In October 2018, the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai (AIMS) announced its strategic alliance with Center on Addiction (CoA), formerly known as The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse or CASA. The alliance combines AIMS’ clinical expertise with CoA’s research, policy, and advocacy resources to design innovative and effective models of treatment for addiction for adolescent and young adult populations.
Shilpa Taufique, PhD, has been named the Director of the Alliance. In this role, Dr. Taufique will drive the Alliance’s initiatives to develop, implement, and measure the efficacy of new interventions for opioid use disorder across the Mount Sinai Health System, with a focus on adolescents and young adults. She will also develop and implement the clinical arm of Alliance projects and ensure achievement of clinical intervention-related milestones; participate in research and efficacy measurement related to the Alliance projects; and serve as primary spokesperson and liaison of the Alliance to internal and external stakeholders. Dr. Taufique will also maintain her roles as the Director of the Division of Psychology for the Mount Sinai Health System, and as the Director of the Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s.
Kara Bagot, MD, joined Mount Sinai in October 2019 and will be the Medical Director of the AIMS-CoA Alliance. In this role, she will focus on assessing the efficacy of the clinical Alliance initiatives, serve as the physician expert, and work with Dr. Taufique in the engagement and liaison work with internal and external stakeholders. Dr. Bagot is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and her research background is in adolescent substance use disorders (SUDs) and overlapping childhood psychopathology. She completed her adult and child and adolescent psychiatry and clinical research training at Yale University School of Medicine Child Study Center. Dr. Bagot’s current work focuses on the effects of technology (e.g. social media, video gaming, internet use) on development of SUDs and psychiatric illness in children and adolescents, and ways to use mobile and digital technologies to improve assessment, monitoring, and treatment of SUDs in adolescents.
In addition, Rachel Weller, PsyD, has been appointed as the Project Manager for the AIMS-CoA alliance. In this role, Dr. Weller will be responsible for all project management administration, and will support the director and research director to ensure successful operational execution of the projects. She will also assist Drs. Taufique and Bagot with development and implementation of the clinical arm of Alliance projects and with monitoring achievement of clinical intervention-related milestones. Dr. Weller is a licensed clinical psychologist whose clinical interests include trauma and resilience, co-occurring disorders (mental health and chemical dependency), diversity issues, and program development.
“It is our hope that, through this partnership, we will gain information about how we can offer useful and relevant information, resources, and services to students and their families, faculty, and the schools, at large,” said Dr. Taufique.