Dr. Clark is a nationally recognized expert in the causes and consequences of adolescent substance use disorders. In 1990, Dr. Clark was a founding member of the first NIH-funded research center on alcohol use disorders in adolescents and in 2000, he and collaborators published the first studyof neuroimaging techniques to examine brain characteristics in adolescents with alcohol use disorders.
With support from four NIH institutes, Dr. Clark, colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and scholars from four other research institutions have initiated the most definitive project to date to determine the effects of alcohol and other drugs on adolescent brain development. Dr. Clark is also developing and testing computer-assisted decision support systems to help primary care health practitioners reduce substance use among their teenaged patients.
