Academic Background

1978, BC, Colegio San Viator, Bogotá, Colombia

1984, MD, Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario Bogotá, Colombia

1989, Psychiatry Residency, Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia

1992, DAB, Addiction Behaviour, University of London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

1996, Psychiatry Residency, Yale University, New Haven, CT

2001, Addiction Psychiatry Fellow, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Director, Addiction Psychopharmacology Research
Director, Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program
Director, Addiction & Comorbidity Treatment Service (ACTS)

Research Interests

The clinical research that our group has been conducting has focused on the neurobiology and pharmacotherapy for cocaine and opioid dependence. The series of studies have evaluated the extent that enhancing GABA neurotransmission may have in modifying cocaine and opiate taking behavior. In addition, we are interested in understanding whether modulation of glutamate neurotransmission by an uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist during opioid agonist treatment may improve treatment outcomes and reduce early relapse in young adults with opiate dependence. The study is expected to provide valuable information whether co-administration of memantine to buprenorphine treatment will modify components of opioid dependence, and therefore become a time-limited alternative to the long term agonist maintenance treatment for young opioid dependent adults.