Rita Goldstein Receives Tenure
February 25, 2009
Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) granted tenure effective December 1, 2008, to eight Brookhaven scientists. They are Elaine DiMasi, National Synchrotron Light Source; Rita Goldstein, Medical Department; Yangang Liu, Environmental Sciences Department; Hong Ma, Physics Department; Cedomir Petrovic, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department (CMPMS); Triveni Rao, Instrumentation Division; Tonica Valla, CMPMS; and Paul Vaska, Medical. Tenure appointments are granted by action of the BSA Board after a rigorous selection procedure overseen by the BSA Science & Technology Steering Committee. In making tenure decisions, the BSA Board is advised by members of the Brookhaven Council, an elected body that advises the Director on matters affecting the scientific staff. This is the second in a series of profiles.
Scientist Rita Z. Goldstein, Medical Department, has been awarded tenure for her outstanding contributions to the field of neuropsychology and the study of drug addiction. Goldstein is internationally recognized for her use of innovative methods to study the brain and behavior when addicted to cocaine.
"Goldstein's research will facilitate the development of novel modalities that will treat drug addiction more effectively," stated Gene-Jack Wang, a senior scientist and chair of Brookhaven's Medical Department. "For a young researcher in psychology, where a lot is published and far less is cited, her citation record is remarkable."
In 2002, Goldstein co-authored a paper published by the American Journal of Psychiatry that has been cited nearly 350 times. This paper introduced I-RISA, the Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution model, which suggests that the brain's pre-frontal cortex overvalues drug-related stimuli while undervaluing non-drug-related stimuli in those addicted to drugs. This compromise is associated with an inability to control one's own behavior and may lead to further addiction symptoms like compulsive drug use - even when the drug experience is no longer perceived as pleasurable, or if continued use could have disastrous consequences.
Currently, Goldstein is collaborating with the others in Brookhaven's Life Sciences Directorate using positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand how dopamine and other neurotransmitters affect the pre-frontal cortex's role in the I-RISA syndrome in drug addiction.
Goldstein earned bachelor degrees in psychology and French from Israel's Tel Aviv University in 1992. She earned a Ph.D. in Health Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami, FL, in 1999 and worked as a post-doc at Stony Brook University and BNL, 1999-2002. In 2001, Goldstein received a New York State Clinical Psychology License, becoming an assistant scientist in the Medical Department in 2002. She became an associate scientist in 2004 and was appointed scientist in 2006.
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