This Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) will prepare the candidate to become an interdisciplinary ELSI researcher conducting high-impact, independently funded research exploring the impact of genetic and other biological explanations for addictions and other psychiatric disorders on attitudes and beliefs about health and identity. The research will examine how genetic attributions for addiction relate to beliefs about individual agency and treatment effectiveness among people with addictive disorders and clinicians who treat them.

Project Summary/Abstract - The Risk Evaluation and Education for Alzheimer's Disease (REVEAL) Study is an ongoing series of multi-site randomized controlled trials that provide empirical data to address ethical, social and translational issues in genetic susceptibility testing for common diseases. Such work has become increasingly important given the expansion of genome-wide association studies identifying genetic risk factors for common diseases and corresponding efforts to commercialize genetic testing using these markers.

This project is an Information Conference for Minorities on the Human Genome Project: The Challenges and Impact of Human Genome Research for Minority Communities. The two-day conference is designed primarily for representatives from the minority communities (African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Americans), but will be open to all interested persons.

Prophylactic mastectomy (PM) has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer 90% in women at high and moderate risk, but its use is limited by low acceptability. Researchers caution that this is a highly personal decision, but patients and providers have little data about psychosocial outcomes of PM. Project goals are: a. To describe the self-perceived benefits of PM and the physical, emotional, and interpersonal impacts; b. To describe the impact of cancer family history and family communication on decision-making for and outcomes of PM; c.