Update Your ProfileAcademic Title:
Assistant Professor
Primary Appointment:
Psychiatry
Location:
University of Maryland Drug Treatment Center 1001 W. Pratt Street
Phone (Primary):
443-462-3400
Education and Training
- Loyola University New Orleans, BA, Psychology
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH-IRP/NIH), Laboratory of Neuropsychology (mentor: Mortimer Mishkin), Pre-Doctoral IRTA
- University of California, Irvine, PhD, Neurobiology & Behavior (mentor: John F. Marshall)
- University of California, Santa Barbara, MacArthur Foundation Law & Neuroscience Project Post-Doctoral Fellow (mentors: Michael Gazzaniga and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA-IRP/NIH), Neuroimaging Research Branch (mentors: Elliot A. Stein and Afonso C. Silva), Post-Doctoral IRTA
Biosketch
My research interests are in the identification of non-pharmacological approaches to increase positive outcomes from Medication-Based Treatment (MBT, primarily, methadone) for opioid use disorder (OUD). I am also interested in the psychosocial risk factors (anxiety, depression and catastrophizing) that determine retention and adherence to MBT.
Other areas of research interest include:
-Understanding barriers to naloxone access and use (collaboration with Eric Wish, PhD)
-Comprehensive urine drug screening in OUD-diagnosed individuals (collaboration with Eric Wish, PhD)
-Clinical outcomes of telemedicine-based delivery of MBT (collaboration with Eric Weintraub, MD and Melanie Bennett, PhD)
-Characterization of impulsivity in treatment-seeking OUD-diagnosed individuals (collaboration with Kristen Hamilton, PhD)
-Non-reinforcing properties of methadone (collaboration with Sergi Ferre, MD, PhD)
-Work-force re-entry for individuals with OUD (collaboration with Marianne Cloeren, MD)
Research/Clinical Keywords
Opioid Use Disorder, Learning and Memory, Substance Use Disorders, Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Individual Differences, Susceptibility and Resilience to SUD, Medication-Assisted Treatment, Telemedicine for OUD
Highlighted Publications
Belcher AM*, Cole TO, Greenblatt AD, Hoag SW, Epstein DH, Wagner M, Billing AS, Massey E, Hamilton KR, Kozak ZK, Welsh CJ, Weintraub E, Wickwire EM, Wish ED, Kaptchuk TJ, Colloca L. Open-label dose-extending placebos for opioid use disorder: a protocol for a randomised controlled clinical trial with methadone treatment. BMJ Open. 2019 Jun 21;9(6):e026604. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026604. PubMed PMID: 31230007
Cai NS, Quiroz C, Bonaventura J, Bonifazi A, Cole TO, Purks J, Billing AS, Massey E, Wagner M, Wish ED, Guitart X, Rea W, Lam S, Moreno E, Casadó-Anguera V, Greenblatt AD, Jacobson AE, Rice KC, Casadó V, Newman AH, Winkelman JW, Michaelides M, Weintraub E, Volkow ND, Belcher AM*, Ferré S*. Opioid-galanin receptor heteromers mediate the dopaminergic effects of opioids. J Clin Invest. 2019 Mar 26;130:2730-2744. doi: 10.1172/JCI126912. PubMed PMID: 30913037 *co-corresponding author
Belcher AM, Volkow ND, Moeller FG, Ferré S. Personality traits and vulnerability or resilience to substance use disorders. Trends Cogn Sci. 2014 Apr;18(4):211-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.01.010. Epub 2014 Mar 5. Review. PubMed PMID: 24612993
Belcher AM, Volkow ND, Moeller F, Ferre S. The Cognitive Neurosciences V (fifth edition). Gazzaniga MS, Mangun GR, editors. Cambridge: MIT; 2014. Chapter 88, Society and addiction: Bringing understanding toward appreciation of a mental health disorder. p.1035-1042.
Belcher AM, Lejuez CW, Moeller FG, Volkow ND and Ferre S (2018). Choice Impulsivity, a drug-modifiable personality trait. In: Pickard and Ahmed (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction.
