Brenda CurtisVisionary
- Strategic planning
- Program evaluation
- Independent research
- Diversity and inclusion
- PhD, Annenberg, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Curtis received a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Illinois and her Doctoral degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Curtis also completed a fellowship at the Fordham University HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute. Her principal research focuses on “big data” generated from social networking sites; technology based interventions that target substance use disorders and related issues; and Internet research ethics.
Data can provide us the answers to any question we want to ask
Dr. Curtis is the recipient of a research project grant (R01) awarded from the Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN) in which she is using social media data to predict alcohol and other drug relapse and treatment completion among patients who have recently entered community outpatient treatment programs. She is also currently serving as an investigator on several R01 grants funded by NIAAA, NCI, and NIDA including a placebo-controlled trial of bupropion for smoking cessation in pregnant women using SMS text messaging to promote medication adherence and a trial examining the impact of a smart-phone based continuing care “app” for alcohol dependence. Understanding techniques people use to gather information online and how that information is processed has influenced her development of a web-based smoking cessation intervention; an online adolescent screening, brief information, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) program; and an adolescent safer sex and pregnancy prevention intervention CD-ROM. Her research has led her to examine the ethical implications raised by the use of the Internet, social media, and apps to recruit and retain subjects into HIV- and substance use-related studies. Dr. Curtis is regularly invited to lecture on the use of social media in substance use research, internet research ethics, and has published in the leading addiction journals.
selected publications
Ashford, Robert D, Brown, Austin M, Curtis, Brenda: Systemic barriers in substance use disorder treatment: A prospective qualitative study of professionals in the field. Drug and alcohol Dependence 1: 62-9, August 2018.
Ashford, Robert D, Brown, Austin M, Curtis, Brenda: Substance use, recovery, and linguistics: the impact of word choice on explicit and implicit bias. Drug and alcohol dependence 1(189): 131-38, August 2018.
Ashford, Robert D, Brown, Austin M, Curtis, Brenda: The Language of Substance Use and Recovery: Novel Use of the Go/No–Go Association Task to Measure Implicit Bias. Health communication 4: 1-7, June 2018.
Curtis, Brenda L, Lookatch, Samantha J, Ramo, Danielle E, McKay, James R, Feinn, Richard S, Kranzler, Henry R: Meta‐Analysis of the Association of Alcohol‐Related Social Media Use with Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol‐Related Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 42(6): 978-86, June 2018.
Curtis, Brenda, Giorgi, Salvatore, Buffone, Anneke EK, Ungar, Lyle H, Ashford, Robert D, Hemmons, Jessie, Summers, Dan, Hamilton, Casey, Schwartz, H Andrew: Can Twitter be used to predict county excessive alcohol consumption rates? PloS one 13(4): e0194290, April 2018.
Ashford, Robert D, Lynch, Kevin, Curtis, Brenda: Technology and social media use among patients enrolled in outpatient addiction treatment programs: Cross-sectional survey study. Journal of medical Internet research 20(3), March 2018.
Brown, Austin M, Ashford, Robert D, Figley, Naomi, Courson, Kayce, Curtis, Brenda, Kimball, Thomas: Alumni Characteristics of Collegiate Recovery Programs: A National Survey. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly Page: 1-14, February 2018 Notes: doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2018.1437374.
Ashford, Robert D, Brown, Austin M, Eisenhart, Emily, Thompson-Heller, Anne, Curtis, Brenda: What we know about students in recovery: meta-synthesis of collegiate recovery programs, 2000-2017. Addiction Research & Theory 26(5): 405-13, January 2018.
McKay, James R, Gustafson, David H, Ivey, Megan, McTavish, Fiona, Pe-Romashko, Klaren, Curtis, Brenda, Oslin, David A, Polsky, Daniel, Quanbeck, Andrew, Lynch, Kevin G: Effects of automated smartphone mobile recovery support and telephone continuing care in the treatment of alcohol use disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 19(1): 82, January 2018.
Ashford, Robert D, Brown, Austin M, Curtis, Brenda: Collegiate recovery programs: the integrated behavioral health model. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 36(2): 274-285, December 2017.
contact details
feedback form
If you’d like a free consultation, please start by completing the form:
VFR has been invaluable in helping Oregon execute a statewide strategic plan for addiction and recovery. Implementing a statewide strategy for tracking recovery prevalence will help us serve those that need us most.
Gaining the ability to evaluate the ARHE and S.A.F.E. Project leadership academy has been instrumental in growing the program. Our stakeholders have access to meaningful metrics and know exactly how our participants are progressing!
