Dr. Pennington’s lab, Strengthening Neuro-Plasticity in Addiction Recovery (SPARC) focuses on using neurocognitive assessment and multimodal neuroimaging (functional MRI, structural MRI, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and diffusion-weighted imaging) to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms associated with recovery from alcohol and other substance use disorders (ASUD), and to evaluate how commonly co-occurring conditions among Veterans (traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)) further impact recovery in these neural systems. SPARC leverages this information toward the development, implementation, and evaluation of novel digital health interventions (virtual reality working memory retraining, alcohol and opioid approach bias modification, ecological momentary assessment) for remediating cognitive dysfunction associated with these co-occurring conditions.

Dr. Pennington is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF, Clinical Research Psychologist and Associate Director of the Addiction Research Program at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System (SFVAHCS). Dr. Pennington is engaged in providing clinical research training in the underlying neurobiology of addiction and co-occurring disorders, biostatistical methodology and analyses, and neurocognitive assessment. As the Community Veteran Health Program Coordinator at SFVHACS, Dr. Pennington is also engaged in program development, evaluation, and overseeing the provision and supervision of health services, primarily to underserved rural Veterans. Dr. Pennington also serves on the Cognitive Remediation Neuroscience Interest Group of the International Society of Addiction Medicine tasked with informing the design of international multi-site trials of novel cognitive training methods in addiction treatment.

Dr. Pennington’s research is supported by a VA Clinical Science Research and Development, Career Development Award to investigate the efficacy and neural correlates of alcohol approach bias modification, a novel cognitive training paradigm designed to reduce heavy drinking in underserved Veterans with TBI. He holds a UCSF Resource Allocation Program, Under-Represented Faculty in Clinical and Translational Research Award to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of exercise combined with virtual reality working memory training to enhance cognitive function among heavy drinking Veterans with TBI. Dr. Pennington also has a Mary Anne Koda-Kimble Seed Award for Innovation to implement a fentanyl education program for patients engaged in SFVAHCS’s Opioid Treatment Program and a Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation Award to assess neural mechanisms of opioid approach bias utilizing the latest technology developed through the BRAIN Initiative and Human Connectome projects (e.g. ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging) and to develop a novel opioid approach bias modification intervention to reduce problematic opioid use in Veterans with chronic pain.

As such, SPARC is poised to make new breakthroughs in the development of highly salient cognitive training paradigms to help reduce heavy drinking and problematic substance use in underserved patient populations. Through the support of a John A. Watson Faculty Scholars Diversity Award, Dr. Pennington will continue mentorship of trainees and faculty from under-represented populations. He will also continue his work in developing new treatment interventions for alcohol and substance use disorder to include safe and readily available pharmacological compounds (e.g., N-acetylcysteine), begin collection of preliminary data to evaluate the implementation of various digital health interventions for Native American Veterans, and continue his work developing cognitive training paradigms using novel virtual reality technology. This work will be completed through continued involvement with the Addiction Research Program at UCSF and implemented at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System.