Alison Oliveto

High Impact

Professor

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

faculty

PSY Psychiatry, College of Medicine

31 h-index 129 pubs 3,249 cited

Research Areas

Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research Mental Health Treatment and Access Behavioral Health and Interventions Meta-analysis and systematic reviews Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment Smoking Behavior and Cessation Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Links

ORCID Lab Website UAMS TRI Profile

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OverviewAI-generated summary

Alison Oliveto is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine. Her research career has focused on improving treatments and access to care for substance use disorders, particularly psychostimulant and opioid use disorders. Oliveto's work is translational, encompassing human laboratory studies and clinical trials.

Oliveto has a history of NIH funding dating back to 1993. During her tenure at Yale School of Medicine, she established and directed an Outpatient Treatment Research Program at the West Haven VA Healthcare System, which involved multiple institutions in conducting medication development trials. She also served as Scientific Director for a NIDA P50 center, coordinating mentoring and research operations. Since joining UAMS in 2004, she has continued to develop an addiction research program.

Her recent publications include pilot clinical trials on amphetamine withdrawal and ketamine for tobacco use disorder, a systematic review on suicide prevention guidelines, and studies on gabapentin and buprenorphine quantification. She has also investigated the impact of smoking on cognitive responses and anxiety on treatment retention. Oliveto has authored 129 publications and has an h-index of 31 with 3,249 citations. She actively collaborates with researchers at UAMS, including Michael Mancino, Jeff Thostenson, Srinivasa Gokarakonda, and Lauren Russell.

Research Overview

Historically, my career aims have been to improve upon treatments/ treatment access for substance use disorder as well as generally facilitate research in addiction and beyond. As a trained behavioral pharmacologist, I have had continuous NIH funding since 1993 conducting translational research in addiction, including human laboratory and clinical trials, with a focus on psychostimulant and/or opioid use disorders. In 1996 during my tenure at Yale School of Medicine, I established and directed the Outpatient Treatment Research Program at the West Haven CT Veterans Administration Healthcare System (VAHCS) that administratively involved three institutions (Yale, VAHCS, APT Foundation) to ensure the successful conduct of several medications development human laboratory and clinical trials. In 1998 I became Scientific Director of the NIDA P50 medications development center (T. Kosten, PI) and was responsible for coordinating the mentoring of physician scientists and fellows, overseeing research staff, and consolidating resources to maximize research productivity. When I accepted a faculty position at UAMS in 2004, I moved my research and established an addiction research program in the department of Psychiatry and became Vice Chair for Research in Psychiatry at UAMS. I have been responsible for intramural and extramural grant funding, overseeing the career development of clinician scientists, and establishing a research track for Psychiatry residents. I served in several leadership roles on campus, including in our CTSA-funded Translational Research Institute from 2014-2017. I directed the UAMS CTSA-supported Clinical Trials Unit, transforming culture and processes to maximize efficient, regulatory-compliant and rigorous conduct of multi-site trials. I became Director of Psychiatry's Center for Addiction Research in 2016 and have focused on strategic recruitment of addiction scientists as well as developing synergy among CAR/UAMS faculty. In 2020, I became the UAMS site principal investigator in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network Big/SouthWest Node and am awaiting funding on a NIDA CTN multi-site trial. Meanwhile, my focus has shifted to include drug prevention strategies and am currently leading the Arkansas State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup in partnership with state agencies, gathering, analyzing and disseminating trends in substance abuse and related outcomes in order to inform prevention efforts across the state.

