Meet New CAS Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Emmanuel Alvarez
Standing in the entrance to the Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies (CAS) at Smithers Hall, two new CAS postdoctoral fellows, Drs. Emmanuel Alvarez and Emmanuel D. Thomas pose for a photo together.
Meet New CAS Postdoctoral Fellow
From computational neuroscience studies of decision-making in opioid use disorder to AI-driven approaches for improving addiction treatment, Dr. Emmanuel Alvarez brings an innovative, translational perspective to the Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies. In this Q&A, he reflects on the experiences that shaped his research path, the urgent questions driving his work, and his vision for advancing data-informed, real-world solutions for addiction and recovery.
Introducing Dr. Emmanuel Alvarez
To start off, can you share a little about your academic and professional journey—what brought you into the field of addiction and/or trauma research?
Alvarez: My interest in addiction research grew out of an early fascination with how reward and decision-making systems become disrupted in severe psychopathology. As an undergraduate at Rowan University, I began conducting research in my first year, initially studying psychosis risk. Through independent projects using neurophysiological methods, I became particularly drawn to questions about reward responsivity and stress, mechanisms that are central to the development and persistence of substance use disorders.
My trajectory toward addiction science was solidified through summer research experiences at Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania. At Rutgers, I gained hands-on experience working with clinical populations and adapting neuroscience tools for use in real-world settings. At UPenn, I was introduced to addiction neuroscience through preclinical models of opioid exposure, which highlighted how alterations in reward systems can drive clinically meaningful outcomes. These experiences convinced me that addiction research sits at a critical intersection between brain mechanisms and real-world behavior.
During my PhD in neuroscience at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, my training expanded across human neuroimaging, clinical assessment, and translational models of addiction. My doctoral work focused on understanding decision-making processes in opioid use disorder by combining neuroimaging with real-time, ecological assessments of belief updating. This approach allowed me to move beyond static laboratory measures and capture how beliefs, choices, and vulnerability to use fluctuate in daily life.
While mechanistic understanding has been foundational to my training, my goal is to ensure that this knowledge meaningfully informs the development and implementation of novel treatments. As I look forward to my postdoctoral training, I’m excited to take this work a step further by becoming more directly involved in translational research.
What drew you specifically to the Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies for your postdoctoral fellowship?
Alvarez: I was privileged to enrich my graduate training as a Translational Research Training in Addictions for Underrepresented Groups (TRACC) program scholar, TRACC was a unique NIH-funded addiction and translational training program for minority scientists that grounded my thinking about substance use in a social-cultural perspective that recognizes how disparities can facilitate the cycle of addiction. My involvement in TRACC was pivotal in shaping my doctoral training and ultimately brought me to the Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies. Through TRACC, I was introduced to a community of researchers whose work bridges neuroscience, clinical research, and community-based practice, aligning closely with my goal of making addiction research more translational. TRACC broadened how I think about addiction by emphasizing the interaction between neurobiology and lived experience, including trauma and structural inequities. Just as importantly, the program connected me with mentors and collaborators at the Center, relationships I hope to build over the next two years. The Center’s integration within a large clinical trials network, along with its resources in machine learning and AI, provides an ideal environment to advance clinically grounded, innovative addiction research.
DISSERTATION SPOTLIGHT
Can you give a high-level overview of your dissertation? What question were you trying to answer?
Alvarez: Opioid use, relative to other drug use, poses significant risk due to its high potential for overdose and long-term health consequences. Current treatments aim to reduce overdose risk through medication, psychotherapy, and psychoeducation. Despite these efforts, relapse remains the modal outcome among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Research has thus focused on the cognitive mechanisms underlying risky decision-making in OUD. Decision neuroscience has been pivotal in investigating the computational and neural processes involved in these decisions, with particular attention given to how individuals’ perceptions of personal risk may influence their behavior. Using this framework, I combined longitudinal real-world experience sampling and neuroimaging to determine whether optimistic beliefs, or the expectation that more good than bad things would happen to oneself, could be one explanation for why people with OUD continue to engage in risky drug use. I found that individuals with OUD held more optimistically biased beliefs about the risks of drug use than healthy individuals, while they did not differ in their nondrug-related optimism bias. Using fMRI, I identified that the inferior frontal gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex contributed to addiction-relevant differences in drug-related optimism bias. Longitudinally, findings support a link between individuals with OUD’s optimism bias and ongoing clinical vulnerable OUD state. Overall, the knowledge gained from this dissertation has the unique potential to provide novel neurobehavioral and time-sensitive targets for intervention in OUD.
