About Me

Annabel Kady is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is supported by her research mentor, Dr. Lara Ray, an expert in addiction science.

Annabel has a longstanding commitment to addiction science. In 2019, she started her career as a research assistant in The Neurocognitive and Imaging Characterization of Adolescent Substance Use Disorders (NICAS) Lab in the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher Hammond, Annabel learned to apply translational neuroscience, clinical, and epidemiological methods to inform etiology and treatment of SUDs and co-occurring disorders. In this role, Annabel co-authored two papers on response to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. At Johns Hopkins Hospital, she also trained new lab members in study procedures, data analysis techniques, and scientific writing. In 2022, Annabel joined the Addiction and Lifespan Development Lab at Rutgers Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies where she served as Trauma Team Leader under Dr. Matthew Lee. At Rutgers University, Annabel applied the lifespan developmental perspective to assess patterns and predictors of substance use. As the Trauma Team Leader, she managed the trauma team of 5 graduate and undergraduate researchers dedicated to examining mediators in the relationship between trauma and substance use disorders (SUDs) from a developmental perspective. Annabel also led weekly meetings and mentored team members in research methods and data analysis. In this role, Annabel co-authored papers on mechanisms of drinking reduction across the lifespan, including marriage and health problems.

Continuing her focus on addiction science, in September of 2022, Annabel joined the UCLA Addictions Lab under Dr. Lara Ray. Currently, Annabel is interested in improving behavioral and pharmacological interventions for AUD. She is particularly interested in studying drinking to cope and examining the connections between AUD and internalizing symptoms. She hopes to refine treatments for individuals with coping motivations and leverage a precision medicine approach to tailor interventions to reward versus relief drinkers. Annabel is also passionate about improving gender-responsive treatments, and she hopes to improve upon existing knowledge about which treatments are better suited to men versus women and gender minorities. Annabel’s master thesis project focuses on examining differences in pharmacologic treatment response among reward versus relief drinking phenotypes. Throughout her career, Annabel is hopeful that her research will improve treatment options for individuals with AUD by identifying tailored treatments for subpopulations with AUD.