Dr. Waldrop conducts research and provides clinical services in the Clinical Neuroscience Division. She received her doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at MUSC, primarily at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center.
Dr. Waldrop’s research interests are in the areas of comorbidity of cocaine dependence and PTSD, the role of impulsivity in risky behaviors, HIV risk behaviors, and associations between stress reactivity and addiction. In September 2005, she was awarded a Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award (K23) by NIDA and the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health. The grant is entitled “Impulsivity Related to Cocaine Dependence & Trauma.” Three outstanding co-sponsors will mentor Dr. Waldrop during the 5-year award period, Drs. Kathleen Brady and Heidi Resnick of MUSC, and Dr. Warren Bickel of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Also serving as a consultant on the grant is Dr. Carl Lejuez of the University of Maryland.
The specific aims of the research plan are to (a) to compare impulsivity in cocaine-dependent women with and without sexual trauma-related subthreshold PTSD to appropriate control groups, (b) to investigate the relationships among PTSD symptoms, HIV risk behaviors, and impulsivity, and (c) to investigate the relationships among cocaine dependence, HIV risk behaviors, and impulsivity. The findings of the proposed study will be used to inform future research in the area of impulsivity among women with comorbid substance use disorders and PTSD, perhaps leading eventually to the development of an intervention to address the harmful consequences of a variety of impulsive behaviors.
Dr. Waldrop is also working with collaborators in the Division to add impulsivity assessments to ongoing substance use disorder protocols.
