Dr. Furr-Holden is an epidemiologist with expertise in drug and alcohol dependence epidemiology, psychiatric epidemiology and prevention science. Her pre-Doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University focused on cross-national classification and identification of substance use disorders and pos-Doctoral training focused on developmental pathways from childhood to young adulthood and the malleability of these paths, including in depth evaluation of risk and protective factors for adolescent development and the transition into young adulthood. Her previous research experience includes evaluation of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded "Periodic Follow-up of Two Universal Preventive Intervention Trials", a longitudinal follow-up of two universal preventive interventions implemented in 1993 in nine Baltimore City Public Schools in a cohort of entering 1st graders (see Furr-Holden, et al., 2004). Other research areas include methodological issues surrounding the design and evaluation of interventions including sampling, program modeling, and innovative statistical and evaluation approaches as well as measurement of drug and alcohol use disorders. Dr. Furr-Holden has also acquired training and is developing expertise in environmental approaches to prevention.

Dr. Furr-Holden areas of research include issues related to highway traffic and safety including measurement of alcohol use disorders on the roadside as well as field testing innovative data collection techniques which include multi-modal assessments involving simultaneous collection of biological specimens and survey data. In 2004, Dr. Furr-Holden received funding from the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) to refine a rapid screening approach to measure alcohol use disorders among at-risk drivers at the roadside (1-R21-AA015543). This work resulted in collection of AUD screening data and biological specimens on nearly 600 drivers nationwide. As an extension of this work, Dr. Furr-Holden will implement the roadside screening methodology in a national sample of 6,000 drivers beginning in the fall of 2007. This work is being conducted in conjunction with the 2007 NHTSA National Roadside Survey.

While broad in scope, Dr. Furr-Holden’s research foci are grounded in the rubrics of epidemiology and psychometrics. She initiated the Drug Investigations, Violence and Environmental Studies Laboratory (The DIVE Studies Lab). The DIVE is managed by Mrs. Mieka Smart and includes researchers and 20 field staff.

Epidemiology, Environment, Youth, Drug, Alcohol, Violence, Psychometrics, Traffic Safety Research

On July 26, 2006, Dr. Furr-Holden was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by virtue of her early career accomplishments in environmental research. This award grants her non-competitive funds totaling up to 2.5 million dollars over a 5-year period to extend her current research in Baltimore. These funds provide support to an existing grant funded by NIAAA to study environmental factors linked with youths’ exposure to violence, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (VATOD; 1-R01-AA015196). This project bridges observational epidemiology with the study of youth resilience and protective factors. Environmental assessments are carried out using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy). The NIfETy is a novel and unique assessment tool. The distal goals of this work are to: 1) establish an evidence base for developing and implementing environmental strategies in the City of Baltimore; and 2) provide an evidence-based model for environmental strategies that can be employed in other cities across the country. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Nicholas Ialongo at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Information and Technology. Dr. Furr-Holden is the first NIAAA nominee and the first PIRE researcher to receive the prestigious PECASE award.

Dr. Furr-Holden was awarded a Behavioral Scientist Award for Rapid Transition (B-START) from NIDA to study youthful inhalants involvement and innovative methodological approaches to recruit youth participants and evaluate the impact of a brief multi-media inhalants intervention (Furr-Holden, et al., under review 2006).

She is also co-PI on a NIDA R01 entitled ‘Prevention of Young Adult Drug Use in Club Settings (1-R01-DA018770)’, with Dr. Brenda Miller (PI), Senior Scientist at PIRE in Berkeley, CA. Recent investigations of drug use in club settings have resulted in several publications on the topic (Miller, et al., in press; Voas, et al., 2006, Furr-Holden et al., in press 2006). This new line of research emphasizes contextual analysis of drug use within ecologically defined high-risk club settings and the developmental period and associated risks of emerging adulthood, the developmental period between late adolescence and young adulthood (age 18-25). This work is grounded in the theories and practices of environmental prevention and offers promising leads for prevention of young adult drug use within in these settings and during this critical developmental period in the life course.