Additional Publication Citations
A complete list of all published work can be found in MYBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1nsdv93Qb7lQC/bibliography/public/
Awards and Affiliations
| 1999- | Member, Society for Neuroscience |
| 2002, 2003, 2004 | UCI Biological Sciences Travel Award Fellowship |
| 2003 | UCI Biological Sciences Travel Award Fellowship |
| 2003-2004 | Co-Organizer, Annual CNLM Neuroscience Symposium, UCI |
| 2004 | UCI Biological Sciences Travel Award Fellowship |
| 2004-2006 | Steering Committee, NSF ADVANCE Biomedical Research Trainee Network, UCI |
| 2005-2009 | Member, Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society |
| 2007 | UCI Minority Biomedical Research Support Program Awardee |
| 2008 | American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Policy Fellowship |
| 2008- | Member, Professional Women’s Nexus |
| 2011 | NIDA Director’s Award of Merit |
| 2009-2011 | NIDA Representative, FelCom Post-Doctoral IRTA Committee, NIH |
| 2013 | NIDA FARE Award for Research Excellence |
Grants and Contracts
2019-2020 (Belcher, co-I: 30%)
Title: “Methadone-Maintained Individuals’ Perceptions of Naloxone”
NIH/NIDA Administrative Supplement Sub-Award to 3U01DA038360-05S4 (E. Wish, PI)
Total costs: $ 74,354
2017-2020 (Belcher, PI: 0%)
Title: “Open-label dose-extending placebos as an adjunct to methadone treatment: A pilot study”
The Foundation for the Science of the Therapeutic Experience (F-STE)
Total costs: $ 26,362.32
2017-2020 (Belcher, Co-I: 0%)
Title: “Novel Therapies to Reduce Opioid Use”
Project Directors:Annabelle Belcher, Eric Wish, Luana Colloca
MPowering the State: Strategic Partnership funds
Total costs: $86,580
Community Service
2002 Guest lecturer, “Empowering the Community” Conference, University of California, Irvine
2003-2008 Annual Lecturer, Brain Awareness Week, University of California, Irvine
2004 Lecturer, “The Danger of Trying Drugs Just Once”-- Presentation given to juvenile offenders at Joplin Youth Center, a non-secure residential treatment center for boys in Orange County, CA
2008, 2009 Referee, SDGE/Graduate Women in Science Fellowship
2009 Panel Representative, Community College Day, NIH, Bethesda, MD
2011 Lecturer, “Science for Non-Scientists” series, NIDA, Baltimore, MD
2012 Career Day presentation, Patterson Park Public Charter School, Baltimore, MD
2013 Scientist demonstrator, “Take Your Kid to Work Day” at NIDA-IRP
2015 Judge for the annual Greater Baltimore Society for Neuroscience Meeting
2017 Mentor to a Baltimore city middle school-aged child, Paul’s Place
Teaching service
2000-2001 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Neurobiology (BIO110L), University of California, Irvine
2001-2003 Course Instructor, Neurobiology lecture/lab course (BIO113L), University of California, Irvine
2004-2005 Research Mentor for undergraduate neurobiology major, UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Program
2008 Course Instructor, COSMOS, COSMOS-University of California, Irvine
2009 Course Instructor, Law and Neuroscience (Psychology 594LN), University of California, Santa Barbara
2010-2012 Research Mentor for the NIDA Summer Student Programs
2011-2012 Course Instructor, Introduction to Addiction Science, Neuroimaging Research Branch, NIDA-IRP
2011-2014 Research Mentor, NIDA post-baccalaureate IRTA Fellow
2016 GPLS 775 “The Interface of Pain, Addiction and Affect” Course Lecturer
2018 Lecturer, UMB Spring 2018 Mini-Course in Addiction (coursemaster: Mary Kay Lobo)
2018, 2019 Lecturer, Responsible Conduct of Research course on Collaboration