Metrics

h-index: 31
Publications: 129
Citations: 3,249

Selected Publications

Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of gabapentin during outpatient buprenorphine-assisted taper and transition to injectable naltrexone (2025) DOI
Exploratory study of heart rate variability among participants with opioid use disorder inducted on gabapentin versus placebo during outpatient buprenorphine-assisted transition to injection naltrexone. (2025) DOI
A randomized clinical trial of disulfiram at higher doses for the treatment of cocaine use disorder among methadone-stabilized patients (2025) DOI
Gabapentin and D-cycloserine alone and in combination with naloxone in methadone-maintained humans responding under a naloxone novel-response discrimination procedure (2025) DOI
Effects of Recent Smoking and Daily Hassles on Mood and Craving During a Cigarette Quit Attempt (2025) DOI
A pilot study of ketamine among individuals with tobacco use disorder: tolerability and initial impact on tobacco use outcomes (2025) DOI
THE IMPACT OF FENTANYL ON TREATMENT OUTCOMES DURING AN OUTPATIENT BUPRENORPHINE TAPER WITH ADJUNCT GABAPENTIN (2024) DOI
Factors Related to Cannabis Use in Individuals Over 65 (2024) DOI
CANNABINOID-INVOLVED EXPOSURES, ED VISITS AND HOSPITALIZATIONS BEFORE AND AFTER ARKANSAS MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW ENACTMENT: INITIAL TRENDS (2024) DOI
484 A Preliminary Study on the Pharmacodynamics of Oral Cannabis Ingestion in Older Adults (2024) DOI
289 Heart Rate Variability in Opioid Use Disordered Participants Undergoing Buprenorphine-Assisted Detoxification (2023) DOI
Smoking status affects cognitive, emotional and neural-connectivity response to distress-inducing auditory feedback (2023) DOI
Impact of state and trait anxiety severity on retention and phase advancement in an outpatient buprenorphine treatment program (2022) DOI
Acceptability of a Game-Based Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Prescription Opioid Misuse (2022) DOI
Utility of a controlled amphetamine withdrawal paradigm among adults who use methamphetamine: A pilot clinical trial (2021) DOI

Research Interests

A behavioral pharmacologist by training, I have been a funded NIH researcher for over four decades, conducting translational research focused mainly on opioid and/or stimulant use disorders. Much of my work has focused on developing human laboratory and clinical trial study designs that serve as models for studying efficacious treatments. For instance, I participated in the development and testing of a methodological advance in human drug discrimination procedures (novel-response option) and applied this methodological advance to a human laboratory model of opioid withdrawal, through which two nonopioid compounds were identified as potential opioid withdrawal treatments. Moreover, my Yale colleague, Dr. Patrick O’Connor, and I piloted the first trial of office-based buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder. In addition, I developed in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Kosten a relapse paradigm for stimulant use disorder trials and identified the SSRI sertraline as a potentially efficacious relapse prevention treatment. I also mentored Dr. Michael Mancino (UAMS) on the development of a rigorous amphetamine withdrawal paradigm for his COBRE project (PI: Garcia-Rill) and Dr. Michael Wilson (UAMS) on developing a human laboratory model of “agitation”, which often occurs among methamphetamine users presenting to the ED. I am currently leading the Arkansas Statewide Epidemiology Outcomes Workgroup, monitoring substance use trends and related outcomes to help guide successful substance use prevention efforts in the state. Along these lines, I have been working with Dr. Ronald Thompson (UAMS) on developing and testing the efficacy of an adolescent game-based nonmusical prescription drug use prevention intervention along with a caregiver educational component. Meanwhile, I have returned to my behavioral pharmacology roots, piloting the effects of cannabis in older adults.; human behavioral pharmacology; substance use disorders; drug use prevention; opioids; Stimulants, Central; abuse liability; clinical trials

Grants & Funding

No FP attached UAMS Internal Research Awards Principal Investigator
No FP attached UAMS Intramural Grant (CTSA) Principal Investigator
Improving Combined Buprenorphine-Behavioral Treatment NIH/NIDA Co-Investigator
Family Bases Contingency Management for Adolescent Alcohol Abuse NIH/Nat. Inst. on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism - Pass Through: Dartmouth College Principal Investigator
Improving Treatment Outcomes for Prescription Opioid Dependence - Continuation - Continuation - Continuation - Continuation NIH/Nat. Inst. on Drug Abuse Principal Investigator
Distress Tolerance and Smoking Cessation NIH/Nat. Inst. on Drug Abuse - Pass Through: Wake Forest University Principal Investigator
Improving Treatment Outcomes for Prescription Opioid Dependence NIH Principal Investigator
Monoamine Antagonist Therapies for Methamphetamine Abuse NIH/Nat. Inst. on Drug Abuse Co-Investigator