My research focuses on risk and protective factors for substance use in North American Indigenous populations. The ultimate goal of this body of research is to translate these findings into new, culturally appropriate prevention interventions.

Biography

Dr. Spillane is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Public Health Program at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Kentucky in Clinical Psychology. She completed her predoctoral internship at Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium in 2008. She then became a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Alcohol Addiction Studies from 2008 - 2010. In 2010 she joined the Brown Medical School faculty. Her research interests lie in three areas: risk and protective factors for substance use among North American Indigenous communities, personality and psychosocial learning risk factors for alcohol use and abuse, and personality traits that influence the co-occurrence of smoking and other substance use disorders. In 2010, she was awarded a NIDA K08 to study contextual risk and protective factors for substance use in adolescents in a First Nation community located in Canada.