Current & Past CARE Research Scholars

Ilia Nadareishvili, MD, PhD (2023 – present) Dr. Nadareishvili is a NIDA INVEST Fellow under the mentorship of Drs. Karsten Lunze and Jeffrey Samet. Originally from Georgia (country), he graduated from a medical school in 2012 and had his PhD defense in 2019. Collaboration with Dr. Lunze began 2016, when Dr. Lunze became Dr. Nadareishvili’s PhD co-supervisor. Their collaboration continued through the pandemic, resulting in further mutual publications. Dr. Nadareishvili joined Boston Medical Center CARE Unit and Boston University School of Medicine, section of General Internal Medicine in January 2023 as a NIDA INVEST Fellow. Dr. Nadareishvili is new to addiction medicine and substance use research. Prior to his current position, Dr. Nadareishvili worked as a researcher, teacher and research manager at David Tvildiani Medical University (DTMU), Tbilisi, Georgia. Part of his work in Georgia was for international scientific and developmental projects funded by European Union (through Horizon 2020, Erasmus+ and other programs), World Health Organization and other international and local donors. He had also worked in academic development and quality assurance as a member of the Medical Education Center in Tbilisi. In his interdisciplinary research Dr. Nadareishvili brings together own expertise and skills in public health, medical education and research management, as well as his global network gained through the past endeavors.

Marina V. Vetrova, MD (2019-present) Dr. Vetrova is an addiction psychiatrist from First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, Russia and a 2019 NIDA INVEST Fellow under the mentorship of Drs. Jeffrey Samet and Karsten Lunze. She has experience conducting quantitative and qualitative studies among people living with HIV and people with a history of substance use disorders. Her current research focuses on the intersectionality of stigma related to HIV and injection drug use and its impact on health outcomes, including health care utilization in HIV and addiction care settings.

Esperanza Romero Rodriguez, MD, MSc (2019-present) Dr. Romero is a clinical investigator from Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Spain and a NIDA INVEST/CTN Research Fellow at Boston University School of Public Health under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Saitz.  Dr. Romero has experience conducting quantitative and qualitative studies among people with alcohol use disorder. She is also pursuing her PhD with a thesis related to unhealthy alcohol use among Spanish primary care providers. Her current research focuses on the associations between drug use, heavy drinking, alcohol consequences, and health-related quality of life.

Bulat Idrisov, MD, MSc  Dr. Idrisov was a NIDA INVEST Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Samet. He worked with the URBAN ARCH Consortium on a Russia ARCH study looking at food insecurity and HIV risk behaviors.

Arina Tyurina, MD (2011-present) Dr. Tyurina is a psychiatrist working in addiction from St. Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University, Russia. Dr. Tyurina was a recipient of the NIDA INVEST Fellowship. She has research experience conducting clinical trials for new treatments of alcoholism and addictions and behavioral interventions to reduce HIV risky behavior.

Tetiana Kiriazova, PhD, MSc (2012-2013) Dr. Kiriazova is the director of the Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy. She was a recipient of the NIDA INVEST Fellowship and completed her fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Samet in 2013. Dr. Kiriazova was the Ukrainian principal investigator on Dr. Samet’s NIDA-funded project, Linking Russian Narcology and HIV Care To Enhance Treatment, Retention, and Outcomes (LINC).

Daniel Fuster, MD, PhD (2011-2013) Dr. Fuster is an attending physician and clinical investigator at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, and an associate professor of medicine at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. He was a postdoctoral fellow who completed his training in the CARE Unit in 2013. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (Badalona) in Spain.  His research interests are medical consequences of substance abuse, mainly HCV and HIV infection, as well as alcohol abuse. He has obtained a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education.

Michaela Bitarello do Amaral-Sabidini, PhD

Peter Smith, MD

Vaughan Rees, PhD