Recovery capital and genetic risk in remission and relapse with Janaka Kosgolla and Doug Smith

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Janaka Kosgolla and Professor Doug Smith. Janaka is an assistant research scientist and Doug is a professor, both from the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States. The interview covers Janaka and Doug’s research article on joint associations of recovery capital and polygenic risk with electronic health record observed remission and relapse in drug use disorder.

What is recovery capital? [01:36]Examples of recovery capital [02:32]What are polygenic risk scores? [03:30]What motivated Janaka and Doug to explore the relationship between recovery capital and polygenic risk scores [07:32]How Janaka and Doug addressed their research question [08:50]The key findings from the study [10:24]Do recovery capital and polygenic risk scores interact with each other? [11:59]Do people with greater genetic risk require more recovery capital? [14:17]Whether we have data on what type of treatment the participants received [15:20]The exploration of mental health within the relationship [16:38]The findings in the context of treatment and policy [18:03]About Tsen Vei Lim: Tsen Vei is an academic fellow supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction, currently based at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. His research integrates computational modelling, experimental psychology, and neuroimaging to understand the neuropsychological basis of addictive behaviours. He holds a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Bath in the UK.

About Janaka Kosgolla: Janaka is an assistant research scientist at the Center for Prevention Research and Development (CPRD) in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on adolescent substance use behaviour and recovery, as well as recovery from substance use disorders among adults. He examines how recovery capital, genetic susceptibility, and community resources relate to remission and recovery. He also works on several Medicaid projects, providing SQL programming support.

About Doug Smith: Doug has served on the faculty of the School of Social Work since 2008. His research focuses on substance use disorder (SUD) treatment outcomes, especially among adolescents and emerging adults. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the United States Department of Jus