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Dykstra gets national award
as outstanding woman scientist

CHAPEL HILL - Dr. Linda Dykstra, dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School, has received the 2006 Marian W. Fischman Lectureship Award honoring contributions of an outstanding woman scientist in drug abuse research.

The honor from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence was given Monday (June 21) at its annual scientific meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz. Dykstra, a William Rand Kenan Distinguished Professor in psychology and pharmacology at UNC, gave the meeting's keynote lecture on Monday and received a monetary award. She is a past president of the college and won its mentorship award last year.

The country's oldest group addressing problems of drug dependence and abuse, the college is a collaborating center of the World Health Organization. It serves as an interface among governmental, industrial and academic communities - maintaining liaisons with regulatory and research agencies and with educational, treatment and prevention facilities in the drug abuse field.

The college's annual scientific meeting brings together scientists and clinical investigators from industry, academia and government.

Dykstra joined the UNC faculty in 1973 and has led an active research program for more than 30 years. Her work focuses on the behavioral pharmacology of opioid analgesics in relation to their pain-relieving properties, as well as their tendency to produce tolerance and dependence. A more recent research interest is the investigation of behavioral phenotypes related to substance abuse.

Dykstra has received continual support for her research since 1977 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The institute has honored her with its Research Career Development, Research Scientist and MERIT awards. The latter - Method to Extend Research in Time - gives outstanding researchers up to 10 years to focus on institute research without administrative burdens.

Dykstra has been the major research adviser for numerous UNC pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows. For the last 16 years, she has directed a training program in drug abuse research that is supported by the National Institutes of Health. She also directs a program designed to encourage students from underrepresented groups to pursue doctoral training in the biomedical sciences.

Dykstra has been president of the Psychopharmacology Division of the American Psychological Association and recently chaired the Behavioral Pharmacology Division of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. She is an elected member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

In 2006-2007, she will chair the N.C. Association of Biomedical Research and serve as president of the Association of Graduate Schools, a part of the American Association of Universities.

Dykstra received her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago and her bachelor's degree from Hope College in Holland, Mich.

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/dykstra_linda.jpg

Graduate School contact: Deborah Makemson, (919) 843-3494 or makemson@email.unc.edu