Research Efforts Abound After more than a year of commemoration, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) this week concludes its 25th-anniversary celebration at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Washington, D.C.
NIAAA was signed into existence in 1970 by President Richard Nixon ironically-or, perhaps, fittingly-on New Year's Eve, a holiday marked by excessive alcohol consumption. The institute initially was charged with developing health, education, research, and planning programs for the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse and alcoholism as part of the National Institute of Mental Health.
DIRECTOR: Enoch Gordis notes a shift in NIAAA's research focus. NIAAA became an independent institute in 1974 but did not receive specific authorization to conduct research until 1976. By 1981, research had become the institute's sole focus. Today NIAAA supports approximately 90 percent of all alcohol-related research in the United States, according to its director, Enoch ...
