Bryan Yamamoto received his PhD from Syracuse University in Neurobiology after which, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical pharmacology at the University of Colorado Medical School. He was held at various faculty appointments at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in the Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry, and Boston University School of Medicine in the Department of Pharmacology. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. He has been a member of NIH Study Sections since 1987, an editorial board member of several journals, and a member of several advisory boards of NIH sponsored research centers and programs.

Bryan Yamamoto’s research has focused on how psycho-stimulant drugs including methamphetamine and MDMA (Ecstasy) injure the brain and interact with stress to exacerbate their neuro-toxic effects on neurotransmitter systems and the brain vasculature. He has been funded continuously by the NIH over the last 29 years.

Adi Jaffe received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2010. Even before he graduated his name had become known through his online and academic writing. His views on addiction and his research on the topic have been published in dozens of journals and online publications and he has appeared on several television shows and documentaries discussing current topics in addiction and the problem of addiction as a whole. He also teaches courses at UCLA and the California State University in Long Beach that address addiction specifically or biological psychology and behavioral neuroscience more generally. His view is a holistic one, drawing from the best and most recent research to bring as complete a solution to addiction clients. At Alternatives, he serves as the Director of Research, education, and innovation and is in charge of client monitoring, technology solutions, and data collections and outcomes research. His goal is to make Alternatives the best treatment program there is.

His goal is to help push the field of addiction treatment forward to make treatment more accessible and ultimately more successful.

Chris Mc Duffie began Turning Point Addiction Recovery Services several years ago, as an outgrowth of my work with addicted military veterans. Having been a Secondary School Principal & substance abuse counselor for 5+ years, he is specialize in Helping Young Adults ages 12-25, Business Executives & their Employees as well as Parents that need placement assistance for substance abuse, addiction & behavioral health treatment. Over time He became the 'Go-To' leading authority on substance abuse treatment, addiction recovery, drug rehab center consulting, educational consulting and aftercare treatment (especially with Business Executives, Human Resource Directors & their Employees).

For years, He studied everything about drug & alcohol addiction, counseling & treatment, drug rehab centers treatment methodologies, substance abuse treatment, mental health, wellness seminars for Companies, reducing business losses generated by absent, injured, depressed, ill & addicted employees and more.

Elizabeth Halpern is a Psychologist and a Frigate-Commander of the Brazilian Navy, a specialist in Medical Psychology, a Master in Collective Health, and a PhD in Mental Health. She dedicated 28 years in the Brazilian Navy hospitals and outpatient clinics, working as a chief and therapist, from prevention to rehabilitation, giving lectures and courses to military personnel, assisting families, couples, adolescents, and children, in groups and individually. As the Chief of the Center for Chemical Dependency during the last decade, she dedicated her practice towards addiction, and published 14 articles related to drinking practices in the workplace. Presently, she is the Chief of the Health Department of the Central Navy Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Medical Psychology, Collective Health and Mental Health

Youssef Sari is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology. He received his Doctorate in Neuroscience from Pierre and Marie Curie University, Institute of Neuroscience, (Paris, France) and subsequently held Post-doc and faculty research positions at Indiana University. He is currently holding a faculty position at the level of Assistant, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Toledo, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toledo, Ohio, USA. He is the PI of R01 grant project from NIH-NIAA; the project focuses on the role of glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) in alcohol-drinking behavior using compounds that upregulate this transporter. He has patents for two compounds that may have potential uses for the treatment of alcohol dependence. He is also testing compounds for the treatment of diseases involving oxidative stress.

His interests are alcohol-drinking behavior and treatment of alcohol dependence

Prapapun Chucharoen has completed Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the age of 38 years from Mahidol University. She is the director of Master of Arts program in Addiction Studies, ASEAN Institute for Health Development, Mahidol University, Thailand. This is the only Master Program in addiction studies in Southeast Asia. This program aimed to create social leader/ practitioner in the field of addiction studies. Those who graduate from the program will be capable of practicing as well as conducting research in this discipline in order to support the social environment of a country with respect to the prevention and alleviation of narcotics and others addiction problems. The therapy and rehabilitation of addicts is also included in the curriculum. She has published more than 25 papers in journals and serving as an editorial board member of Journal of Public Health and Development Thailand.

Neuroscience & Addiction Studies, Drug Addict rehabilitation program, prevention and alleviation of narcotics and others addiction problems and Public Health and Development.

Elkoussi is a professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology in Assiut College of Medicine since 1984. He was the Department Chairman in the years 1996-1999 and 2005-2007. He completed his PhD in 1972. In 1982 & 1984 he was granted postdoctoral fellowships in the University Of Florida College Of Pharmacy. From 1990 to 1994 he worked as a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Drug Design and Delivery and Center for Drug Discovery, University of Florida and he also worked as pharmacologist in some pharmaceutical research companies in USA and pharmaceutical industrial companies in Egypt as a regulatory affairs manager. In 2002 he got a Hubert Humphrey Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He had published over 50 manuscripts in international journals and presented several lectures and research work in more than 60 international scientific conferences. He also supervised several Masters and PhD theses on different topics in experimental and clinical pharmacology and toxicology. For the last 2 decades he had conducted and supervised several research studies and projects on the topic of solvent inhalant abuse, causes patterns and significance in different countries.

Drug abuse, Drug design &delivery, Drug interactions, Biological evaluation of drug activity , harmacokinetics, pharmacotherapy, pharmacovigilance as well as phytotherapy

Rocco de Filippis completed his MD and PhD from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. He holds a Master’s degree and he improved respectively in Bipolar Disorders and Addictive behavior in the years 2011/2012. He currently works and at the Institute of Psychopathology-Rome as a Psychiatrist and Addictive Medicine, and up to now presented as scientific coordinator of CME and Master of Addictive Behaviors; he currently publishes on Bipolar Disorders with high specialization on rapid cycling;he is also an official candidate at the Psychoanalytic Italian Society of the First Italian Center of Rome, and member of IPSO(International Psychoanalytic Studies Organization). He had a oral speech at Translational Medicine 2014 in Las Vegas on QTc Prolungation and Psychotropic Drugs.

Addiction Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Bipolar Disorders, Addictive Behaviours