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.

The project is relevant to public health because it will explore the risks and benefits of nontraditional biological experimentation, which is currently conducted largely beyond the reach of external regulation, and consider what regulatory approach would best serve the public interest.