How does your dissertation set the stage for the work you’ll be doing as a postdoc?
Alvarez: As a PhD student, I examined the neural mechanisms of addiction, particularly how individuals with opioid use disorder incorporate information about consequences of their drug use into their decisions to use drugs. I leveraged longitudinal task-based smartphone methods to capture daily changes in drug use behavior tied to cognitive decision-making processes and combined this approach with functional neuroimaging to understand how the interaction of neurobiology and within-person changes as people engage with their environments relate to drug use vulnerability. Through the combination of formal coursework (e.g., computational neuroscience, computer programming, neuroimaging, and longitudinal data analysis), NIH-sponsored workshops, and mentored clinical research experience, I gained direct expertise in advanced applications of fMRI and statistical methods for clinical neuroscience and longitudinal research with people with substance use disorders. My career goal is to be able to leverage these skills into meaningful and impactful treatments, something I believe I can accomplish as a part of Center of Alcohol Studies.
POSTDOCTORAL FOCUS & GOALS
What are the key projects or research areas you’ll be focusing on during your postdoc?
Alvarez: During my postdoctoral training, I’ll focus on leveraging data-driven methods to improve treatment outcomes in substance use disorder research. A central project involves developing nationally harmonized, open-science data platforms that integrate prevention and treatment datasets for SUD and trauma. Within this effort, I’ll pilot machine learning and AI approaches to identify patterns of treatment response, explore key mediators and moderators, and ultimately inform more personalized interventions in clinical trials.
My PhD training in computational neuroscience provides a strong foundation for this work. The skills I’ve developed in neuroimaging, multimodal data integration, and advanced analytics will serve as a launch pad for applying cutting-edge computational tools to large-scale, clinically relevant datasets. This work positions me to translate mechanistic insights into actionable strategies that improve real-world addiction treatment outcomes.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time here—scientifically, professionally, or creatively?
Alvarez: I aspire to take my training another step further and learn how to leverage AI, machine learning, and social behavioral sciences to develop innovative, scalable tools addressing pressing societal challenges. The opportunity to collaborate with faculty across multiple schools to develop data-driven interventions resonates strongly with my interdisciplinary training and career goals. I am particularly excited by the emphasis on ethical, transparent AI applications and community-engaged research, which aligns with my commitment to inclusive innovation and translational impact. I am confident that this fellowship will provide the ideal platform to propel my research career toward developing effective, data-informed interventions that improve mental health across diverse populations.
How do you hope your postdoctoral work will advance our understanding of addiction, trauma, co-occurring conditions, or recovery pathways?
Alvarez: I hope my postdoctoral work will advance understanding of addiction, trauma, and co-occurring conditions by using machine learning and data-science approaches to answer critical questions about what interventions work, for whom, and under which conditions, ultimately supporting more effective, personalized recovery strategies.
THE TRANSLATION IMPACT
Why is this research urgently needed right now in the addiction and trauma landscape?
Alvarez: Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition, and despite effective treatments, many people continue to relapse and experience serious consequences. Opioid overdoses, particularly from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, have driven a dramatic rise in preventable deaths, and many individuals are unaware of the potency or risks of the drugs they are using. Even with medications for OUD, relapse rates remain high, highlighting critical gaps in our understanding of vulnerability and recovery.
What motivates you in doing this work—what keeps you committed to research in this area?
Alvarez: What motivates me is the urgent need to address these gaps. I am committed to research that not only deepens our understanding of addiction and co-occurring trauma but also translates into actionable strategies (e.g., improving psychoeducation, personalizing interventions, and optimizing clinical trials). Despite existing treatments, much remains unknown, and I want my work to contribute to solutions that truly improve outcomes.
FUTURE VISION
Looking ahead, where do you see your research trajectory leading after your fellowship?
Alvarez: In my PhD, I have gained direct expertise in advanced applications of fMRI and statistical methods for clinical neuroscience with people with substance use disorders. My career goal is to be able to leverage these skills into meaningful and impactful treatments, whether that is in industry or with my own research program.
CLOSING
Is there anything else you’d want our readers to know about your work or what excites you about being here?
Alvarez: As a Latino, becoming a scientist is a challenging and hard-earned experience. With the amazing researchers and resources at the Center of Alcohol Studies, I know I’ll have a fighting chance of success in the field and eventually inspire young Latinos to become scientists.