Cooley-Strickland, M., Quille, T.J., Griffin, R.S., Stuart, E.A., Bradshaw, C.P., Furr-Holden, C.D.M. (2009). Community Violence and Youth: Affect, Behavior, Substance Use and Academics. In Press Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review.

Miller, B.A., Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Johnson, M.B., Holder, H., Voas, R., & Keagy, C. (2009). Biological Markers of Drug Use in the Club Setting. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 70(2), 261-8.

Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Smart, M.J., Pokorni J.P., Ialongo, N.S., Holder, H., & Anthony, J.C. (2008). The NIfETy Method for Environmental Assessment of Neighborhood-level Indicators of Alcohol and Other Drug Exposure. Prev Sci., 9(4), 245-55.

Johnson, M.B., Voas, R.B., Kelley-Baker, T., & Furr-Holden, C.D. (2008). The consequences of providing drinker with blood alcohol concentration information on assessments of alchohol impairment and drunk-driving risk. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69(4), 539-49.

Miller, T.R., Furr-Holden C.D.M., & Lawrence, B.A. (2008). The Temporality of Hospital-Admitted Suicide Acts and Suicide Deaths. In press Suicide.

Miller, B.A., Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Voas, R.B., & Keagy, C. (2008). Observational Measures of Young Adult Drug Use in High Risk Drinking Locations In Press Journal of Drug Issues.

Kelley-Baker, T., Voas, R.B., Johnson, M.B., Furr-Holden, C.D.M., & Compton, C. (2007). Multimethod measurement of high-risk drinking locations: extending the portal survey method with follow-up telephone interviews. Eval Rev., 31(5), 490-507.

Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Voas, R.B., Kelley-Baker, T., & Miller, B.A. (2006). Drug and Alcohol Impaired Driving Among Electronic Dance Music Event Attendees. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 85, 83-86.

Voas, R.B., Romano, E.O., Tippetts, A.S., & Furr-Holden, C.D.M. (2006). Drinking status and fatal crashes: Which drinkers contribute most to the problem? Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 722-729.

Voas, R.B., Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Lauer, E., Bright, K., Johnson, M.B., & Miller, B.A. (2006). Portal surveys of timeout drinking locations: A tool for studying binge drinking and AOD use," Evaluation Review, 30, 44-65.

Miller, B.A., Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Voas, R.B., & Bright, K. (2005). Emerging Adults' Substance Use and Risky Behaviors in Club Settings, Journal of Drug Issues, 35(2), 357-378.

Furr-Holden, C.D.M., Ialongo, N.S., Anthony, J.C., Petras, H., & Kellam, S.G. (2004). Developmentally inspired drug prevention: Middle school outcomes in a school-based randomized prevention trial. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 73(2), 149-158.

Furr-Holden, C.D.M., & Anthony, J.C. (2003). The epidemiology of drug dependence: A U.S. – U.K. cross-national comparison. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38(4), 165-172.

Delva, J. Neumark, Y.D., Furr, C.D.M., & Anthony, J.C. (2000). Drug use among welfare recipients in the United States. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 26(2), 355-342.

Furr, C.D.M., Delva, J.D., & Anthony, J.C. (2000). The suspected association between frequent episodes of alcohol intoxication and ice smoking: Data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 59(1), 89-94.

Furr, C.D.M., Delva, J.D., & Anthony, J.C. (1998). ‘Ice smoking’ and daily episodes of alcohol intoxication: Data from a national sample of methamphetamine smokers. NIDA Research Monograph, 179, 109.

Delva, J.D., Furr, C.D.M., & Anthony, J.C (1998). Personal characteristics associated with injection drug use among Latinas in the United States of America. Pan-American Journal of Public Health, 4(5), 341-5.