Dr. Xiangyu Tao in Dr. Kristina Jackson’s Lab Awarded NIDA K99 Grant to Study Communication Patterns in Online Substance Use Recovery Communities

Dr. Xiangyu Tao, Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Kristina Jackson’s lab, has been awarded a K99 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for her project, “Integrating AI and Co-production to Analyze Communications in Social Media Substance Use Recovery Groups.”

This project integrates advanced artificial intelligence methods, including Large Language Models, with co-production approaches involving individuals with lived recovery experience to identify communication patterns in online peer support communities and examine how these patterns relate to recovery outcomes. By combining cutting-edge computational tools with human-centered research, this work aims to deepen understanding of digital recovery environments and inform strategies to better support individuals with substance use disorder.
Learn more: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/oyTnjCdVDEu_ctDLknJXTQ/project-details/11283445

Dr. Jackson’s research largely centers on the etiology and course of substance use among adolescents and young adults. She is currently funded by NIAAA and NIDA to examine individual- and contextual-level risk factors for substance use initiation and progression to increasingly severe use, including in vulnerable populations and youth with mental health comorbidities. Her work also involves understanding the sources of messaging surrounding cannabis and people’s motives for using cannabis and the context of their use. She has conducted work on the remission of substance use disorders in college students and across young adulthood, and employs fine-grained approaches to study co-use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.

Learn more: https://sites.rutgers.edu/kristina-jackson/