Talk Description

This presentation will outline the mission, structure, and impact of the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences (DTMC), established in response to a 1989 Congressional mandate to advance medication development for substance use disorders (SUDs). It will describe how DTMC, modeled after a virtual pharmaceutical company, supports all phases of therapeutic development—from discovery through regulatory approval—to improve the management of SUDs and their medical consequences, including HIV. The presentation will highlight DTMC’s strategic focus on developing safe and effective medications, biologics, devices, digital therapeutics, and behavioral therapies; its collaborations with industry and federal partners; its regulatory engagement with the FDA; and its record of notable contributions to advancing the treatment for opioid, stimulant, cannabis, and nicotine use disorders. The presentation will include opportunities for collaborations with DTMC and funding opportunities to conduct research in this therapeutic development for SUDs.

David White, Ph.D.

Dr. David White is the Associate Director of the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences (DTMC) and Chief of the Medications Discovery and Toxicology Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In these roles, he oversees DTMC’s preclinical medication discovery and safety assessment efforts for novel pharmacological treatments for substance use disorders. He also coordinates DTMC’s medications development contract program, serves as the Division’s pharmaceutical liaison, and leads DTMC’s business development activities.

Dr. White brings more than two decades of leadership experience at NIDA, including service as Director of the Addiction Treatment Discovery Program from 2009 to 2023. Prior to joining NIDA in 2006, he conducted substance use disorder–related research as a research faculty member and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at Emory University School of Medicine, where he authored numerous peer-reviewed publications. He earned a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from West Virginia University School of Medicine in 1999 and a B.A. in biology from West Virginia University in 1994.