.