WASHINGTON – The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) has announced that Randy Stinchfield, Ph.D., L.P., associate director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School, is the recipient of the 2012 Scientific Achievement Award. The award will be presented at a luncheon today at The Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nev., during the 13th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction.
“On behalf of the NCRG, we are delighted to recognize Dr. Stinchfield with this prestigious honor for his contributions to the field of research on gambling disorders,” said Linda Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H., chairwoman of the NCRG’s Scientific Advisory Board, and chair and dean’s professor of epidemiology in both the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the College of Medicine at the University of Florida. “He is regarded by his peers as a pioneer, and his research in youth gambling, the assessment of gambling disorders and the measurement of treatment outcomes has paved the way for future studies in this growing field.”
Dr. Stinchfield has conducted some of the earliest and most significant research on youth gambling, including the first youth gambling survey in the U.S. He is the co-author of one of the most widely used instruments for youth gambling assessment around the world, named the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA). In a related track, Dr. Stinchfield has analyzed gambling behavior based on Minnesota Student Survey data administered to nearly all ninth- and 12th-grade public school students in the Minnesota every three years since 1992, which is now the largest database of youth gambling information in existence.
Dr. Stinchfield is a leading researcher in investigating the accuracy of instruments intended to measure and diagnose gambling problems, including the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling, the most commonly used assessment instruments for both epidemiological and clinical work. He has calibrated the classification accuracy of both the SOGS and DSM-IV, which has led to a greater understanding of reported prevalence rates using these instruments.
Additionally, he conducted one of the first gambling treatment outcome studies. Aware of the dearth of assessments tools to track the effectiveness of treatment, Dr. Stinchfield and his colleagues developed the Gambling Treatment Outcome Monitoring System (GAMTOMS), which has been used to evaluate gambling treatment in Minnesota and across the nation.
Beyond his research, Dr. Stinchfield contributes to the field by serving on the editorial boards of a number of peer-review journals and serves as a board member of Northstar Alliance for Problem Gambling.
“He is one of the blue chip pioneers in gambling research,” said Ken C. Winters, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at the University of Minnesota. “The significant and enduring legacy of Dr. Stinchfield's work is that he has conducted early and foundational research in these multiple tracks, and much of this work has significantly advanced the field.”
Recipients of the Scientific Achievement Award are selected by an independent committee of distinguished leaders in the field of addictions and gambling research. Members of the 2012 committee include Tammy Chung, Ph.D., Robert Ladouceur, Ph.D., Silvia Martins, M.D., Ph.D., Craig Nagoshi, Ph.D. and Katherine Spilde, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Previous recipients of the NCRG’s Scientific Achievement Award include Alex Blaszczynski, Ph.D.; Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., M.P.E., L.C.S.W.; Robert Custer, M.D.; Jon E. Grant, J.D., M.D., M.P.H.; Rina Gupta, Ph.D.; David C. Hodgins, Ph.D.; Robert Ladouceur, Ph.D.; Nancy Petry, Ph.D.; Marc N. Potenza, M.D., Ph.D.; Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S.; Wendy S. Slutske, Ph.D.; Ken C. Winters, Ph.D.; and Suck Won Kim, M.D.
For NCRG Conference updates, including on-site reporting about the sessions and audio posts from leading researchers and industry representatives, visit the NCRG’s blog – Gambling Disorders 360° – and connect with the NCRG on Facebook and Twitter.
To obtain additional information on the NCRG’s conference, visit www.ncrg.org. To obtain press credentials for events related to the conference, or to arrange interviews with conference participants or Dr. Stinchfield, please contact Amy Kugler at 202-552-2689 or akugler@ncrg.org. While the conference is in progress Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, please contact Amy Kugler on-site at 225-910-2804.
