VCU Psychology – Dace S. Svikis

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Dace S. Svikis

Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Obstetrics/Gynecology
Deputy Director, Institute for Women’s Health;
Director, AWHARE Program (Addiction & Women’s Health: Advancing Research and Evaluation);
Coordinator, VCU Academy of Mentors (AoM)

Contact information

Phone: (804) 827-1184
E-mail: dssvikis@hsc.vcu.edu

Education

Ph.D. (1989), University of Minnesota

Program affiliation

Clinical Psychology

Research and clinical interests

Dr. Svikis is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Obstetrics/Gynecology at VCU. She also serves as Deputy Director, VCU Institute for Women’s Health and Director of the AWHARE Program (Addiction and Women’s Health: Advancing Research and Evaluation). More recently, she has assumed a leadership role in the development of an Academy of Mentors for VCU with a focus on creating a solid institutional infrastructure that supports faculty and students in the conduct of interdisciplinary clinical and translational research. Dr. Svikis’ own research efforts have focused on identification and treatment of perinatal addiction, with specific attention paid to both the clinical and economic efficacy of alternative intervention strategies. From 1992-1999, while a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, she directed an interdisciplinary treatment program designed specifically to meet the unique needs of pregnant drug dependent women and their children. More recently, her research interests have broadened, with a focus on the translation of research to clinical practice and the study of alternative strategies to facilitate bridging this gap in the field of addictions and more broadly in women’s health. She has over 100 publications and serves on a variety of NIH study sections and journal editorial boards. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and chairs the Credentials Committee, and she is committed to encouraging transdisciplinary research through projects that bring together faculty and students from psychology, social work, public health, medicine, OB/Gyn, psychiatry and nursing among others.

Her current research projects include a NIH-funded randomized clinical trial of an intervention for HIV/STD prevention in pregnant substance abusing women, a CDC-funded project that seeks to improve patient compliance with prenatal care using an intervention model that includes health system navigators, behavioral incentives and practitioner training in patient communication and cultural diversity, a NIDA-funded RCT that compares computer-directed and counselor-delivered screening and brief intervention models in men and women attending a primary care clinic; a multi-site study of HIV rapid testing and counseling strategies to encourage patient testing; and several NIH- and foundation-funded studies of novel interventions for pregnant and post-partum women and their children.

Selected publications

Svikis, D. S., Berger, N., Haug, N., & Griffiths, R. (2005). Caffeine dependence in combination with a family history of alcoholism as a predictor of continued use of caffeine during pregnancy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 2344-2351.

Svikis, D. S., Miles, D. R., Haug, N. A., Perry, B. Hoehn-Saric, R. and McLeod, D. (2006). Premenstrual symptomatology, alcohol consumption and family history of alcoholism in women with PMS. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 833-836.

Meshberg-Cohen, S., & Svikis, D. S. (2007). Panic disorder, trait anxiety and alcohol use in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 48, 504-510.

Ondersma, S. J., Svikis, D. S., & Schuster, C. R. (2007). Computer-based brief motivational intervention for post-partum drug use: A phase II randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32,231-238.

Alvanzo, A., & Svikis, D. S. (2008). History of physical abuse and periconceptional drinking in pregnant women. Substance Use and Misuse, 43, 1098-109.

More publications [PDF]

Recent/current courses taught at VCU

Psychology of the Abnormal, undergraduate level
Introduction to Substance Use Disorders, undergraduate level

Recent grants

NIH/National Center on Minorities & Health Disparities, 9/01/07 – 8/30/12, $4,458,025 direct costs over 5 yrs, PI on Component of the P60 Center Grant.

Randomized clinical trial comparing Safer Sex Skill Building (SSB) to Health Education for HIV/STD prevention in pregnant women at risk for alcohol/drug problems.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, REACH-US Promoting Healthy Pregnancies, 9/01/07-8/30/12, $1,750,000 direct costs over 5 yrs, PI: Dace Svikis, Ph.D. Collaborative project between Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and Center on Health Disparities at VCU

Demonstration grant that seeks to eliminate health disparities in infant mortality by improving patient compliance with prenatal care. Intervention model includes health system navigation, behavioral incentives and practitioner training in cultural diversity and empathic interviewing.

NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, 09/30/08-6/30/13, $300,000 per year direct costs, PI: Dace Svikis.

Computer vs Therapist-Delivered Brief Interventions for Drug Abuse in Primary Care. Randomized clinical trial in primary care clinic at VCU with patients at risk for drug abuse/problems. It compares 4 groups: computerized screening alone to computerized screening + assessment to computerized screening/assessment + computerized brief intervention to computerized screening/assessment + counselor-delivered brief intervention.

NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN), MidAtlantic Node, current period of funding ends 9/30/10, $1,000,000 direct costs (5 years). Collaboration between Johns Hopkins and Virginia Commonwealth University. PI for VCU component: Dace Svikis.

The CTN conducts studies of empirically-tested interventions in “real life” drug treatment settings. Current project is RCT of counseling strategies to encourage patients in drug treatment to participate in HIV Rapid Testing with immediate feedback on test results.

NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, 9/01/06-8/31/09, $275,000 direct costs over 3 yrs. Co-Inv: Dace Svikis (PI: Arum Sanyal, M.D., Dept of Med.

Biliary Microlithiasis in Subjects with Alcohol-Induced Pancreatitis. Study of how family history and alcohol/drug use variables moderate and mediate course and patient response to pancreatitis.

NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, 9/1/07-8/31/10, $450,000 direct costs over 3 yrs., Co-Inv: Dace Svikis (PI: Jim May, Ph.D., RBHA).

Organizational Factors Influencing Practice Improvement in Community-Based Care. Project that examines organizational and staff attitudes and practices in relation to adoption of evidence-based substance abuse treatment strategies in “real life” drug treatment settings.