New Associate Dean at the School of Public Health and Health Professions

R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has recently been appointed Associate Dean for Research at the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions.

As associate dean, Collins plans to strengthen the department, in addition to doing research.

"One of the things that I am going to try to do is to help faculty in the school with grants," Collins said. "The school is relatively new, so we're going to try to grow in research."

As a researcher, Collins said she is fascinated by the human transition of experimenting with alcohol to then becoming a problem drinker or moderate social drinker.

"Everybody experiments and some people end up having problems. What is it that determines where individuals might end up?" Collin asked.

Collins has experience in the study of drug addiction and alcohol usage. Many of her studies have involved people 18 to 30 years of age.

"I think it's a very interesting age group. [If] we can help the people who are going in a negative direction, it's helpful to them as individuals...I think it's also helpful to the broader society, because [they] are the future workers and leaders of the country," Collins said.

Collins is currently the principle investigator or co-investigator of five projects through grants. One study called Restraint and Attributions: Risk Factors in Alcohol Abuse, will examine the development of drinking problems in people between the ages of 21 and 30, she said.

The research will inspect several different facets of drinking in order to determine a possible cause for addiction.

"I've looked at different things like people's beliefs about the effects of alcohol, personality factors...aggression [and] drinking in bars," Collins said.

Several of the studies Collins has been involved with have yielded some interesting and unexpected results.

"A grant that I finished a little while ago looked at the use of malt liquor. One of the things we found is that there's a lot of marijuana use associated with the use of malt liquor," she said.

Collins has been with UB since 1986. Besides her work with the RIA and the School of Public Health and Health Professions, she is also a research professor in the Department of Psychology. She began as a senior research scientist at the RIA.