Center for Advancing Longitudinal Drug Abuse Research

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Investigator: Constance Weisner, DrPH
Sponsor: University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Location(s): United States

Description

CALDAR, established in the Fall of 2005 through funding by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is a Center on longitudinal drug abuse research.  The overarching theme of this multidisciplinary research unit is the development and application of rigorous scientific approaches for advancing longitudinal research on drug abuse and its interplay with HIV infection, drug treatment and other service systems.

The aims of CALDAR are to:

  • increase knowledge of longitudinal patterns of drug addiction and their interplay with HIV infection, drug treatment, and other service systems (e.g., mental health, criminal justice, welfare, medical care);
  • enhance the quality and efficiency of research conducted by Center-supported projects by providing centralized support to serve common project functions;
  • provide opportunities for scientific collaboration and cross-project analyses, stimulating conceptual development and integration, and advancing improved research methodologies and statistical approaches; and
  • enhance the relevance and application of longitudinal research on drug use by facilitating dissemination of integrated project findings to a variety of communities.