Research Assistant Professor Rebecca Evans-Polce awarded three-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

U-M School of Nursing Research Assistant Professor Rebecca Evans-Polce, an expert in substance use epidemiology and disparities in substance use, was officially notified that she was awarded a R01 grant from the NIH (National Institutes of Health)/NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) for titled, “Sexual Fluidity and Longitudinal Changes in Alcohol Misuse and Associated Health Consequences”. The three-year, $853,000 award will support Evans-Polce and her co-investigators build a better understanding of sexual orientation changes across the life course and how it impacts alcohol use and health.

“With this grant we intend to better understand changes in multiple sexual orientation dimensions across the life course and how these changes impact alcohol use and health,” said Evans-Polce. "We will identify modifiable risk and protective factors for alcohol misuse ranging from individual stress levels to state level protective policies for sexual minorities, and expect this work will inform​ intervention and treatment efforts for alcohol misuse, with the ultimate goal of reducing alcohol-related health disparities among sexual minority individuals.”

Evans-Polce’s co-investigators include three colleagues from the U-M School Nursing, Professor Sean Esteban McCabe, Research Associate Professor Phillip Veliz and Professor Carol Boyd, as well as Wayne State School of Social Work Assistant Professor Luisa Kcomt.

“All the co-investigators on this project from the U-M School of Nursing Wayne State University were instrumental in obtaining funding for this project,” commented Evans-Polce. “In addition, Dr. Logan Casey and the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) have been extremely generous in helping to obtain data about sexual orientation policy and thinking through the best way to implement this data into our project.”