Addiction research leader to head new brain science initiative

Bankole A. Johnson, MD, a longtime research leader in neuroscience and the treatment of alcohol addiction, will direct a new Brain Science Research Consortium Unit at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The unit, which will conduct multidisciplinary studies on brain function, will be designed to respond to challenges presented in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative established last year.

The CEO of ADial Pharmaceuticals, a company where Johnson serves as board chairman and that is developing a compound to treat alcohol-dependent individuals with certain genotypes, said in a news release that the research consortium unit is destined to lead to landmark discoveries.

“ADial has benefited from Prof. Johnson's innovations in the area of creating medicines to treat addictions, and we look forward to following his progress,” said pharmaceutical company CEO William Stilley.

Johnson, a clinician and researcher for more than 25 years, has expanded the field's understanding of the link between brain abnormalities and addiction, and received the NIH's Jack Mendelson Award in 2013.